Servus TV, an Austrian TV station, recently broadcast a production on people working in trees.
Another one? I often tend to find these kind of programs either a bit tendentious, sensationalist, trite – or a mixture of all the above. It is rare that the people being filmed come across as being authentic and somehow tree climbing seems to come across as just another extreme sporting activity.
So I viewed this offering without high expectations – and was pleasantly surprised. OK, I skipped the bits about the heli logging and the forestry boys, but I thought the tree care parts were really well done. Marcus and the boys manage to convey the essence of what makes working on and climbing in trees special and different (I realise the vid is in German… sorry, Austrian… so you will simply have to take my word for it), but more than that, I also thought the images worked well, they convey the essence of what a job site feels like, how people interact, the motions they go through, the various steps of a job – and it skipped the pit fall so many productions seem to fall prey of, which involves guys (yes, in this case I think a bit of gender stereotyping is not totally out of order) puffing themselves up, posturing or portraying themselves as something they are not.
So well done to all involved. And thank you for portraying our tribe in such a rational and coherent fashion, we could do with more of this type of representation.
