Review of The 24 Hour War (2016) by T M — 18 Sep 2017

Hey Aceman, if you're reading this then get it on brother - loved the movie and as you have said many times, (paraphrasing here) docs don't have to be made about a subject on which viewers are experts, they just have to be good. Then, no matter who watches it, the viewers will learn something and be entertained, So, you hit the galvanized nail right on the head! Awesome, can't wait to see the next doc (incidentally loved both the Hammer and Newman doc as well). And, you've said you read these so I had some suggestions that may help from the viewer's perspective. Here goes...

First, we heard so much about the incredible, epic and dangerous Le Mans course/track/race that it really drew us into the story. Still, I actually would have liked to have seen a better look at the course visually during your doc. For example and to be specific; picture this - on the right 1/3 of the screen (perhaps an overhead map rendering of the track with a car (or a dot for the car placed on top of the map) while a driver (you or somebody who has expert knowledge of the course drives the Le Mans course and narrates throughout the lap while the dot/car on the map runs the course at the exact same pace - this (the driver's view) could be shown next to the map on the remaining 2/3 of the screen (does that make sense?). "Hey this turn is tricky because of this, or this straightaway sets up that but watch for x, y or z." That way, with the added visual, viewers get a better understanding of the physics of the course so when the drivers in the movie or people in the doc made reference to the course, we (the viewers) would have a better understanding of exactly what they were talking about. Just a suggestion, hope it is useful.

My second suggestion is for you to keep making docs. Adam, you, as you do with many things, have an apparently genius insight into documentary filmmaking. It seems as if you have an ability to see the doc and "feel" what it would feel like to watch it before the shots are taken and from a viewers perspective. I don't know how genius is measured without an objective test but I believe because of a combination of your upbringing and your experiences you are what I would call a social genius - you can hear something once, and immediately render the perfect suggestion, advice, law or whatever is needed to solve the problem. If not for the forum of radio and now podcasting this genius may have been lost. But you have it, your audience feels and knows it - and damn it I'm not afraid to come out and say it - you are a mother f***ing genius! So, keep making docs and hopefully and eventually a flake of your genius will be sprinkled onto our society. If not, at least you'll leave with something tangible left that says, "I was here, and I thought this.".

Regards,.

T-mac.