Report: Crunchtime – a Channel 4 documentary
Gamers get a bad name. We have the horrible reputation of being pale geeky nerds who sit in the dark all day and have no social skills. What we need is a professional documentary that will show the people of Britain we’re not all weird and funny looking. Crunchtime is going to do just this. A well edited, perfectly filmed, and expertly narrated documentary; Crunchtime follows the University of Abertay’s highly esteemed Dare to be Digital competition and will show the public that the people behind the industry are talented individuals who deserve to be respected.
The annually held Dare to be Digital competition receives hundreds of applications from all over the globe, with 15 lucky teams handpicked to be competing in Dundee; the hometown of gaming industry giants such as Ruffian Games (Crackdown 2), DNA Design (Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto), and Realtime Worlds – may it rest in peace – (Crackdown and APB). These 15 teams then have 10 weeks to design a game from concept to prototype. Crunchtime is a three part documentary that follows these teams in a race against time and against each other.
Channel 4 are really supporting this documentary and the digital industry as a whole, their Media Project Manager (Ian MacKenzie) has said that Crunchtime
“highlights the world class digital sector of Dundee” and that “Channel 4 has engaged with [the digital sector in Dundee] on a number of exciting creative digital projects over the last 12 months”
Crunchtime is exactly the sort of ambassador for the video games industry we want the world to see, not only does it show the development of the competition, but Crunchtime also discusses the history and culture behind the growing phenomenon of video games. Headlight Pictures (TV production company behind Crunchtime) has done an excellent job of editing the documentary into an educational, easy to watch, enjoyable piece of television that will grab your interest and refuse to let go. Mixing footage of the teams both inside and outside the design studio with footage from video games and even footage from the offices of gaming giants leaves you with a greater understanding of the industry as a whole and that is exactly what we need the ill-informed and brainwashed public to have.
Be sure you don’t miss out on Crunchtime, it’ll will be aired on Channel 4 for three weeks, every Sunday at 7:25am from Sunday the 27th.
Expect a follow up piece sometime next week where we question one of the guys behind the show. It’ll be informative, he’s a researcher so he knows his stuff.
