Alfa Romeo’s Past The Seen Sequence Seems Cool However Leaves You Wanting Extra

Past the Seen is a five-part mini-series highlighting the Alfa Romeo F1 Staff ORLEN. The episodes can be found on the Alfa Romeo Youtube channel. 

Earlier than I turned an automotive author and content material creator, I labored in movie and video manufacturing. I did a fair proportion of broadcast information and such, however as many video producers can inform you, the profession path typically means doing tons (and I imply tons) of hours of company movies. And what we’ve right here from the Alfa F1 crew is simply that. It’s nothing greater than a company video sequence; it’s only a company video sequence a couple of actually cool topic.

Alfa Romeo Past The Seen

Past the Seen reveals the internal workings of the Alfa Romeo F1 Staff ORLEN. It’s a five-part video sequence with every episode operating between 5 to 9 minutes lengthy, so it’s bite-sized and straightforward to devour. At its most simple, Past the Seen is a advertising video that units up the product (a racing crew) and what it takes to run it. It’s much like the movies I made for Boeing or Microsoft again within the day. And like these corporations, Past the Seen has that big-budget, high-production worth feel and appear. 

It’s as slick as the rest I’ve seen shot about automobiles. Assume Prime Gear at its most flashy and inventive, and Past the Seen is like that from begin to end, with artsy close-ups and monitoring pictures. They didn’t go nuts (there are not any dolly pictures, for instance), however all the things appears like a high-quality hand-held digital camera or some kind of Steadicam.

Past the Seen is lit to the Nth diploma, coloration graded to perfection, and, though I’d wager a Peroni that it was shot on digital, it appears like movie inventory. That’s most likely a nifty post-production trick, the place you flip a swap and provides your digital footage the colour and richness of chemical substances on celluloid, nevertheless it nonetheless appears very cool right here. And the sound design is, likewise, Hollywood high quality.

Past The Seen Lacks In Key Areas

The narrative construction of the story is missing in Past the Seen. It’s corresponding to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, a behind-the-scenes look right into a storied and historic System 1 crew, however Past the Seen doesn’t have fairly the identical setup.

As an alternative, we’re dropped into the center of this example with Past the Seen. There’s no actual clarification given of Alfa Romeo, for instance. Past some classic footage of individuals like Tazio Nuvolari, Alberto Ascari, and previous Alfettas pounding round Monza, the viewer is left to their very own gadgets regarding who Alfa Romeo is. Positive, in case you’re a gearhead or comply with racing, you most likely already know, nevertheless it could be complicated if that is all new to you.

The identical goes for the interview sound bites and voiceovers, which are usually heavy with buzzwords and company racing jargon. Although well-produced concerning digital camera high quality, Past the Seen doesn’t offer you deep perception into the crew or the drivers.

Leaves You Wanting Extra

We referred to as reveals like this “potato chips” within the enterprise. It’s not a steak dinner loaded with all of the trimmings. It’s a snack, and it’s alleged to be enjoyable to eat. And Past the Seen is certainly that. It’s so glamorously shot and edited that in any case 35 minutes have handed, you continue to don’t know something extra about operating an F1 crew. Like a chip with simply the correct amount of chemical flavoring, you need extra, nevertheless it’s exhausting to really feel glad ultimately. 

Past the Seen, a five-part sequence highlighting the Alfa Romeo F1 Staff ORLEN, is obtainable on the Alfa Romeo Youtube channel. 

Longtime Automoblog author Tony Borroz has labored on widespread driving video games as a content material knowledgeable, along with working for aerospace corporations, software program giants, and as a film stuntman. He lives within the northeast nook of the northwestern-most a part of the Pacific Northwest.