The above video features no CGI, special effects, or camera tricks (the ship doesn't cruise into the frame until about the :45 mark). Filmmaker Ries Straver shot the footage in 2005 on a trip to Venice, where in one day he witnessed no less than five of these luxurious behemoths coast down a waterway that is mostly meant for locals and tourists piloting rowboats and small-motor craft...Found at Vice, where there's a longer interview with the filmmaker.
So I didn’t have a tripod; I put my camera on a little wall, which is part of this outlook, this post, and I just hit “record.” I adjusted the framing a little bit and it was a perfect postcard-like image. I just hoped the tape would last long enough for the boat to pass all the way through. What I imagined would happen actually happened, which is this cruise liner just completely raped that postcard-like image of Venice. It screws with your idea of what we all know of Venice. It completely changes it. And that’s why it feels so disproportional and abstract. That’s why a lot of people think it’s fake, even though there’s no editing, special effects, or compositing whatsoever. It’s just hitting “record” and then “stop,” and being in the right place at the right time.
04 February 2012
The tranquil beauty of Venice. Wait... what???
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Reminds me of the opening shot of Star Wars - after the text rolls by - when the underside of the ship cruises past overhead. An Imperial Cruiser would be just about the same size as a cruise ship, I'd say...
ReplyDeleteThey're also what cause a major part of the water erosion that will ultimately destroy the city.
ReplyDelete"this cruise liner just completely raped that postcard-like image of Venice. It screws with your idea of what we all know of Venice"
ReplyDeleteSorry, but tough. His idea of Venice isn't sacrosanct, Venice has been and is a working port that earns its living through shipping and tourism. This is both.
OK, it's not my cup of tea either, but it's transient, he only has to look away for a minute or so. I presume the harbour authorities impose suitable speed limits so that the wash doesn't cause trouble and you can be certain that the ship pays heavily for the privilege, which money likely goes towards helping preserve the Venice that Straver values so much.
Most of Venice is people's houses - if you wander away into the backstreets you'll find that it's just another town, though a rather attractive one, and it has a living to earn.
Seems like they could just tender people into the city by smaller boats and keep those behemoths at a safe distance. This happens at a number of ports. I remember doing it at least one port in Mexico. After the recent images of that half sunk cruise ship in Italy, you'd think it would not so easy to brush off these passing giants as harmless.
ReplyDeleteImagine being someone who lives in one of those houses, Skipweasel, and having those things cruise past your bedroom window several times a day...
ReplyDeleteHaving lived on the glide-path for Heathrow, I can't say it'd bother me that much. After all, it passes in a minute or so, and it's quite likely that at that particular moment you weren't looking out of the window anyway.
DeleteMy only trip to venice, we went to bed with the windows open, overlooking giudecca. I woke one morning to a pulsating thump, looked out the window and saw a white wall moving past. Impresive, surreal, and a little sad.
DeleteNice diction, Ries Straver.
ReplyDeleteThe waves from those massive cruise ships are a major factor in the water erosion that threatens the very foundations (and existence) of the city itself.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a reference for that? I'm sure Venice was in trouble long before these giants put in their appearance, and if they really were damaging the city and port authorities wouldn't allow them in.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about Venice being in trouble before, and in a perfect world authorities wouldn't allow those cruise ships there. In the real world, "authorities" start wars over money, the same incentive involved here. A news report about a half year back showed the giant erosion marks on buildings specifically caused by the waves these giants leave in their wake. But don't argue with me, you can do that with UNESCO...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thenational.ae/news/world/europe/venice-is-fighting-a-rising-tide-of-cruise-liner-intrusions
PS-Cruise ships also account for 30% of that city's air pollution!
I note it says "The city wants to reroute..." but offers no explanation of why they can't or haven't.
Delete"But don't argue with me, you can do that with UNESCO..."
DeleteThere is no mention of waves from cruise ships in your link, only that UNESCO would object to modern buildings being built in Venice, and that the cruise ships are similar in size and design to modern buildings.
I live in Sydney opposite the Opera House. The Sydney harbour is a working port and we have about 2 cruise ships as well as container ships, oil tankers and other bulk goods ships go through the harbour each day. These all operate at a 'no-wake' speed, as in despite massing 50,000 tons they produce absolutely no wake in the harbour.
The main source of waves from wakes are the small fast ferries that produce decent sized wakes very close to the shore. I suspect that the same is true in Venice.