This is a really interesting history programme, well researched, informative, and presented with authority and appropriate excitement and wonder by Neil Oliver.
There's some overlap with the previous Ancient History series which is a little tedious at the beginning, but it's a useful introduction for those who haven't already seen that.
The only real problem is the camera work. It's frequently shot with narrow depth of field - a technique that can be extremely effective, but only if you can keep the subject in focus. The subject drifts in and out of focus frequently, especially on moving shots, because the depth of field is too narrow and the cameraman is not sufficiently skilled to pull off this style. This is particularly irritating when the presenter is displaying a specific artifact, and the camera spends the time hunting backwards and forwards, crossing the focus point only occasionally - the result being that you don't get a proper look at the item concerned, and that's frustrating.
Still, the content is excellent, right up to date, and gives a realistic, broad view of Celtic life, and for that, I must still give a 7.
I look forward to more history presented by Neil Oliver - as long as he takes a different cameraman.
There's some overlap with the previous Ancient History series which is a little tedious at the beginning, but it's a useful introduction for those who haven't already seen that.
The only real problem is the camera work. It's frequently shot with narrow depth of field - a technique that can be extremely effective, but only if you can keep the subject in focus. The subject drifts in and out of focus frequently, especially on moving shots, because the depth of field is too narrow and the cameraman is not sufficiently skilled to pull off this style. This is particularly irritating when the presenter is displaying a specific artifact, and the camera spends the time hunting backwards and forwards, crossing the focus point only occasionally - the result being that you don't get a proper look at the item concerned, and that's frustrating.
Still, the content is excellent, right up to date, and gives a realistic, broad view of Celtic life, and for that, I must still give a 7.
I look forward to more history presented by Neil Oliver - as long as he takes a different cameraman.