'I was just really testing the idea' is the way that Chris Skigglekow describes his activities at the time when he was one of the people who basically invented bungee jumping; I guess he says this at the end just in case you do not fully get the madness of it all during the period when he describes chucking a potato sack full of rocks off a bridge as a test. This film tells a very condensed history of the creation of bungee jumping in New Zealand and it benefits greatly from not only having Chris himself as the contributor, but also a load of footage from the period – most of which looks genuine but there are a few bits that look like they may have been recreated (hard to say).
The tone of the film matches the blokey attitude of Chris and shown in the footage, and it is this that makes it as engaging and entertaining as it is. Chris himself is matter of fact about it and has a nice edge of humor about the whole thing and generally the telling is fun. The old footage really helps it avoid being a dry look back, as it does feel like we see it all happening while hearing about it. If it was an effort to squeeze it down to 3 minutes then it doesn't really show since it feels like a perfect little piece of history – the tone wouldn't really have suited a more detailed look over 20 minutes, and the tone really does help.
The tone of the film matches the blokey attitude of Chris and shown in the footage, and it is this that makes it as engaging and entertaining as it is. Chris himself is matter of fact about it and has a nice edge of humor about the whole thing and generally the telling is fun. The old footage really helps it avoid being a dry look back, as it does feel like we see it all happening while hearing about it. If it was an effort to squeeze it down to 3 minutes then it doesn't really show since it feels like a perfect little piece of history – the tone wouldn't really have suited a more detailed look over 20 minutes, and the tone really does help.