July 17, 2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paf444dYg5c
The first 3 minutes were added by the “grandson” who has clearly watched way-too-much American Pickers or Pawn Stars, but the grandfather’s other 27 minutes are . . .
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Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry
Read on, MacDuff.
Surviving Yucatan 
Fast forward to 3-minute mark. Then ask yourself if the intro from gramps doesn’t seem too modern. Maybe I’ve seen too many home movies. 16mm is way above that grade. I made some 16mm films as a photographers mate in USN (Maybe gramps had gone to film school, too? Or maybe something has been contrived? Hard to see for sure.) Something about the style seems less than authentic to my eye – like fake time travel. (Now, back to the film.)
Hey eric,
I’m pretty convinced that the grandson gave a bunch of the grandfather’s shorts to a university videography class – and the University students shot the videos of the grandson, cut and pasted together the grandfather’s shorts – where the old-school “comments text clips” of the grandfather are very good quality- while the modern text clips descriptions inserted by the university students are flat-colorless and average at best. I suspect the grandfather or his traveling companion had some professional experience – as the camera angles they set up in advance, their timing, their panning, etc are very good – much better than other amateur home-movies of the time.
???
steve
Don’t throw shit to the grand son! Thanks to him we have the documentary… And Mr Kerekes is doing a great job at making old cultures accessible to plain people. He does not pretend being an archeologist or an historian…but he does an effective job as a popularizer of knowledge… and I thank him for that…. Daniel (de Alamos)
Yes, thank him profusely for giving the grandfather’s raw film to university students to do all the work.
Did you read the credits at the end – describing who did all the work and who Kerkes credits: university students for all their efforts?
Thanks to the students for making the film, for converting the old 16 mm into modern digital shorts, … thank the students for doing all the video editing, … thank the students for cutting and pasting all the pieces, …and thank the university students for adding music, … give more thanks for all the student efforts combined to make the finished product…. Thank the grandfather and cameraman for making fine shorts.
I identified the first 3 minutes as very different from the other 90% – because the grandson’s clip factually and stylistically fits modern Pawn Stars and American Picker shows – which are off-putting to many people interested in Mexican culture. I’d hate for readers to start watching the first 3 minutes, and think it was representative of the last 27 minutes, and give up prematurely.
People interested in Mexican culture can simply choose to fast-forward through the first 3 minutes, and thank the university students for making the video for the rest of us to enjoy.
Happy Trails,
steve
Don’t throw shit to the grand son! Thanks to him we have the documentary… And Mr Kerekes is doing a great job at making old cultures accessible to plain people. He does not pretend being an archeologist or an historian…but he does an effective job as a popularizer of knowledge… and I thank him for that