Slow television

Slow television, or slow TV (Norwegian: Sakte-TV), is a term used for a genre of live "marathon" television coverage of an ordinary event in its complete length. Its name is derived both from the long endurance of the broadcast as well as from the natural slow pace of the television program's progress. It was popularised in the 2000s by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), beginning with the broadcast of a 7-hour train journey in 2009.^[1][2]

Background

The concept is a modernization of artist Andy Warhol's slow movie Sleep from 1963, which showed poet John Giorno sleeping for five hours and twenty minutes.^[2] The concept was adapted to local TV broadcast in 1966 by WPIX, to VHS video tape in 1984 by the British company Video125, to satellite TV in 2003 by Bahn TV, and to live TV in 2011 by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).

The latest evolution of the concept started with the NRK's coverage of the longest driver's eye view at that time, showing the complete 7-hour train ride along the Bergen Line (Norwegian: Bergensbanen) on 27 November 2009.^[3] It was followed by the live coverage of the Hurtigruten ship MS Nordnorge during its 134-hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes starting on 16 June 2011.^[4]

Both events received extensive attention in both Norwegian and foreign media, and were considered a great success with coverage numbers exceeding all expectations and record ratings for the NRK2 channel.^[3][5]

Earlier examples

WHRB Orgies

Harvard College's radio station WHRB has a tradition of broadcasting music marathons it calls "Orgies" during the college's reading and exam periods. A WHRB Orgy typically consists of an entire composer, musician, or group's musical catalog played back-to-back, although it can also consist of a similar marathon broadcasts centered around a specific genre or subject. The WHRB Orgies are said to date back to 1943, when a student staffer broadcast all of Beethoven's symphonies back-to-back in order to celebrate finishing a difficult exam.^[6][7]

The Yule Log

Starting at Christmas 1966, WPIX showed a looped film of a yule log burning in a fireplace, accompanied by classic Christmas music playing in the background. It was broadcast without commercial interruption.

Night Walk/Night Moves/Night Ride

Another early foray into slow television was Night Walk, Night Ride and Night Moves, a trio of late night programs which aired on the Global Television Network in Canada in the 1980s and early 1990s.^[8] Airing in the overnight hours when most television stations would have been running a test pattern, the three programs each depicted a different first-person view of a walking or driving trip through a part of downtown Toronto, with a mellow jazz soundtrack.^[8] Only one episode of each program was ever produced, although they were rerun every night from their debut in 1986 to their cancellation in 1993.^[8]

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation

Between 2009 and 2016, NRK, Norway's public broadcaster, has produced several slow television programs that have gained high ratings. Sakte-tv (English: Slow-TV) was named Word of the Year in Norway in 2013.^[9]

2009: Bergensbanen – minutt for minutt

The Bergen Line with the principal stations used in the 2009 broadcast.

NRK's first foray into slow television was the program Bergensbanen minute by minute – train journey across Southern Norway, which depicted the 7-hour train journey from Bergen to Oslo along the Bergen Line (Norwegian: Bergensbanen). It was aired on NRK2 on 27 November 2009 and came to be described as "the iconic slow-TV program".^[1] The event was planned as part of the 100-year anniversary of the existence of the Bergen Line. Four cameras were used to produce the documentary, showing both exterior and interior views, along with interviews with both crew, train conductors, historians, past workers and passengers. The train went through 182 tunnels. Archival clips from the Bergen Railways 100-year history were shown when the train passed through tunnels, to make the final show last exactly as long as the train trip. The show was first broadcast on November 27, 2009, while the recording had been done earlier during summer.

The program was followed by an average of 176,000 viewers, and 1,246,000 Norwegian viewers^[3] (20% of the population)^[2] were watching the event at least once during its screening time. The event received attention in both Norwegian and foreign media, and has received both renewed attention and appreciation, mainly among its Norwegian followers.

Following the success from the Bergen Line, NRK also filmed the Flåm Line in May 2010^[10] and the Bergen Light Rail in June 2010.^[11]

2010: Flåmsbana – minutt for minutt

Flåmsbana minute by minute – scenic tourist route, train journey depicted the trip along the Flåm Line, a 20.2-kilometre (12.6 mi) railway that descends 863 m (2,831 ft) from Myrdal to Flåm on the Sognefjord. It was broadcast on NRK1 on 5 September at 08.05, lasting 58 minutes, and around 500,000 viewers watched the entire program, for a market share of 40%.^[12][13]

2011: Hurtigruten – minutt for minutt

MS Nordnorge, the ship used in the live broadcast in 2011

Hurtigruten minute by minute – a coastal voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes depicted the Norwegian Coastal Express (Norwegian: Hurtigruten) ship MS Nordnorge on a 134-hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes. The program started on 16 June 2011 at 19:45 CET on NRK and transmitted the entire journey live and non-stop.^[4] A total of 11 cameras—three fixed, a bow camera and a gyro stabilized Cineflex camera^[14]—recorded the boat.^[15]

The broadcast was shown live on NRK2 in Norway, and on the internet for international viewers and Norwegians abroad, available in Norwegian^[16] and English.^[17] The broadcast received greater attention and popularity than the previous Bergensbanen minutt for minutt show, both in media and by viewers.^[1][18]

During the weekend of 17–19 June 2011, 2,542,000 people, or approximately half the Norwegian population, visited the live broadcast. At its peak, 692,000 people followed the broadcast at eleven forty-five Sunday night, as the boat was heading into the Trollfjord in Lofoten. The broadcast also tried to set a world record in being the world's longest live television documentary waiting for a registration in the Guinness Book of Records. The record so far was 13 hours against their 134 hours.^[19]

In 2012, Hurtigruten – minutt for minutt was included in Norsk Dokumentarv which is the Norwegian part of the Memory of the World Programme^[20]

2012: Lakseelva – minutt for minutt

Salmon river – minute by minute was a 24-hour-long live broadcast on NRK1 and NRK2 that depicted the opening day of fishing season on the Gaula River in Sør-Trøndelag and lasted from 31 May to 1 June 2012. It consisted of a 40-minute introduction on NRK1, 18 hours of live salmon fishing on NRK2, and a 3-hour regular broadcast on NRK1. Around 1.6 million watched the broadcast, earning 10 percent of the market share.^[12][13]

2012: Telemarkskanalen – minutt for minutt

Telemarkskanalen minute by minute – channel boat trip was a 12-hour cruise along the Telemark Canal that was broadcast live on NRK2 on Sunday 26 August 2012. 1,300,000 watched the broadcast in Norway, for a market share of 29 percent.^[12][13]

2012: Nordlandsbanen – minutt for minutt

Nordlandsbanen minute by minute – season by season – train journey north of the Arctic Circle depicted a 9 hour and 50 minute journey on the Nordland Line railway from Trondheim to Bodø. It was broadcast on NRK2 on 29 December 2012 and had a viewership of around 1.2 million, for a market share of 13 percent.^[12][13]

2013: Nasjonal vedkveld

On February 15, 2013, NRK broadcast the 12-hour-long broadcast National Wood Night^[21] on the topic of firewood. Nearly a million people, or 20 percent of the population, tuned in at some point of the program. The broadcast was inspired by the best-selling book by Lars Mytting, Solid Wood: All About Chopping, Drying and Stacking Wood — and the Soul of Wood-Burning. The show consisted of four hours of ordinary produced television, followed by showing eight hours of a live fireplace. The show received international attention, including an article in The New York Times ^[22] and a segment on The Colbert Report.

2013: Sommeråpent – minutt for minutt

Summer Entertainment Show – coastal cruise with entertainment show, a journey from Oslo to Kirkenes and back was a coastal cruise with entertainment from Oslo to Kirkenes and back. The approximately 379-hour show was broadcast live on NRK1 from Saturday 22 June to Sunday 10 August 2013.^[12][13]

2013: Nasjonal strikkekveld

On 1 November 2013, NRK aired National Knitting Night a 12-hour show depicting a non-stop knitting marathon which attempted to break the Guinness World record for knitting a sweater from beginning to end^[23] An NRK spokesperson described the show as "the feminine response to the firewood show."^[24][25]

2014: 200 år på 200 minutter

In 200 years in 200 minutes - lecture performed by professor Frank Aarebrot, political scientist Frank Aarebrot gave a 200-minute lecture on the past 200 years of Norwegian history. 700,000 viewers watched the broadcast, which ran from 8:05 to 11:30 am on February 28, gaining a 15 percent share of viewership.^[12][13]

2014: 1814 på 24 timar

1814 in 24 hours commemorated the signing of the Constitution of Norway in 1814. Around 50 academics lectured for 24 hours straight from Rikssalen in Eidsvollsbygningen, the building where the constitution was originally signed. The show broadcast from 9 May to 10 May 2014, with a viewership of 669,000, or 6 percent market share.^[12][13]

2014: Piip-show

Piip-show featured footage from a camera set up to record the activities of birds and other wildlife at a bird feeder decorated to look like a coffee shop. A website run by NRK streamed live footage from the camera for three months, and NRK2 also featured a 14-hour television program showing live footage on 25 May 2015, with a viewership of 243,000.^[12][13]

2014: Salmeboka – minutt for minutt

On 28-30 November 2014, NRK aired the 60-hour Hymnal - cover to cover. The show depicted about 200 choirs, including around 3,000-4,000 singers and soloists, performing the entire contents of the Church of Norway's national hymnal, published in 2013. Most of the performances took place live at Vår Frue Church in Trondheim, though some recorded performances came from 11 other sites such as Karasjok in northern Norway and Decorah, Iowa. The church was open throughout the show, and more than 16,000 visitors dropping in. A total of 2.2 million viewers tuned in at some point during the program, with an average of 87,000 at any one time.^[26][27][28]

2015: Krig på 200 minutter

War in 200 minutes featured a 200-minute lecture from Frank Aarebrot on the subject of war. It was broadcast on 9 April 2015, the 75th anniversary of the German occupation of Norway in 1940. The program received a viewership of 238,000 with a market share of 21.4 percent.^[12][13]

2015: Sommerbåten – minutt for minutt

Summer boat - coastal cruise with entertainment show, a journey from Vadsø to Oslo depicted a live coastal cruise from Vadsø in northern Norway to Oslo in southern Norway. The show lasted from Sunday 21 June until Saturday 15 August.^[29]

2016: Saltstraumen – minutt for minutt

Saltstraumen – minute by minute was a 12-hour show depicting live footage from the Norwegian strait of Saltstraumen, site of one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. It was broadcast on 7 May 2016.^[30]

Interaction through social media

During the 134 hour broadcast of the Hurtigruten trip, the show received massive attention among Norwegian followers in the social media arena. Both on Facebook and Twitter and Blogs people talked about the trip and how they followed its progression.

As the boat moved north, place names popped up in the top 10, such as #Sortland and #Trollfjord. Around midnight Saturday there was one tweet about Hurtigruten per six seconds. During the broadcast, cities competed in arranging the greatest welcoming committee at the different harbors and three different wedding proposals were captured during the 136 hours.^[31][32]

International attention

The Hurtigruten – minute by minute broadcast was also shown online with many viewers abroad; 46 percent of online viewers were outside Norway. The major countries were Denmark (7%), United States (4%), Germany (4%), United Kingdom (4%) and France (4%), gaining attention in international media.^{[33][34][35][36][37]} / During the days of the broadcast the Norwegian Embassy in Seoul organized a campaign on the subway to promote Norway. A billboard set up in Samgakji subway station in downtown Seoul was set up to broadcast the show live. Korean media showed interest in the exhibition, characterizing it as "the most creative PR stunt they've heard of in a long time".^[19]

International adaptations

BBC Four Goes Slow

As an adaptation of the style, the British channel BBC4 in 2015 and 2016 broadcast series of slow journeys such as a canal boat journey and bus ride.^[38][39][40]

Web-based slow TV transmissions

2016: Terms and conditions word by word

To illustrate the wordiness of the terms and conditions on an average phone, the Norwegian Consumer Council staged a reading of 30 such legal documents in a session that started on May 24, 2016, and was streamed for more than 24 hours.^[41]

Sigur Rós: Route One

On the day of the 2016 summer solstice, Sigur Rós unveiled a 24-hour ‘slow tv’ event live on Iceland’s national television, and streamed live globally via YouTube. ^[42] It featured the journey along the entirety of Iceland's Route 1, which loops around the perimeter of the country, while playing a live-generated remix of the band's new song, Óveður.

See also

• Desert Bus
• Slow cinema
• Slow movement (culture)

References

External links

• NRK page on "Slow TV"
• TED video on "Slow TV"