60 Second Doc Review: Extreme Ironing

As someone who craves adventure and completely random activities, I really thought there wasn't much I haven't done, or at least know of: under water basket weaving, free soloing, and cliff diving, you name it, there's a god chance I've done it. However, today I learned of something I never knew existed - extreme ironing, and, if I'm being honest, this is something I really want to try...

The video opens with a statement that without a doubt catches most people off guard: "Ironing is certainly not meant to be normal". At least in my experience, ironing is most definitely meant to be normal. I, personally, injure myself plenty without taking my ironing board to a Scandanavian ice cave. However, Matt Battley of New Zealand believes otherwise. In a short documentary, dialogue is critical. It moves the story along, but it needs to be at the right pace: not too fast, not too slow.

Switching to the visual aspect of the opening shot, the viewer is immersed into a sweeping landscape shot with a wide angle lens. This brings the viewer directly into the scene. Again, being a 60 second doc, there is no time to waste setting up a shot/scene/story. Everything needs to be linear and direct.

The short film also switches between B-Roll and a traditional interview style shot. In my opinion, most "good" interviews include substantial B-Roll to compliment the dialogue. The director of this film does so wonderfully. It is also important to note the different feelings that come from the varying shots. B-Roll has the opportunity to simply show different scenes, or it can really evoke emotion. In this particular case, most of the B-Roll is just to make the video more interesting. However, there is a much different feeling when compared with the classic interview shot. The interview connects the viewer to Matt. We see him as a person, like we're having a conversation with him. If this part were to be missing, the video would soley be narration and B-Roll - cool, but not very effective when creating something like a documentary. The interview shot was an excellent inclusion and choice.

The ending has almost a twist ending to it. The first 50 seconds of the video, you're left wondering, "ok, but why is he doing this?" Some could argue that Matt is just a really odd person; however, at the end, we learn that extreme ironing really has nothing to do with ironing, but escapism. Mr. Battley is an astrophysicist. He spends the whole day working in one of the most intellectually challenging fields in the world. He needs to escape. Matt believes that idea of "escapism" is incredibly important to living a happy life. In the end, extreme ironing is just something to get Matt through the day, just like how I have Subway chocolate chip cookies to get me through mine.