Documentaries About Living in Hi-Tech Artificial Environments

September 28, 2007 3:15 PM

Is there any one definitive, super-evocative portrait of life on on offshore oil rig? Preferably with lots of oh-cool gnarly imagery? ....that I can buy on DVD, download from iTunes or GUBA or torrent, etc? I know there are lots that sort of fit the bill, but I'm looking for extra transportive, extra in-depth cool treatments. Also of interest: looks at life on aircraft carriers, antarctic base stations, etc. I'm into transportive experiences of living in really artificial (and preferably somewhat high-tech) environments. Very XY chromosome I guess...
posted by jimmyjimjim to Media & Arts (19 answers total)

I can't point you to anything exactly like that off the top of my head, but it sounds like freighter travel might push some of those buttons for you and there's plenty of web sites on that.
posted by Naberius at 3:36 PM on September 28, 2007

I'm not sure if the second part of your question is restricted to documentaries, but the film The Abyss gives a compelling treatment of life on a deep sea mining rig. No idea how accurate their portrayal is, but the documentary of how they made the movie is almost as cool (they essentially spent months underwater in an abandoned nuclear plant).
posted by Jeff Howard at 4:24 PM on September 28, 2007

I have been on an offshore oil rig. It is cramped, noisy, and terminally boring. There is nothing cool about it. I cannot imagine a full documentary. Supposedly there was a show on the Discovery channel last year about getting the Mars platform back online after Katrina knocked it out of production. I can't imagine anybody but the guys who work on the Mars platform and their families watching it all the way through.

localroger had a couple kuroshin posts on work in a chemical plant which were the best text I have seen. The last time I tried to search for google blanked but if anybody around here would know the answer to your question, it is localroger.
posted by bukvich at 5:16 PM on September 28, 2007

I know the South Pole Station (Amundsen-Scott) has a little film festival where they show movies they make themselves, some of which are about life at the station. The website for one of the movies is here but I haven't watched it so can't really vouch for it. However, my boyfriend was there for that summer (I think?) so I may post a followup with recommendations for things to look for. Two youtube videos come up when you search for "south pole film festival" so those may also be worth a look.

In any case, now you know that South Pole Station has a film festival, so that might help you in your quest.
posted by crinklebat at 5:26 PM on September 28, 2007

And yes, bukvich is right that these places are often extremely boring. The boyfriend got to the point last year where he was shoveling snow. At the South Pole. Think about it. He told stories of people getting up to ridiculous shenanigans involving trying to lift some things with weather balloons and stuff. It's pretty much a bunch of scientists doing their jobs, missing their loved ones, getting drunk all the time, and wishing they had a better internet connection so they could get their online gaming on. Every once in a while all but one of the generators goes down, or weather gets in the way of a really necessary shipment of equipment, or something "exciting" like that.

I think the more interesting thing is what's done for these people to give them some sense of normalcy. The South Pole Film Festival, for example. They also go all out with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner for scientists working there, I hear.
posted by crinklebat at 5:31 PM on September 28, 2007

Good stuff, crinkelbat
posted by Huplescat at 5:38 PM on September 28, 2007

Jimmyjimjim: I would guess that you’re aware of “The Deadliest Catch” series on The Discovery Channel, and that you’re looking for something similar. If you haven’t seen it you need to because it fits your description perfectly.. The Discovery Channel tried to catch the same magic with Maine lobster fisherman with mixed results. A similar channel, maybe even Discovery, is running a thing about offshore oil platform guys in the Gulf of Mexico. Its better than the lobster thing, but not up to The Deadliest Catch.
posted by Huplescat at 5:40 PM on September 28, 2007

More information on The Deadliest Catch

I wish I could find more info on it, but I've seen some of the offshore oil platform shows Huplescat is referring to. It was on one of the Discoveyr/TLC/National Geographic/Travel channels.

The producers sure have a way of making that stuff look exciting!
posted by jmd82 at 6:34 PM on September 28, 2007

If you would consider reading a novel, I am certain that you would enjoy David Masiel's 2182 kHz. Don't read too much about it, just buy a copy and dive in.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:10 PM on September 28, 2007

Response by poster: Interesting answers, thanks. Yep, Huplescat, Deadliest Catch is great (especially the king crab first season)...though low tech.

As for the actual boredom....ANYTHING is boring if you actually do it day after day (trust me...I've been stone cold bored in some supposedly supremely interesting jobs). Consider: no one who works in these places is likely bored their first-ever day. Similarly, a documentary, if its well done, can be captivating just by virtue of the transportive alien-ness. I wouldn't want to work there....or watch a 3 month long documentary...just want a taste!
posted by jimmyjimjim at 7:54 PM on September 28, 2007

A really terrific novel is "Black and Blue," by Ian Rankin. A small part of the book involves a visit to a North Sea platform. I don't want to sell this as an oil rig novel, it's a police novel, and it's really great for anyone who likes Ian Rankin's type of writing. (I suggest you read his works in order.)
posted by JimN2TAW at 10:41 PM on September 28, 2007

The Lars Von Trier film 'Breaking the Waves' spends quite a lot of time on board an oil rig - the scenes look prettty realistic and quease-inducing.
posted by Flashman at 1:51 AM on September 29, 2007

The first time I went offshore our boat pulled up under a drilling rig in the middle of the night. It was this massive thing covered in lights looming above us. Down out of the glare came this little circular platform with a cone of rope net above it, on a crane line. It landed in the middle of the deck, and guys started pushing and shoving and throwing bags and boxes on it. Then four of them grabbed the netting and stood around the disc. They were yanked up and into the dark. A few minutes later, it was my turn. The crane lifted us up close to a hundred feet, and began to swing us over onto the rig. Somebody was welding, and sparks were flying. There were incomprehensible and massive pieces of machinery everywhere. Noise. Garbled voices pouring out of speakers. A vast and orchestrated routine, like a metal anthill.
Yes, it loses its luster, and becomes workaday. But every now and then, it still thrills me. It's the scale that gets me. Everything is enormous.
posted by atchafalaya at 6:20 AM on September 29, 2007 [1 favorite]

John Carpenter's The Thing is set at an Antarctic base station.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:42 AM on September 29, 2007

The Discovery Channel bukvich mentions is called Blood, Sweat, and Rigs. You might be able to find episodes of it on bittorrent somewhere.
posted by autojack at 12:25 PM on September 29, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks, autojack! Close...it's actually Oil, Sweat, and Rigs. The two DVD's are out of print, itunes doesn't stock it, and it's certainly not easily found on bittorent, but I'll track it down (I see one DVD set is available, though pricey, from amazon marketplace).
posted by jimmyjimjim at 2:03 PM on September 29, 2007

I'm in the gulf of Mexico right now, and I wish I wasn't. The ROV is 6000' deep and pouring its horsepower into installing a newfangled and novel structure on the end of a pipeline.

This thing is a mile deep and my job is to position it -something I can do within a foot or two.

Sound interesting? It's not. I can tell you every article on the front page of the blue. It's all mundane. If it were risky and thrilling, we would engineer the thrill right out of it. Safety first, right?

atchafalaya, you don't work offshore any more, do you? If so, whereabouts?
posted by MotorNeuron at 4:00 PM on September 29, 2007

Response by poster: MotorNeuron - everyone's job is mundane, almost without exception (exception being jobs like policing where there are infrequent peaks of high risk...and those peaks come between long stretches of crushing boredom).

I've seen eyes utterly glazed on the operator of a ski lift on a mountain in Spain so picturesque one could swoon from the beauty. I've seen performers yawn during standing ovations. I see thrill seekers seeking ever bigger thrills as tolerance and boredom ratchet up.

It's burned into human nature, even at the level of perceptual neurons: that to which we're accustomed ceases to stimulate.

And it's also human nature not to see this fundamental truth, and to pick apart the particulars of one's current situation and yearn for something entirely BETTER...where the magic never fades. The magic, however, comes from internal attitude rather than external events!
posted by jimmyjimjim at 8:51 AM on September 30, 2007

I'm working for Cal Dive. At the shop at the moment, at POI. Most recently shallow water stuff right out of Fourchon. How about you? What block are you in?
posted by atchafalaya at 8:32 PM on September 30, 2007