Mind Body Spirit-Swedish Massage (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Lifestyle	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	50:20
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Reel DVD	Starring	Lynne Sawyer
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	None Given

     Swedish Massage is part of REL Entertainment's Mind Body Spirit range of lifestyle programmes. This particular programme appears to have been sourced from the UK and features masseuse Lynne Sawyer outlining the basic techniques of "Swedish" (i.e. run of the mill full-body) massage.

     After a thoroughly unnecessary introduction sequence (if I've bought an instructional massage DVD, I hardly need a good 5-10 minutes of convincing that I might like a massage), and similarly unwarranted outro bookend, the programme itself is pretty decent but overly drawn out. It covers the expected various ways of rubbing people; what works in certain areas of the body and what effect you hope to achieve with each technique. It also covers a few things that I was not expecting., such as what constitutes a good massage oil. The instructor is pleasant but her narration is somewhat awkward and poorly overdubbed at times. Similarly, photography is a mixed bag - mostly fairly static photography but it occasionally moves to some unpleasantly shaky handheld photography.

     Swedish Massage delivers what can be reasonably expected of a programme with its title, though with very modest production values.

Video

     The programme is presented in a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio which looks to be the correct aspect for the programme.

     The show looks to have been recorded on betacam and pretty much looks like a good quality home movie. The focus is slightly soft, but good enough, and the image is reasonably clear. There are no obvious video compression artefacts or aliasing.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
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Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
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Audio

     The show features a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kbps) soundtrack.

     The audio is good enough to get the message across, but pretty awfully mixed. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand, although the narration overdubs are clumsily inserted and quite variable in volume.

     The occasional background piano/organ music is pleasant but like the rest of the audio it sits at a clumsy level in the background.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

    Though it is undoubtedly available in other regions, I have not been able to find exact details of the programme's release in other regions.

    Swedish Massage delivers what can be reasonably expected of a programme with its title, though with very modest production values.

    The video and audio are of reasonable quality, although the programme's production values are mediocre. No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall