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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Geri Yoga (2001)

Geri Yoga (2001)

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Released 22-Apr-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Yoga Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Featurette-Extended Interview
Featurette-Energy Workout
Custom Play-Customized Workout
Isolated Musical Score
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 112:57
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Steve Kemsley
Studio
Distributor
Banana Split
MRA Entertainment
Starring Katy Appleton
Geri Halliwell
Tina Abbey
Case Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI $29.95 Music Tony Gibber


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Isolated Music Score Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    I've always wondered why there are so few "fitness videos" available in the DVD format - you would think that with the growing proliferation of DVD players (and a medium that can survive repeated playbacks that fitness videos tend to be subjected to) distributors would be rushing to market some titles.

    Well, here we are - nearly five years after the introduction and titles are only just coming out in Region 4. Therefore it is with some anticipation that I decided to review a (reportedly) hot-selling title entitled Geri Yoga.

    No, Geri is not a type of yoga. Geri Halliwell is a former Spice Girl ("Ginger Spice") who has been trying to reinvent herself, including selling her Spice Girl costumes for charity, singing for Prince Charles on his 50th birthday, and getting appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. Oh yeah, and releasing a solo album. Recently she stunned the world by reinventing her body into a healthier, fitter, slimmer look (although when I was at Coles last week and scanning the headlines of the women's magazines, one of the headlines was "Geri Still Has Bulimia!" - don't you just love the media!). And of course it's all due to "yoga" and now us mere mortals will be privileged to share in the secrets of her body makeover.

    In truth, this DVD would probably be better entitled "Katy Appleton Yoga (with some postures demonstrated by Geri)" but then presumably it wouldn't sell as well. Katy Appleton is Geri's yoga teacher and is the real star of the show (incidentally she has a web site called Apple Yoga).

    This DVD consists of a set of warm up, exercise and relaxation positions/postures, together with an "exclusive" interview with Geri. The actual exercises are just under 90 minutes, and the interview with Geri (entitled "Geri Talks") is tacked at the end to bring the total running time to 112:57.

    The feature starts off with a health warning/disclaimer followed by a short introduction by Geri and Katy. Amongst other things, Katy talks about the three different breathing techniques during the introduction which I found quite useful. Then we actually go into the exercise programme proper. Katy provides both "beginner" (demonstrated by Tina Abbey) and "advanced" (demonstrated by Geri) versions of each exercise.

    I have to warn you that some of these positions require good muscular control as well as balance and are not all that easy to achieve. However, even someone such as myself who may be ... ahem ... less physically gifted ... was able to benefit from these exercises. In particular, no matter how unfit you think you are, try the warm up and relaxation exercises - I promise it will do you a world of good. I had a slightly blocked nose and a congested chest when I started the routine (from a flu attack a few weeks ago) - by the end of the programme my breathing had completely cleared. Amazing! I have to admit though that some (many?) of the postures in the middle of the programme were completely beyond me.

    One thing that annoyed me was the constant flip between beginner and advanced positions. An obsessive compulsive like me of course was tempted to try both and I found the sequence of routines hard to follow. Also, yoga is one of those exercises where the timing depends on the individual (the length of time you maintain a particular position is entirely up to you) which means it's hard to keep the programme running and I needed to either pause or fast forward the programme a fair bit (well, I suppose that's what remote controls are for).

    Those of you expecting to learn how to do a complete head stand will be disappointed. This position is dangerous to attempt without expert supervision and the programme wisely does not show you the steps required to achieve it, although the camera does capture Geri in the position so that we are reminded how "advanced" she is.

    In the "Geri Talks" segment, Geri talks about various subjects, including how she got into yoga, her attitude towards food (past and present), how she dealt with being famous, her attitude towards herself, life and death, the future, why she decided to do this video, and so on. She comes across as being quite honest and down to earth and not at all like her manic personality during the Spice Girl days.

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Track Listing

1. Introduction
2. Warm Up
3. Sun Warm Up (Advanced)
4. Geri Postures
5. Relaxation
6. Geri Talks

Transfer Quality

Video

    Well, one thing I discovered is that it is almost impossible to follow the yoga programme and critically review the DVD's video transfer at the same time! I ended up watching it twice - once while attempting to do the exercises, and a second time analysing the DVD video and audio quality.

    As is to be expected, this is a full frame transfer based on an interlaced video source. The usual interlaced video artefacts such as aliasing and shimmering are present and mainly noticeable if you look closely at the grain of the timber flooring as the camera slowly pans across the room. There is also low level video noise present throughout the entire video transfer resulting in some low level dancing pixels if you peer too closely at the background. Finally, there is some evidence of Gibb's effect ringing, though thankfully not pixelization. I am surprised that there aren't more MPEG compression artefacts present since there is more than 2 hours of video material squeezed onto a single sided single layered disc.

    The level of detail and colour saturation is acceptable and consistent with the use of video cameras as the source material. Colours are quite bright but have a tendency to lean towards yellowish tones (particularly during the interview segment with Geri) - perhaps because of the lighting used in the room.

    To be honest, I don't think prospective buyers of this disc will be particularly interested in the video transfer quality as long as it is acceptable which it certainly is.

    There are no subtitle tracks on this disc.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on this disc, which can be selected on the menu by specifying "Dialogue On/Off": English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s), and an Isolated Music Score in Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s).

    The audio quality is mastered at a fairly high level and sounds really pleasant. I did not have any difficulties following Katy's dialogue.

    The music score is typical "exercise video smooth jazz and new age" material composed by Tony Gibber and can be listened to on its own if the Isolated Music Score audio track is selected.

    There are no audio synchronisation issues on the disc.

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

Extras

Menu

    The main menu is full frame and includes animation and background audio, as well as a short intro.

Featurette - Extended Interview (9:13)

    This seems to consist of additional interview segments not included in the main feature. Geri talks about her energy levels, success, music, heroes, clothes, performing, home and marriage.

Featurette - Energy Workout (13:19)

    This is a set of additional exercises. Don't be fooled by the term "extra energy" - this is not an aerobic workout and the term is used to refer to positions that generate more flow of energy through the body. I get the feeling that these are exercises that were filmed as part of but removed for various reasons from the main programme. They do seem more advanced than some of the other exercises in the main programme.

Custom Play-Customized Workout

    This allows you to program your own chapter play sequence (up to 5 chapters). I am struggling to figure out why this would be useful, since there are only 6 chapters on the disc (and the exercise routines are spread across only 4 of the 6 chapters). This feature would have been far more useful if the individual postures (beginner vs advanced) were individually chaptered.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This title does not appear to be currently released in Region 1.

Summary

    Geri Yoga is the first "fitness" DVD I have had the opportunity to sample. The programme contains a good set of postures, ranging from easy to very advanced, but is quite difficult to follow due to poor editing - beginner and advanced postures are intermixed and the exercises are not paced well.

    Both audio and video transfers are acceptable.

    Extras seem to be off-cuts of exercises and interview segments with Geri Halliwell that didn't seem to make it into the main feature. The "Custom Play" option could have been useful but given the DVD does not contain a lot of chapter stops it seems like a wasted feature.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Christine Tham (read my biography)
Friday, June 07, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-626D, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL-VW11HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics 16x9 matte white screen (254cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationDenon AVR-3300
SpeakersFront and rears: B&W CDM7NT; centre: B&W CDMCNT; subwoofer: B&W ASW2500

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