Lionheart-The Jesse Martin Story (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette Biographies-Cast-Jesse Martin
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	70:30 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Paul Currie
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Jesse Martin
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	None Given

    This documentary tells the inspirational story of Jesse Martin's attempt to become the youngest person in history to circumnavigate the globe without assistance and without using fossil fuels.

    Jesse's record-breaking adventure captured the attention of many Australians and when he completed his journey in Sandringham on October 31, 1999 he was greeted by over 25,000 well-wishers. During Jesse's voyage, the public was able to track his progress through a weekly column for the Herald-Sun as well as multiple live interviews by various media outlets including Channel 10's 'The Panel'.

    The main feature on this disc is comprised of footage taken by Jessie during his trip as well as numerous interview segments with his family and people associated with his journey. The footage taken by Jesse onboard his boat is extremely interesting as we are able to see first-hand the conditions he experienced as well as how the experience effected him both physically and mentally.

    This disc is sure to appeal to many viewers and it reminds us that people are able to achieve almost anything if they set their mind to it.

Video

    The video for this documentary is comprised mainly of footage taken by Jesse during his journey. Consequently, there is often water on the camera lens and poorly framed shots but this never bothers the viewer at any time. The interview segments that are included during the feature have been letterboxed at approximately 1.78:1, presumably to differentiate them from Jesse's footage. Unfortunately these segments were clearly composed for a full frame transfer and the letterboxing does cut off some visual information.

    The full frame transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    The transfer is quite sharp during the majority of the documentary, but during some segments containing footage from other sources, such as some news media reports, the image does become a little soft. These segments with poor sharpness do not pose any real problem for the viewers as their duration is extremely short. During the transfer, the dark parts of the image show little shadow detail. This is to be expected as all the footage appears to have been shot with a single video camera, presumably on MiniDV, with the automatic image settings enabled. Consequently, the camera has tried to balance the shots resulting in the loss of shadow detail. During some scenes with extremely poor lighting, obvious low level noise is visible. Again this is due to the source material and is not a problem with the transfer. These problems are understandable and are not disruptive to the viewer.

    The colours displayed appear consistently natural and accurate throughout the transfer.

    A small number of MPEG artefacts can be seen around the edges of objects during some interview segments. Examples of this may be seen at 6:33, 9:10 and 13:03. As these problems only occur during a small number of scenes and the effects are quite minimal, they are only slightly disruptive to the viewer.

    Some aliasing artefacts are visible during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 0:54, 32:42, 37:34 and 49:30. These artefacts are only slightly disruptive to the viewer and are to be expected considering the source material.

    As all parts of this transfer appear to have originated from tape sources, no film artefacts are visible.

    A number of analogue tape errors are visible during the transfer. Examples of these errors may be seen at 8:57, 19:57, 51:55, 63:20 and 66:55. Each of these errors occur for an extremely short time and are only slightly disruptive to the viewer.

    No subtitles are provided on this disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand.

    No problems with audio sync or dropouts were detected during the transfer.

    A number of modern songs are featured throughout the transfer. These songs reflect the on-screen action and are effective. Other than these short musical segments there is no background music or any actual score present during the transfer.

    The surround channels were not utilized at all during this transfer.

    The subwoofer was only minimally used during the transfer when supporting the short musical segments.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Featurette (19:53)

   This featurette contains additional interview segments and footage from Jesse's journey. It covers topics such as obtaining sponsorship, planning food requirements, his book and future plans. An example of dot crawl may be seen at 7:13 and a small number of MPEG artefacts may be seen at 9:02 and 14:13.

Biography: Jesse Martin

    An extensive twelve page biography is also provided.

    This disc does not appear to be currently available in any other Region.

    Lionheart: The Jesse Martin Story is an inspirational story that reminds viewers that they should pursue their dreams.

    The full frame transfer is acceptable considering the source materials used and the conditions they were filmed under.

    The audio transfer is completely functional for this documentary.

    The extras provide a little additional insight into Jesse's voyage and details his plans for the future.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall