TOO MANY FAST, FRANTIC AND FRUSTRATING TV COMMERCIALS

It started with MTV; then Hollywood caught on; then television picked up on it. Now even the news programs are doing it. No, I'm not referring to gut-wrenching violence or graphic sex.

I'm talking about television commercials today, too many of which have excessively fast cutting of scenes, blurred images, and a desperately demanding voice pitching the product. I am getting more than irritated with this assault on our senses, though I'll admit television viewers under forty may not feel the same way.

I hit forty quite a few years back, but there is no truth to the rumor that I covered the fall of the Alamo for NBC; however I did write the news on Channel 8 in the late '50's, back before tape, before sound bites, before local news programs became almost as frenzied as most commercials are today.

Many people of my generation are finding it difficult to endure the current crop of commercials without becoming confused and often visually disoriented. Ultimately, we reach for the OFF switch. Or, as I do, stick with PBS where, thankfully, there are no irritating commercials except, perhaps, the one plugging the Store of Knowledge, which always has me reaching for the MUTE button like I do with any and all commercials on any station.

Curious about my growing irritation and frequent visual inability to follow many commercials, I spoke with Michael Van De Kamer at Post-Op in Dallas, who is one of the top film editors in the country. I asked him why commercials are becoming so fast-paced.

Michael said that fast editing is usually required in commercials aimed at younger viewers because they have a regrettably short attention span.

"Children used to grow up reading," Michael said. "Today most of them grow up watching TV, or playing video games. A traditionally edited commercial would be dull and boring to younger viewers. It wouldn't grab their attention."

In my youth there was no television, for which I am eternally thankful. Which makes me wonder: Is this excessively fast editing technique the result of young people today having a shorter attention span, or is the short attention span the result of growing up watching MTV?

Dr. Gary Lefkof, a prominent Dallas psychiatrist, couldn't really say, but he does feel this situation stems simply from advertisers using the most effective methods to sell their product. In other words, the bottom line is the buck...whatever will grab the attention of potential customers. And if a product is aimed at the younger generation, then it's MTV time. Kids today need images to flash by with lightning speed to prevent boredom.

Are film editors to blame for this fast-cutting trend in film today? Not so, according to Michael van de Kamer. He explained that when a commercial is aimed at younger viewers, producers and ad agencies demand this fast editing otherwise the message will not get across, and the product won't sell.

But is mind-boggling editing of commercials really necessary to grab kids' attention? Recently I screened Bette Davis in "Now Voyager" for some young screen writing students of mine at Richland College. I had first watched this intensely moving film when I was in high school, and even today, it still has one reaching for the Kleenex. After the final fadeout, one young student (barely out of his teens)turned to me, wiped his tears away and shakily asked: "Why don't they make films like that anymore?"

I wonder, too. With traditional editing, a scene remains on the screen long enough for us to share the moment with the characters, to feel their emotions, to relate to their problems. If scenes flash by too fast, the impact of the scene tends to be lost rather than remain with us; and with a commercial, we are supposed to be impelled to rush out and buy the product, something I seldom do after having my sensibilities offended by an excessively fast-paced commercial filled with blurred images and narrated by a voice that is so desperate and demanding that it becomes annoying.

As a final thought, however, Dr. Lefkof had an amiably philosophical comment. He pointed out that with the hundreds of TV channels becoming available, viewers can always find something acceptable to watch.

I have a better suggestion: simply turn off the set, reach for a book and let your mind take you into a glorious world free from offensive commercials.

Harry Preston, a veteran author/screenwriter, formerly with MGM in Hollywood, now lives in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, where he teaches screenwriting at Richland College and works closely with the Texas film and literary communities. His web site