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Mayday (Canadian TV series)

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Mayday
GenreDocumentary
Docudrama
Created byAndré Barro
Narrated byStephen Bogaert for Canada and the USA
Bill Ratner for the USA (Smithsonian Channel)
Jonathan Aris for Australia, Asia and the UK
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons13 (In production)
No. of episodes109 (98 aired) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time40–55 minutes
Production companyCineflix Productions
Original release
NetworkDiscovery Channel Canada
National Geographic Channel
ReleaseSeptember 3, 2003 (2003-09-03) –
present

Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation(s) in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa and Asia, and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television programme produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes and other disasters. Mayday uses re-enactments, interviews and computer-generated imagery to reconstruct for its audiences the sequence of events leading up to each disaster. In addition aviation experts, retired pilots and crash investigators are interviewed explaining how these emergencies came about, how they were investigated and how they could have been prevented.

Cineflix started production on 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13), with a CDN$2.5 million budget. Cineflix secured deals with France 5, the Discovery Channel, Canal D, TVNZ, the Seven Network, the Holland Media Group and the National Geographic Channel, to take Mayday to 144 countries and 26 languages. The series was received well by critics and nominated for a number of awards. Sharon Zupancic won a Gemini Award for her work on the Mayday episode, "Lockerbie Disaster". UNSW's senior lecturer, Raymond Lewis, conducted a study on teaching strategy loosely based on the series. Lewis' results indicated using the strategy had "a positive effect on learning outcomes."[citation needed]

Hallmarks

The series features re-enactments, interviews, eyewitness testimony, computer-generated imagery, and in nearly all of the episodes, cockpit voice recordings to reconstruct the sequence of events to the audiences. Several passengers and crew members (whether they survived the incident or not) are picked and actors/actresses play the role of those passengers and crews throughout the flight usually starting from boarding of the flight. The flight routines in the air traffic control, cockpit and cabin are recreated on screen starting from departure up to the moment of the emergency. At the moment of the emergency, external view of the aircraft from different angles are recreated to show the effect and what had happened to the aircraft. The responses and reactions of the passengers, crews and air traffic control leading up to the eventual crash or emergency landing are then recreated. All the scenes in cockpit and air traffic control centers are recreated using the actual script obtained from the cockpit voice recorder of the aircraft and other recordings made at the time.

Throughout the episodes the victims or relatives and friends of victims are interviewed.[1][2] In addition aviation experts, retired pilots and investigators are interviewed on the evidence and explain how these emergencies came about and how they could have been prevented.[2]

Production and distribution

Cineflix started production for Mayday on 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13), with a CDN$2.5 million budget, after Channel Five commissioned the six-part one-hour series.[3] To keep the costs down most of the production was kept at Cineflix's Toronto offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[4] While in production the series was sold to France 5, Discovery Channel and Canal D.[5] On 2 June 2003 (2003-06-02), Cineflix announced that they sold the series to TVNZ, the Seven Network and the Holland Media Group,[5] later on 22 October 2003 (2003-10-22), a month before the airing of the first season, Cineflix announced that they secured a major international deal with National Geographic Channel to take Mayday to 144 countries and 26 languages.[6]

On 25 January 2012, Cineflix Rights announced that they would be selling Seasons 8, 9 and 11 (23 episodes) to Smithsonian Networks.[7]

Episodes

Main article: List of Mayday episodes

As of 15 April 2013, a total of 98 episodes of Mayday have aired including five "Science of Disaster" specials and three "Crash Scene Investigation" spin-offs. 11 episodes, including a special are currently in production for Season 13.

Seasons[8]EpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
163 September 2003 (2003-09-03)22 October 2003 (2003-10-22)
2623 January 2005 (2005-01-23)27 February 2005 (2005-02-27)
31314 September 2005 (2005-09-14)7 December 2005 (2005-12-07)
41015 April 2007 (2007-04-15)17 June 2007 (2007-06-17)
5109 April 2008 (2008-04-09)11 June 2008 (2008-06-11)
6316 December 2007 (2007-12-16)2 March 2008 (2008-03-02)
784 November 2009 (2009-11-04)17 December 2009 (2009-12-17)
8210 June 2009 (2009-06-10)17 June 2009 (2009-06-17)
988 September 2010 (2010-09-08)27 October 2010 (2010-10-27)
10627 February 2011 (2011-02-27)28 March 2011 (2011-03-28)
111312 August 2011 (2011-08-12)13 April 2012 (2012-04-13)
12133 August 2012 (2012-08-03)15 April 2013 (2013-04-15)
131116 December 2013 (2013-12-16)9 May 2014 (2014-05-09)
14115 January 2015 (2015-01-05)2 March 2015 (2015-03-02)
15104 January 2016 (2016-01-04)17 February 2016 (2016-02-17)
16107 June 2016 (2016-06-07)13 February 2017 (2017-02-13)
171020 February 2017 (2017-02-20)3 October 2017 (2017-10-03)
181013 February 2018 (2018-02-13)4 July 2018 (2018-07-04)
19102 January 2019 (2019-01-02)11 March 2019 (2019-03-11)
20109 January 2020 (2020-01-09)12 March 2020 (2020-03-12)
21104 April 2021 (2021-04-04)6 June 2021 (2021-06-06)
22103 January 2022 (2022-01-03)12 February 2022 (2022-02-12)
23103 January 2023 (2023-01-03)7 March 2023 (2023-03-07)
241011 February 2024 (2024-02-11)14 April 2024 (2024-04-14)

Reception

The series has been received well by critics.[1][2] Paul Mavis from DVDTalk recommends Mayday as "Harrowing and surprisingly emotional" and continues with "Never exploitive, [Mayday] not only ratchets up the suspense with its well-done action scenes, it validates them by showing us the human side of these horrific air disasters."[1] Franck Tabouring from DVD Verdict said "It's a well-produced show with plenty of compelling information about tragic accidents, telling how some people survived and others didn't."[2]

Sharon Zupancic won the 25th Gemini Awards for "Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series" for her work on the Mayday episode, "Lockerbie Disaster".[9] Season five of Mayday was nominated in the 24th Gemini Awards for "Best General/Human Interest Series".[10] A number of Mayday episodes were nominated in the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards, including: "Air India: Explosive Evidence" and "Fatal Distraction" in 2009; "Missed Approach" and "Miracle Flight" in 2008; and "Flying Blind" in 2004.[11]

University of New South Wales's senior lecturer, Raymond Lewis, conducted a study on teaching strategy loosely based on the series. The study was done with prospective pilots studying the Aircraft Systems for Aviators undergraduate course. The results of the study shows "the use of air accidents and incident scenarios had a positive effect on learning outcomes."[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Mavis, Paul (15 April 2009). "Mayday — Air Disasters". DVD Talk.
  2. ^ a b c d Mavis, Tabouring (23 April 2009). "Mayday — Air Disasters". DVD Verdict.
  3. ^ "New Cineflix science series Mayday starts production" (Press release). Cineflix. 13 August 2002.
  4. ^ Luke, Donna (1 January 2003). "No Borders" (Interview). Interviewed by Susan Zeller for Realscreen.
  5. ^ a b "Cineflix goes global with popular science series Mayday. Germany's Prosieben latest channel to acquire the show" (Press release). Cineflix. 2 June 2003.
  6. ^ "Cineflix International strikes NATGEO deal for new popular science series Mayday" (Press release). Cineflix. 22 October 2003.
  7. ^ Cineflix Rights seals North and Latin American deals
  8. ^ "Mayday: Air Disaster - Program Overview". Cineflix Rights. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  9. ^ Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series, Gemini Award, 2010
  10. ^ 24th: Full list of nominations and winners (PDF), Gemini Award, 2009, p. 6
  11. ^ "Awards". Canadian Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  12. ^ Lewis, Raymond (December 2009). "Air Crash Investigators — comments on a pedagogical strategy to increase intrinsic motivation in order to enhance student learning" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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