Airing two Syrian TV series on the leader Salahiddin Al Ayyoubi during last Ramadan simultaneously might give the viewers an opportunity for comparison and assessment.
The two series belong to what is described as “immense production”, a production that puts more responsibility on those who want to implement it. This is due to the fact that there is no excuse here for lack of enough budget or difficulty in shooting any scenes.
Searching for Salahiddin Al Ayyoubi directed by Najdat Ismael Anzur is a series basically dependent on dialogue. It is a strange thing, the daily Al Hayat said, to see the director using the style that he had repeatedly criticized or what he used to call as “filmed radio series, the series in which we see one or two long scenes about the characters while talking within the parameters of a fixed picture. What aggravates the problem is the fact that the director decreased the outdoor scenes to a great extent. He even minimized shooting in suitable locations including citadels and real palaces which has made us go back to the Arab historical drama two decades ago.
In contrast with that we see director Hatem Ali has made big artistic efforts in the series Salahiddin in an attempt to offer a real drama. The director has distanced himself to a great extent from the usual boring narration and provided direction solutions that made the series more of a TV novel with all of its specifications that provide solutions and dimensions for the characters. This is also to reach along with the viewer to an interaction solution through the accurate choice of shooting sites and angles and the scene animation and also through moving from one scene to the other in order to avoid any monotony, as well as the conspicuous accuracy in choosing the cast, wardrobes, and set in particular -- Albawaba.com
