Vid #1: Let's Look At Some Videos!

Okay, so here's the video recap. I ask that you please look at EACH video and read my comments for EACH video (not just your own!), so we can learn like we've learned from each other throughout this semester.

Overall, I thought we did very, very well on this assignment, especially considering it was a first-time video in this class. Lots of good B-roll, good story flows, ect. Certainly some things that can be tweaked, but that's to be expected. 

Let's look for what worked and what didn't and what we could borrow for the next time and what we need to avoid doing again.

BTW, unless you received an email from me noting a specific grade, your grade for this exercise was a 4.0, with it equaling a practice story in final grade weight. (Future assignments will be evaluated and graded much more specifically based on execution and will be of higher grade weight, though).

Here we go:

Tabinda S.: LOTS of great B-roll here, which is what we want. Video is a visual medium; we need to show what people are talking about, and not just people talking. But we don't need to have the source saying their name as the caption already IDs the person for us. To do both is redundant, and using the caption lets us save story audio time for substance and not identification.

Cassie B.: The story topic didn't give us much to work with for B-roll, but we got B-roll anyway. As subjects talked about what they were studying, we show them scrolling through class stuff on a computer. And that's good! Video is a visual medium; we need to show what people are talking about, and not just people talking. 

Nick K.: Good shots and B-roll here, but let's be sure we are shooting with our phones in a horizontal position (and not vertical!) so your image fits within a TV or laptop screen correctly and without the black bars we see on each side of the image. 

Sarah A.: First, we need to put our camera on a steady surface like a tripod. No matter how still we think we're holding it, there will be some noticeable shake. Second, we don't need to have the source saying their name as the caption already IDs the person for us. To do both is redundant, and using the caption lets us save story audio time for substance and not identification. Plus, we needed more B-roll. Video is a visual medium; we need to show what people are talking about, and not just people talking.

Joey E.: We need to start out with a title of what our story is about, not the generic "Video Story Interview" we see here. Plus, there's no need to have the source say their name as the caption already IDs the person for us. Nice job of using still pics for B-roll, but we needed more.

Charisma T.: We are totally lacking B-roll here. Never acceptable. We need to show the audience what the subject is talking about, while they are talking about it. That means after the interview going and getting shots of what they talked about. The first interview subject talks about balancing classes, so show her walking to class or sitting in class or working on homework. Video is a visual medium; we need to show what people are talking about, and not just people talking.

Cassi W.: We're missing the lede altogether here in the form of a caption or narration. Just like with a print story, let the viewer know what they're about to get into. Plus, when shooting with our phones be sure to shoot horizontally so your image fully fits on a TV or laptop screen, and not vertically like we do here. And we need the B-roll WITHOUT sound INSIDE the interview segment with the interview sound still going.

Andrew B.: Again, we are missing a lede in the form of a caption or narration. Again, we need to shoot with our phone in a horizontal position. Good use of B-roll. 

Casey H.: Weak b-roll here. We need B-roll showing what the subject is talking about: covering a story, typing in text, etc. Generic B-roll just showing a pretty empty office doesn't add anything at all.

Kiara C.: Like with print stories, we need to identify people by first and last names. AP style rules still apply here, folks. A good variety of B-roll but we need less "dead air" when there is no voice over the B-roll.

Whitney A.-P.: Good B-roll, but again we don't need ID captions AND the person saying who they are, and we don't need the person being asked on-tape what they've been up to this semester because the caption lede already stated what the issue was. Like with print, let's avoid being redundant and understand that since we're working in two mediums (visual and audio) that only one is needed to accomplish most tasks and save time.

Luke B.: Good B-roll, but again we don't need ID captions AND the person saying who they are, and we don't need the person being asked on-tape what they've been up to this semester because the caption lede already stated what the issue was. Like with print, let's avoid being redundant and understand that since we're working in two mediums (visual and audio) that only one is needed to accomplish most tasks and save time.

Patrick K.: Here we didn't have ANY identification of interview subjects! We said two names, but we never paired each name with a face. Who was who?