Video #1: Let's See What You Did

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 pretty well on this assignment, especially considering it was a first-time video in this class. Lots of good B-roll, good story flows, etc. 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.

The biggest problem, really, was that several of us didn't do the assignment. Let me remind everyone again: there is no quicker way to get a bad final grade in this class than to blow off assignments, so if you're missing stuff here and there and you're shocked by your final semester grade, don't say I didn't warn you.

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:

Katie K.: We could have used more B-roll specific to what was being talked about: shots of people at work, in class, etc. Plus, watch our sound; the first interview subject is hard to follow.

Dakota H.: Here, the B-roll is fairly specific to what is being talked about.

Catherine B.: Good mix of B-roll. For news stories, we want to get as much "natural" B-roll as possible -- B-roll of a real and not staged activity.

Rachel Y.: Good framing of shots, good sound and good B-roll but not enough B-roll; we're stuck too long on the A-roll shot of the second interview subject and show too little of what she is talking about. (Yes, I know it would be more work to go to her church and such to get more B-roll, but this is a visual medium. We can't do everything we need to do in one meeting or just by phone; we need to go to the places where the things that are being talked about are happening.)

Ian K.: Good mix of B-roll and natural sound with the second interview subject; the first one would have used more B-roll, and a greater variety of B-roll.

Jared C.: Let's tighten up our A-roll shots a bit by getting a bit closer. Look to go from the armpit to about two inches above their head.

Shannon L.: This one used still photos as B-roll, which is a great way to be able to show things you weren't able to shoot by asking the interview subject for pictures to use. We can add a bit of animation to still pic B-roll by slowly panning in or out of the image, too.

Jabari S.: We had a technical issue with adding captions here, but the shots are nicely framed and decent B-roll. Again, better B-roll means we have to go to where the activity is happening -- to the subject's IM volleyball game, for example -- and get B-roll of him playing volleyball.

Nick F.: Good mix of B-roll with wide/medium/tight shots in strong use here. Very good sound.

Jack K.: We need to use B-roll while A-roll sound is still rolling, not just before or after. We also needed a greater variety of B-roll, shot from different angles (show us what they're watching, for example) and wide/medium/tight.

Nick S.: Having the person say who they are and posting an ID caption is redundant; cut the former. Also, we need to follow the rule of thirds when framing our shots. We need to show B-roll while A-roll audio is rolling, and not just before and after. Running A-roll and then B-roll instead of having B-roll video and A-roll should run simultaneously wastes time. We want to show and tell, simultaneously.

Remington S.: Good sound, framing and B-roll here; the problem is that we miss the assignment minimums of 1 minute in length and 2 on-camera sources.