Game On! Underground Retrocade - ID# 42
Glenbrook North
Documentary
Entry Description
In West Dundee, IL Underground Retrocade owner Scott Lambert has made a place where people could relive parts of their childhood through retro gaming. He has revived many people's passion for retro gaming and has created a place where old style gaming could thrive, keeping a fragment of its former glory.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/24 4:44 pm - The visuals in the opening are compelling and pull the viewer into the story. The interview shot immediately following is also solid but a little distracting when we see the reflections of cars flash across his face during the interview. The second interview with Sean is a little dark and the audio is too hot. As the documentary progresses it's hard to follow a true through line or a progression, and the amount of b-roll starts to feel very similar without further development or a sense of tension anywhere. This is an interesting story, but I don't sense a great amount is at stake or that there is in fact a beginning, middle and end.
- 3/29 8:46 am - Keepers: Really nice documentary that really blends interviews and natural sounds together. Great mixing of those elements to put your viewer in that space. Great work with broll shots and interview compositions. Editing is well paced. Introduction, text and graphics also well designed for a nice overall package. Really good work. Improvements: Make sure your lower thirds and text are within title safe boundaries. In terms of story, get away from the talking head interviews a bit. When the owner mentions fixing the games himself, let's see that. If you cannot film that part of the process, mic up the owner and spend an hour with him moving around the business doing his job. Spend time with the other interview subjects as they move about and play. See them play their favorite games, etc. Capture sound from those moments. That "reality" style footage gives you another way to tell the story and can be invaluable in editing. It keeps the story fresh and gives the audience a bit of a break from the constant talking heads. In terms of broll, we're missing wide shots of the business. Where is this located? What does the outside look like? It's nice to see those shots once or twice to keep everything grounded a bit. Try finding old photos or ads of the business during the 80s. They talk about the history of the arcade. Let's see it a bit. Overall this was a cool piece that warms this gen xers heart.
Judge 1
Positives: Loved how you opened this story. Great use of nat sound. Loved your use of graphics!!! That was a really wonderful creative touch!
Improvements: Just be careful about the audio on your interviews. Sean and Bryan's interviews were a bit over modulated.
Judge 2
Positives: 1. Fantastic use of sound and image to set up the story. I was immediately hooked! 2. The edit was very well constructed and great use of broll and cutaways to illustrate the story. Great use of J and L cuts.
Improvements: 1. Some of the footage was a bit dark/under exposed. 2. Some of the broll became repetitive. Could potentially shorten this cut.
Judge 3
Positives: I loved the sound design, there were a few moments where the sound effects were louder than dialog which is something to be careful of in the future. But I found it very engaging and high energy which really matched the vibe of the place it seemed. Also I think all the interviewees sounded clear and were very easy to understand. Loved the lighting very cool look to the whole place, seems like it was a fun place to film in.
Improvements: I think some of the information we got from a few people coulda been trimmed down, a lot of work was done in the sound of the place it seemed and sometimes the vocals and the sound effects were really competing against each other. I think lighting was good but there was huge brightness shifts for Bryan and the random cuts to the one bright shot was jarring.
Judge 4
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Judge 5
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