Bronze

Behind the Burj Khalifa

Barrington

Documentary

Entry Description

Peter Chung interviews Lawrence C. Novak, creator of the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on Earth.

Judge 1

Positives: You chose a unique topic with a knowledgeable guest. Its awesome hearing from someone who has such a direct connection with one of the most modern wonders in the world!! Bigger than the Sears AND J.H Tower!? Unreal.

Improvements: Camera placement. That single shot of him is pretty iffy. Extremely profile. You would have had better luck zooming the wide camera into a single and using the single camera for the wide. Your talent is talking to someone off camera who we cant see. They arent talking to us so it loses your audience. No music kind of made this drag on a little. Some cool soothing music underneath would have made the interview a little more impressive.

Judge 2

Positives: Peter was a very strong interviewer and the sound was crystal clear. The b-roll footage was used nicely throughout the interview. It gives us a great point of reference as Lawrence chats about all the work that went behind the Burj Khalifa.

Improvements: The one shot of Lawrence should have been on the other side. Half the documentary we are looking at his profile and it would have been much stronger if we were looking at him face on. There were a couple times that they stayed on this one shot - even though Peter was also talking and that should have gone back to the two shot. I think the interview would have worked better if you started with asking him what his role was in building the Burj Khalifa. Then ending the interview with why are you here to talk to students today. This would have eliminated some confusion at the beginning and allowed for a stronger ending of the documentary.

Judge 3

Positives: Good use of Broll to cut away from the interview. Very interesting topic with well prepared questions.

Improvements: Shot composition. Be careful of the eyeline and framing of the shot. Like in an actual conversation, it is hard to engage an audience's attention when you are watching two people talk without giving you eye contact. Lawrence and Peter are looking at each other the entire time. As a viewer it is hard to pay attention/connect when there's no eye contact. Also be careful on shot selection. Your one shot of your talent shouldn't be of the side/back of his head. We should connect with him. This has a lot to do with eyeline as well. But keep in mind when setting up a shot where your eye is drawn when you look in the camera. There shouldn't be dead space.