Bronze

Lena and Sarabeth

Oak Park River Forest

Feature Story

Entry Description

A story about two high school singers/songwriters.

Judge 1

Positives: Good chemistry interesting interview

Improvements: Need more variety of shots during interview. Need more b-roll Audio too low, sounds like shotgun mic (not good for interviews)

Judge 2

Positives: Great choice of subjects! They're personable, talented, and worth interviewing. You also seem to know the right questions to ask (who are their influences, what's their process, where they perform, etc.)

Improvements: The in-camera audio quality was quite distracting. Especially with music pieces, it's important to have good, clean audio. You might consider using b-roll of outside influences (Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bono, etc.) A stronger lighting presence will separate your subjects from the background. Consider lighting them, and pulling them away from their background. There seemed to be a couple of inside jokes, where Lena and Sarabeth jump cut in with an outburst of laughter. Because the audience doesn't share in that moment, it typically alienates the viewer. Consider including the viewer in on the joke, or omitting the reaction.

Judge 3

Positives: Story was communicated clearly and fully. Good mix of interviews/performance.

Improvements: Audio was a bit fuzzy and at times a bit hard to hear. Pace of piece was a bit slow. Editing technique was almost the same throughout.