How to Win MMEA

Metea Valley

Comedic Narrative

Entry Description

Many students have dreamt of winning MMEA. We now present to you THE definitive guide to making a winning entry! No letterboxes were harmed in the making of this production. The Mane prides itself in ONLY using organic, free-range anamorphic lens flares in ALL of our productions! The filmmaking techniques employed in this story are completely fictitious and any resemblance to any techniques employed by other student filmmakers, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Judge 1

Positives: - As someone who competed in similar high school competitions, it was funny and spot on in some places. The back half of the piece was written and directed really well. - Ironically, the end "video submission" was one of the highlights of the piece. Lens flares may just be over rated as the film suggests, but this group made them work.

Improvements: - While the story became more clear as the piece went on, the first few minutes were confusing and did not seem to pertain to the overall message of the film. While you never want to give everything away upfront, it is vital to grab your viewer's attention in the first minute. It felt like this was two different videos merged into one with the back half being taken more seriously. - Try to keep your graphic style cohesive. For instance, there were a lot of graphics, text, websites and photos mixed in with the video and while that works perfectly fine, it would be more effective if you choose one style and stuck with it.

Judge 2

Positives: Although this was a parody how-to-video, I found it funny and informative. This would be a fun guideline for future entries, unless that student doesn't get sarcasm. The shots that were meant to look good, looked good. So overall good job with the directing and cinematography in this piece. Overall, I thought it was pretty funny. Absolutely inside baseball, but you know your audience and the people who understand what your talking about will get it and think it's hilarious.

Improvements: I had an issue with the low droning rumble. I get that it was supposed to drown out your voice over, but I would of still liked to have that mixed a little better. Hearing you over the rumble would still get your point across. This was funny and laced with a lot of good jokes, but I would of liked to see a disclaimer at the end. Doesn't have to be long, but something that let's your audience in on the joke and telling them to listen past the sarcasm. That being said, I enjoyed this parody. Good job, you look like you really know what your doing. Now give me a piece that really shows me you know what you're talking about!

Judge 3

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Judge 4

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