Francis' Exquisite Day Out

York

Seven Day Challenge

Entry Description

A high school students searches for a balance between academics and an exquisite social life.

Judge 1

Positives: The opening montage with the music was a great way to establish our setting and really hook us right in at the start of the film. The cut to the classroom with the much slower paced cuts and slowed down music is a great juxtaposition of that which changes our perspective really well. Great quick cutting used once he plugs in the flash drive. All of the quick cuts of the inserts of the flash drive, keyboard and computer screen quickly give us the information we need and build the pacing for what's going to happen next. (Pretty funny moment when he says lets get Madison and she's sitting there with him. Nice comedic timing)

Improvements: It felt a little bit disjointed that he was really bored in a slow class, but then was skipping class to fix his grades. I felt like it would've been stronger to either have him wanting to skip class with his friends because it was boring and he wanted to enjoy the beautiful day OR he was worried about his bad grades so faked being sick so he could fix them. It just didn't feel as though there needed to be both excuses - one on its own would have been strong enough. The montage of them enjoying their day could've just been a bit shorter. It was great to see everything they were doing (playing at the park, eating, and going on the trampoline), but it could've been a bit quicker and/or you could've intercut the different activities to keep the whole thing moving.

Judge 2

Positives: Excellent progression of scenes to form a narrative story. The main character is interesting and charismatic and engages with the audience through breaking the fourth wall. The film is reminiscent of Ferris Bueller's day off. The intercutting between the main character running back to the school and the teacher going to the computer lab effectively conveys a sense of urgency and the camera work and editing work together seamlessly.

Improvements: The static in the audio could be improved upon by getting microphones closer to the subjects and or using room tone in the edit. The montage of having fun on the day off could be cut shorter.

Judge 3

Positives:

Improvements:

Judge 4

Positives: Great start to this video!! Music and the shots are really good. Nice shot variation when using the computer. I like the setup in the library, nice job with the layout of the actors. Nice movement from the music, to the teacher in the hallway. Solid concept for a video.

Improvements: Audio is an issue. When there is an echo it becomes distracting. It tends to quiet then loud. There are too many effects going on during the "day off" scenes, which make it distracting. One lighting issue is the hallway running scene. It is light then dark then light. Try to level out lighting, it will not be a distraction to your viewer.