REBECCA PASTERIS - DOCUMENTARY - MMEA SUBMISSION 2017 - ID# 162
South Elgin
Documentary
Entry Description
Irish heritage meets a new generation that carries on this traditional form of dance.
Recent Teacher Comments
- 3/27 10:13 pm - Great opening shot with natural sound. Interviews shot really well and a great job of cutting back and forth from the multiple subjects each telling the story of how they got into Irish dancing. Good use of b-roll throughout and telling us why this matters to them. Liked the age ranges of the subjects as well. Even thought the music was mixed well where it wasn't overpowering the sound of the interviews. Very well done!
- 3/6 10:20 pm - Nice job getting a range of interviews, showing the different people and perspectives that make up Irish dancing. The middle interview with the interviewer was really distracting as the music dropped off. It felt like it could have ended a minute earlier. A greater variety of angles for the broll would have helped tell the visual story as well.
Judge 1
Positives: Thanks for introducing us to the very interesting world of Irish Dance! I actually just saw the Riverdance performance this weekend, so I was already intrigued about these types of athletes. This mini-documentary did a nice job of exploring some of the main issues and helped paint a nice picture of these girls’ lives. The b-roll is generally well-shot and interesting and makes this piece fun to watch.
Improvements: It would be great if the interviews were a bit more deliberate and staged. It seems like you’re catching them right after dance practice, so some of them don’t seem very polished... and some just don’t have enough substance to flesh out this narrative. During much of this piece, we’re just getting a collection of surface-level answers about why these girls dance…(often with repeating/redundant responses). It would be wonderful if we could just dig a bit deeper into what makes them passionate about this incredibly demanding sport. Make sure to export/upload in HD! This SD version is pretty soft, so I missed seeing these great visuals in a sharper delivery.
Judge 2
Positives: Cute story, the use of multiple interviews kept it moving.
Improvements: There are some very rough edits with sound and video. I had a hard time following the randomness of the soundbites at times - Having a storyline plan prior to interviewing would have helped. Re asking a question to get a concise answer is not off limits when doing a documentary.
Judge 3
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Judge 4
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