Weekend in Washington - ID# 440
Maine South
Documentary
Entry Description
A film documenting the music trip to Washington, DC during the Inauguration weekend.
Recent Teacher Comments
- 3/27 9:58 pm - Excellent job of storytelling and walking the viewer through this very unique experience. I also enjoyed how you kept this piece non-political and focused on the importance of the event. The variety of voices and experiences really brought this alive to the viewer and you did a great job of capturing as much as you could going through what seemed to be an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity.
- 3/6 10:38 pm - Really nice job editing down a lot of footage into a coherent story that didn't feel like it dragged on. Great use of interviews throughout to showcase the wide variety of students and their experiences. The audio quality varied significantly between interviews, which was challenging to focus on. Adding more broll of the specific students who were talking would help connect what they are saying. Overall, nice work.
Judge 1
Positives: I believe you achieved your goal of of providing a play-by-play of the trip to Washington DC. I feel like the viewer gets a nice “check-in” with each significant milestone as we experience the various events of the whirlwind weekend.
Improvements: While I appreciate the style you were going for, I would have loved more grounding in terms of establishing a clearer narrative thread. That is… I think the viewer (who doesn’t have any connection to Main South) needs to be more connected to these students before we experience their musical victory. You spend half of the piece talking about other things ( a little bit of travel… a little bit of museums… a little inauguration)… and then, suddenly we’re in the competition without really having a strong connection to the students’ story/journey. I’d re-structure it and focus on the music aspect… building the rising action and climax more clearly. These are obviously very talented musicians who have worked so hard… and the viewer needs to know that... and to want them to win.
Judge 2
Positives: I like the concept from the student on the ground perspective... The music section was great and well edited.
Improvements: Audio levels and edits could be improved in places. Need to pay more attention to sound bites/borll - You showed JFK marker at the point where the student mentioned fall soldiers. Fast motion walking was out of place for the pacing of the doc. The lower thirds and titles were hard to read and distracting.
Judge 3
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Judge 4
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