Debora Utley - ID# 49

John Hersey High School

Natural Audio News Package

Entry Description

In this Natural Audio News Package, we highlight Debora Utley, the director of vocal music at Buffalo Grove High School, and her outstanding work with her students. The music used is natural audio from a choir dress rehearsal.

Recent Teacher Comments

• 3/15 3:02 pm - Strong story. Lack of variety in the composition of the interviews. Class footage good with composition and movement. Fish eye footage worked well. Graphics hard to read and not up long enough. Audio levels were hot.
• 3/7 10:53 am - This story has great emotional appeal. It was nicely organized, we heard from a variety of voices that painted clear picture of who Ms. Utley is. The GoPro shot is a bit odd when showing Ms. Utley talking to a student. It seemed out of place.
• 3/1 3:37 pm - I like the story. You do a great job laying out the story of this teacher. The framing of your interviews is good. I wish you had some sound of her teaching the students who are singing. Try to remove the fisheye from some of your shots.

Judge 1

Positives: This was a fantastic choice for a nats/pkg. Plenty of opportunity for nats and sots. You did a great job at incorporating the nats of the choir throughout the whole piece. The interviews really displayed her passion and how much the students love her. Excellent story telling.

Improvements: While you did well at keeping the nats throughout the piece, I was dying to hear the choir sing without hearing someone speaking at the same time. There were zero nat sound pops. At :07, :41, and the end all felt like moments where I wanted to hear the kids sing. If the teachers passion is her students, they needed to be showcased a little more. You could have trimmed the sots a little to make time for nats full. The interviews were shot very tight. Watch your head room. You don't want to cut people off.

Judge 2

Positives: Love the bites. They are heartfelt. We get a really good sense of Deborah Utley from her perspective as well as the students' perspective. Good broll of Ms. Utley in action. Nice piece.

Improvements: At 1:18 there could be more of a breath between the student and Ms. Utley's bite. The student is saying she doesn't know what she would do without Ms. Utley. Editor should allow that to sink in before adding Ms. Utley's bite so soon. The ending feels up cut. I think it might have been better to end on broll of Ms. Utley in action instead of on the student's face. The ending would have been an opportunity for a second or two of music to come up full after the soundbite.

Judge 3

Positives: The interviews were credibly put together. The interview with Ms. Utley was especially moving. I got a real sense of who the teacher was and how she impacted lives by the way the story was structured.

Improvements: WHERE WAS THE NAT SOUND OF THE MUSIC PERFORMANCES??!! This piece cried out for sound of the choirs performing. I believe the "no music" rule in the competition applies to outside music.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: