The Bakers - ID# 28
Batavia
Division: A
Dramatic Narrative
Entry Description
Quincy, James, and Stewart... a normal life or so it seems... a perfect life or so it seems... but who runs this family behind the scenes?
Recent Teacher Comments
- 3/10 1:06 pm - SOUND. Audio levels seemed to be a little all over the place, and while I am not one that would insist on a better mic for every shoots (because I know it is not always feasible or available at some schools) , considering the location (room without much furniture and seemingly hard floors) the audio seemed to be bouncing all over the room and the mics (I am guessing and on camera mic) didn't do enough to give a little depth and richness to the audio. STORY. I think this was a creative idea however it was hard for the audience to figure out just what you were going for, I started to get it when I heard the first laugh track, but at that point I had spent the first half of the video trying to figure out what the story really was and what elements were important. CAMERA / VISUALS. Some creative shots, but overall I didn't feel like there was a visual flow and as a result the sequences ended up feeling a little fragmented and choppy. EDITING. Continuity issues in some moments the mom is serving, then suddenly sitting at the table. To many cuts to black as moved between scenes (maybe some cutaways to a clock, feet walking etc would be a good way to get rid of some of those odd moments). But I found the black just stopped and started your action. Also, as you move between shots often the audio wasn't bridged smoothly between the shots. I Liked the parallel shots between dad number 1 and dad number 2, but I wish the reveal would have come sooner, because your audience will figure it out pretty quick (because of your great parallel shots and editing) but when you wait so long for the reveal I actually felt let down because I assumed something more was coming (which is why you made me wait).
- 3/9 8:37 pm - Odd having teenagers playing adults - not something that is easy to move away from. Acting is fair- not the strongest performances. There is a black frame in the middle of your edited scenes- sloppy editing. Fade to black for passage of time is facile. Sloppy filmmaking all around.
- 3/6 5:56 pm - STORY: for a story to be believable, casting has to be somewhat believable as well. The mom and dad clearly weren’t old enough to be the parents of the kid. MAYBE they could have been an older brother and an older sister. I get that it’s supposed to be a surreal TV show thing, but even in that scenario the roles should be age appropriate. If you could only get high school kids to act as the mom and dad, then maybe you could have found someone’s little brother or sister to play the role of the kid. It would have been way more believable. As a movie reference, you may or may not know about “The Truman Show”. If you don’t know about it, go watch it. It’s superb and it epitomizes everything you were TRYING to do here. CAMERA: why was the dad framed below his head? I thought maybe there was a casting reason for this (like you couldn’t find someone old enough to play the dad), or that maybe his identity was supposed to be a mystery, but then you revealed the dad walking out at about :58 in the movie. So, I’m confused with that compositional choice. Even at the end, when you reveal that there’s a “new” dad cast in this twisted TV show, you chose to use the same shots and just change the voice. Again, why do that? To cover up the lip synching issue? You could have just literally cast a different person, instead of using the same person with another person’s voice over. LIGHTING: A lot of extreme exposure - very bright scenes (with light pouring through the windows) and then some very dark scenes as well. Lighting on a consistent basis is crucial. AUDIO: Be aware of your audio levels. As a rule of thumb, here’s your range: dialogue should be between -6 and -12 on the VU meter, sound effects, should be between -15 and -21, and music beds DURING dialogue should be between -18 and -24. There was a persistent hiss throughout most of the scenes, and then it would cut away during other scenes. EDITING: there’s a flash frame at about :57 (right after she says “Good thing these are made to go”). That same editing flash frame happens again at 4:43-4:44. No transitional reason for this flash to black at either of these spots. You used black as a transition between scenes in other parts of the project, which are acceptable as a way of showing the passage of time, but in these 2 specific instances, no time has passed, and therefore the black flashes shouldn’t be there.
Judge 1
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 2
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 3
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 4
Positives:
Improvements: