Fidget Spinner Cops; MMEA - ID# 285

Waubonsie Valley

Division: A

Comedic Narrative

Entry Description

Comedic narrative following a cop looking for fidget spinners

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/24 5:25 pm - Good parody video. Good hand held camera work and performances. Tone was consistent throughout the video.
• 3/14 7:39 am - The look is right, and the setting is perfect for the type of crime (or is it the other way around?). The running scene worked well, though the perp waiting until the Cop turned around is a bit unlikely. One problematic scene is when the Cop picks up the student at 0:25. It's gratuitous, and the only female character in your video is carried off, Sabine-style. Except that she's laughing. And actors are out of character. This scene should be sill lying on the cutting room floor. Everything else is pretty believable satire.
• 3/5 2:13 pm - Great job with the "Cops" look; you really nailed the way that show is produced. The pacing was spot on; it didn’t drag at all, and it conveyed the feeling of a day in the life of this cop. Hard to criticize camera or lighting, since you were going for a realistic video look. Sound was a bit hot at times, but it basically mirrored what an episode of "Cops" would sound like.

Judge 1

Positives: Good "Cops" mimicry. The edits were well timed.

Improvements: Auto focus didn't work too well and your iris bloomed a couple times. If your camera allows it, always go manual.

Judge 2

Positives: Fun parody of Cops. Liked the big concept of the short - cracking down on the fidget spinning obsession. Nice acting from the lead. Loved the dog and what appeared to be improv around the action of the pooch drinking the cops water, "Guess we're switching." Very funny. Fantastic editing! Regarding Narrative -- nice job of establish the get right off the crack of the bat. It's hard to do and you were very successful at that. Also thought the humor of the piece was well crafted.

Improvements: Great piece! Here's some constructive (hopefully) feedback: You could've mined more humor from the POV of a fidget spinner offender and opened up the piece a bit more. Bad example -- after tackling the kid in the hallway, the perp says something that reveals the curse of the spinner. "I can't give it up, man. It's all I think about!" That kind of thing. The length was too short (which is actually a compliment) -- because I was enjoying it, I felt like it just ended. It would've been nice to have some kind of character reveal as to why the main character is so dedicated to cracking the fidget epidemic. It would've made the short more satisfying. Maybe we learn that the main character was addicted at one time (in a funny way). Explore the downward spiral he was on. When you see him spinning one in the high school, he should look like an ex-smoker having a quick drag of a cigarette , then quickly throwing it away when he realizes he's being filmed.

Judge 3

Positives: Funny....great parody

Improvements: COPS parodies are a little overdone, but the fidget spinner angle overcomes that a bit...some jumpy edits even though COPS does that it is too jumpy

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: