Side By Side Smiles - ID# 325

Neuqua Valley
Division: A
Natural Audio News Package
Entry Description

After having the privilege of getting a cleft lip correctional surgery when she was two years old, Sophomore Nandini Arakoni from Metea Valley High School decided to give back to those who aren’t as privileged. She, along with her friend Sophomore Sanjana Gangadharan from Neuqua Valley High School, founded Side By Side Smiles as a way to raise money for the non-profit organization, Smile Train. 100% of the proceeds go towards helping children receive the same correctional surgery Nandini received. The girls have gained a large following and have been featured on ABC7, Naperville Sun, Chicago CBS2, and many more news stations.

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 3/12 11:59 am - Good audio, need more variety of b-roll. Nice story about a terrific project. Need more natural sound
  • 3/12 11:34 am - Great topic! Good variety of shots! A tripod would help here. Good graphics of website. Audio of interviews is well balanced. I agree with the other comments that it would be nice to interview people who have bought the bracelets, or maybe find a quote from someone who has benefited from the charity.
  • 3/9 10:39 am - Make sure the audio levels throughout your entire story are consistent. When taping the story, think of ways that the natural audio can help to tell the story and enhance it. Good story topic. Any chance of interviewing someone who has purchased a bracelet to get their thoughts on why they ordered it and what they think of the actual product?
  • 3/5 6:19 pm - Positives: The story was clear and powerful. The natural audio of making the jewelry made the package come to life. B-roll was creative. Improvements: Mixing of audio to hear the making of jewelry was inconsistent at times
  • 2/27 9:36 am - Great story idea. Nice use of b-roll. Could use some more natural audio. One suggestion would be to get people wearing the bracelet and also show the impact of the funds raised.
Judge 1

Positives: Really nice narrative. I got the full story of how this started to where this could go in the future I like that you included the social media pictures. That seems to be a large part of their business. It was creative and gave you more broll opportunities.

Improvements: This was a tough topic for nat pops. I think you did a good job at finding and listening for it. However, you need to tighten up those nat pops. Specific example at :37. It would have been okay to have a one second nat pop to hear the jewelry and then move on. A lot of the broll was shaky. Its okay to use a tri pod to shoot everything.

Judge 2

Positives: Interesting story. Good cause.

Improvements: Broll shots are too static. Piece feels long.

Judge 3

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Judge 4

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