New Cafeteria Food Vendor - ID# 257

Deerfield

Natural Audio News Package

Entry Description

After years of mediocre food and a generally dismal dining experience, a new cafeteria vendor is cooking up something new at the school.

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/26 7:08 am - Story just jumped right in, needs some kind of video montage or introduction. I loved the B rolls that were in between the interviews to help bridge the comments together and yet give your audience a chance to think about what they just heard before jumping to a new interview – nice job Liked the b-roll cutaways, since you were talking about cooking try and bring some of those cooking sounds in (sizzling food over a flame, chopping of a knife on a cutting board)
• 4/25 9:55 am - *Strengths: 1. Video quality 2. Lighting 3, No distracting camera movements or awkward compositions 4. Satisfactory structure/method of organization *Areas on which to work: 1. What additional cutaway material (b-roll) would have helped tell this story? Continue to work on gathering images and sound that will reinforce statements made during the interviews. For example, when Mr. William's says the "coffee bar is fun," do the video and audio tracks support this assertion? 2. Your piece contains interviews with a representative from Quest and a school administrator. Do these interviews provide a complete picture or would your piece benefit from the perspective of someone using the cafeteria on a regular basis - a student? 3. Continue to work on the way in which you blend audio from one shot to the next. At times audio from your b-roll could have faded out more gradually during an interview (ex. beginning of Williams interview - the overlapping sound is appropriate but the residual b-roll audio should not compete with his response).
• 4/15 11:30 am - Good framing on the interviews. Your opening shot should be in closer for this shot. It would help to put the viewer in the story. You have plenty of opportunities for natural sound in between the shots, example at :12. You can use something besides the sign. There are so many options in a kitchen that this story should be packed with sound. Try not to pan or tilt during the story, but instead make a cut to the video that you want your viewer to see. Try to avoid wide shots in the story, especially when they are looking for natural sound. Good job on this story, and showing the viewer why the district made the change. There are more chances for natural sound in this story, always be recording and listening for sound.
• 4/9 1:21 pm - The interviews are are framed and lit well, just try a little harder to hide the lav mic cable behind the tie! There are some nice b-roll shots of the cafeteria and of the new vendors cooking...but I am left wanting more! I believe there is too much talking heads time for the news package and I am left waiting for shots of the new vendor's finished food. The on-location audio inside the cafeteria and kitchen sound great throughout the video.
• 3/10 11:21 am - Open with a shot that teases viewers - tight shot of some unknown food being prepped. Prominent in 3rd shot is a door. Stay with menu shot longer - there’s no way it was up long enough to read more than three lines; plus, we don’t need to cut back to her again. She’s well-established on-camera. Show something relevant to what she’s talking about over her shoulder - not bagged chips, which represent everything she’s combating as a food service manager. A.P. interview framing purposely puts entire montor in shot - for what reason? There’s nothing on it. Should have asked him to throw-up something relevant on monitor if you’re going to frame it as such. Show the people she talks about, not more of her face. 1:29 into a piece on food prep, we finally get a medium shot of food being prepped. Too many shots of workers’ backs/backs of heads. Cafeterias & kitchens are wonderfully-visual; show more of them and less talking heads. Folks should remember this piece for the food, not the talking heads - yet talking heads dominated the piece visually.

Judge 1

Positives: Good use of mixing your nat sound behind the interview. It was just right so it didn't distract from what the woman was saying. This was good choice of stories for a stand alone nats pkg. I clearly understood your message. You did a good job covering some of the interviews with video that matched what they were saying. I think you did you a good job adding nat pops to break up the two interviews. Good framing on the interviews.

Improvements: While I thought it was great the piece mixed nat sound and a sot at the start, be mindful of any dead sound in a nats pkg. Right at :11, there was about 2 seconds of quiet. While it might seem picky, it was right at the beginning and really grabbed my attention as an empty hole. I would have liked to hear from a student who actually eats in the cafeteria. Do they like it? Right now, you only give the view of the people in charge. Of course, they're going to say great things about their own program.

Judge 2

Positives: - Great nat sound!! It set the scene right away and provided natural transitions. Good framing of both interviews - they were lined up differently which made your audience be more willing from the get go to listen to what they had to say.

Improvements: _ Food is usually beautiful to shoot - there were plenty of good shots- the firing pan sticks out but don't be afraid to follow people around get closer to them for even more intimate shots. - Some of the vice principal's sots were redundant but the story flowed well regardless

Judge 3

Positives: I like the nat pops throughout the story and using it as a transition. Good use of wide, medium tight shots throughout story.

Improvements: Match video to sound. If she is talking about natural ingredients, show it in video. Once the person is on screen and I know their voice feel free to lay over broll for the rest of the story.

Judge 4

Positives:

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