A Soldier's Journey Home - ID# 385

John Hersey High School

Documentary

Entry Description

The story of A Soldier's Journey Home and Alex Edwards.

Copyright Info

Acoustic Folk Instrumental https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/hyde-free-instrumentals/acoustic-folk-instrumental Uplifting Acoustic Background Music for Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5yoKTFjEo Cinematic and Emotional Background Music For D

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/22 2:35 pm - Well told story about this veteran and what this organization did for him. The B-Roll was well shot and the perspectives from the individuals involved in building the home were dynamic. Terrific story and well told.

Judge 1

Positives: Nice job getting both Alex and several of the people involved in building his home. Too often we hear from only one or two subject matters. Nice job getting in more than one voice.

Improvements: Be careful about using precious time with information that can be covered with a graphic - instead of opening the piece by asking his name etc. you could offer the same info with a graphic. The story really begins when he says why he wanted to serve. During some of the BRoll portions of the story - try to use some more natural sound elements rather than silence.

Judge 2

Positives: Good dramatic pacing. Music is well timed to signal to the audience that the protagonist is transitioning from telling us facts to describing his bodily experience after driving over an IED and pivots to signal a change in the story. Composition of the shots - medium-close-up - ideal for multi-platform viewing.

Improvements: There is not quite a clear flow from Alex's story to connecting with A Soldier's Journey Home...did injuries result in homelessness or, exactly what triggered the connection. Small detail.The film would benefit from switching the position of different interviewees.

Judge 3

Positives: There are a number of things to like in this piece The piece gets off to a strong start. Alex's story is compelling. I like the use of sound coming in before we see Alex...I like hearing the reporter off camera asking him to spell his name. The outdoor setting for the interview works perfectly. All of this gives the start of piece a nice cinema verite feel. The graphics are used very effectively. They help to move the story along nicely.

Improvements: The music choice at the beginning of the piece works to give us a feel for Alex's struggle. But the music shift around 1:50 was a little too abrupt and becomes too cheery too soon. The piece needs a transition between the more somber music and the cheery/uplifting cut of music. I'm not hearing the nat sound pops in the spaces one expects to hear them. I'm assuming audio did no get mixed properly

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: