Neutrotec - ID# 269
Homewood-Flossmoor
Dramatic Narrative
Entry Description
Popular today, this film uses the genre of ARG and analog horror to explore the depths that one will go in order to achieve balance
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/28 9:15 am - Works Well - Clever, simple idea. Good overall structure and editing. It was interesting to see things change over a series of similar shots, almost like a time lapse. Adding the black video in between shots was a good idea to break up monotony and add to the disjointed mood. Needs Work - Mis-spelled words in onscreen text. The “text to speech” intro felt much too long. It wasn’t clear what aesthetic the intro was supposed to be, but if it was supposed to be an ad for the pill, most ads are 30 seconds or 60 seconds. The “crazy” ending happened too suddenly. Maybe there could have been hints at scribbling on papers earlier, or other strange behavior. As it stands, this ending doesn’t come across as dramatic as it could be with some foreshadowing.
- 4/27 2:00 pm - What needed work: The black frames between the shots were unnecessary and distracting. I've noticed that this has become an editing trend and understand that it was intentional. However, I would still strongly suggest editing a version without these black frames. In the industry, we call these "loose frames" and they are considered a mistake. Considering the dark theme of the video, it may have made more sense to use less natural light and film the scenes in a darker/moodier tone. What worked: The narration was well-done and on theme. The lighting/exposure was very good. Overall, I was impressed by the camerawork and angles. The acting was solid, especially considering the lack of dialogue. A lot of emotion was conveyed through the actor's expression.
- 4/11 2:23 pm - The opening of your video is very interesting. For me, I feel like it grabbed my attention right away. At first the narrator’s voice makes it sound like a health/medicine commercial. If you were striving for that, you definitely achieved that! I think there are a few things that can be improved upon. A lot of the shots throughout your film are a bit overexposed. I would also like more of a variety of shots. Especially close ups of the character’s emotions. Make sure that you don’t shoot into windows, as that can mess with the camera’s auto settings. The auto focus did shift back and forth through a majority of your shots. At times this was very distracting. Especially since a majority of this film was one shot, you could easily set up manual focus. I thought that a few shots could be shortened as well. You chose a great soundtrack that helps develop the story over time. Overall you have a very interesting story that grasped my attention right away! 1:31 - The music comes back abruptly here. To avoid that add in a graduate fade. If you edit in Adobe Premiere, an easy way to add this is to go to “effects” and add the “exponential fade”. Another way to do this in Premiere is to manually add in the fade on the audio track with the pen tool. 1:32 and 1:35 - You have great framing here. The character is on the right side of the frame and we clearly know that they were making a bagel with the toaster. One thing to watch out for is auto focus. I’m not sure what camera you used, but there is a slight shift in focus here. Since your character is coming into the frame and then moving out for this shot, I would suggest using manual focus. For example, you could set up the manual focus so that the bagel or toaster are always in focus in the frame. This would prevent that shift in focus. This camera shot is also slightly overexposed. Especially when looking at the white on the sink and toaster. Be careful about shooting into a window too! If you need to, use curtains or drapes to cover the window if the light is too bright. Otherwise, you would need to adjust your camera settings here. 1:40 to 1:48 - Auto focus shifts again here 1:52 - There is a black frame here. I’m not sure that this was intentional (or maybe it was since you have them in other parts of your film). Make sure to fully re-watch your film after you have finished editing. Sometimes a black frame like this may be created in the timeline where two video clips don’t line up next to each other. 2:40 - Before grabbing the pills, it would be nice to see a closeup of them just like you do at 2:50 with the cup 2:50 - I would extend this shot of the CU on the cup to be a few seconds longer. It’s a good cutaway to have, but it’s too short. Also make sure that you use a tripod to avoid a shaky cutaway shot. 3:08 to 3:18 - This shot is pretty long. You could cut it and make it a little shorter to then transition into the next shot. 3:45 - It would be nice to see some close up shots of the character here. Close ups help show the character’s emotion. For the current shot that you have, I do see emotion from the character, but it feels very disconnected. 4:00 - Great transition here into a time lapse! One suggestion I would make for the time lapse is to have the frame slowly start zooming in.
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