Helping Paws - ID# 421
Riverside Brookfield
Natural Audio News Package
Entry Description
Helping Paws is a volunteer group from Riverside Brookfield High School. Their goal is to support the community by providing services like food pantries. The students and sponsors are passionate about what they do and look forward to the future of Helping Paws.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/5 6:41 am - Your story needs a better establishing shot. The first shot sets the tone for the story and should give viewers an idea of what the story is about. And where is this building? That was never shown or mentioned. Use the natural audio from your b-roll to help tell the story. Bring that natural audio up full at different parts - let’s hear the discussions at the food pantry between workers, between worker and community member. While the sound bytes are good, the natural is what tells the story and that’s what should be heard full. It shouldn’t be just the sound bytes that tell the story - the natural audio (whether it’s music in the background or people talking) should also help tell the story. Let’s hear from the volunteers - the people who are benefitting from this organization. Put a wireless mic on one of them and record their interactions with other people - let that help to tell the story. That's what this category is all about. It's about telling the story through the natural audio and also with the sound bytes - but it needs to be a balance of the two.
- 3/14 9:35 pm - Felt like your story had a very abrupt start and end. You had many good interviews but they all blended together because they all just ran one into one another. Chunk all the like ideas together and put a quick broll clip / natural sound in between each one of them to help break up the piece into sections. I am a lot more likely to remember what your story is about when you do that. Stories should be more about the people, so I would have loved to see more of the shoppers, how they have been touched, or the gratitude they feel as they go through the lines. Volunteers serving people is great, but the the real feeling in the story is in their response, and that seemed absent from this story. If your goal is to communicate and recruit I think that would be an element that should be present. I get that it may have been something you tried and given the content, they may not have wanted to appear in it, I just thought I would mention it. Camera Work I thought your B-Roll was initially well done, but became redundant after a while, you just kept showing me all the different foods (and the people generally setting it out). I also would have loved a little more creativity as you captured the b-roll. It was different and diverse, and I am not suggesting you create a cinematography reel here, but a little more intentionality might have pulled more of your audiences in (especially there are only so many ways I can look at cover shots of tables of food). I would have loved an establishing shot of the building etc to get a little more context, I was never told where this takes place, how often, etc. Use of Sound Your audio levels were well matched as you moved through the story. Since it is a natural sound package, I guess I would have looked for more ways to incorporate the natural audio of the story (sliding food across a table top, a patron saying thank you, etc). Editing Some of your B-roll seemed a bit fast, you seem to fly through the images (ie 19 seconds) and the danger in that is your audience doesn’t get a chance to digest what they are seeing and hearing because it is all moving so fast. If you want the viewer to focus on what is being said, slow the b-roll down a little bit, because when it is moving so fast visually, I am working so hard to take it all in and piece it together, I start to tune out what is being said. It is a dance when you create a story like this, at some points the visual should lead, other points the audio should lead, but it can’t be both at the same time.
Judge 1
Positives: Great story from start to finish.... it tells a story. It is not just video and sound bites. Really high quality audio throughout.
Improvements: Some of the shots are out of focus and there is too much movement. Watch the jump cuts. There are several of them. Try to change the background on interviews more.
Judge 2
Positives: Interview framing is pleasing. Shallow depth of field on interviews helps keep the focus on the subject.
Improvements: Don't move the camera unless motivated, for example, following action. Constant movement is distracting and without purpose. Focus the camera before hitting record, hunting for focus is also distracting. Don't cut away from a moving shot until movement is finished. Every camera move should have a beginning, middle and ending.
Judge 3
Positives: 1. Good soundbites. You got the interviewees to weave the question you asked into the question to provide context, like when the interviewees say "this changed my life by" or "I think the community benefits because" 2. Great variety of B roll. I can tell you really got in there to get different shots.
Improvements: 1. B roll was edited pretty quickly. I would have liked to linger on some shots more. 2. Some interviews were centered in the frame and could have been framed better.
Judge 4
Positives:
Improvements: