Maine East High School Presents: Mamma Mia! - ID# 443
Maine East
Natural Audio News Package
Entry Description
A sneak preview of Maine East High School's first indoor musical in 2 years: Mamma Mia!
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/10 2:29 pm - Good start with the natural audio from the performance. Good interviews - they did a great job of telling the story. A musical lends itself to some great natural audio and you did a nice job of bringing it full throughout the story for your viewers to hear. But that's not all that goes on during rehearsals. Consider putting a wireless lav on an actor, a director, a crew member, etc. and following them around to hear those natural conversations that they are having. And put that in your story to help tell the story. It's not just about the sound bytes, but figuring out a way to let the natural audio (from the b-roll) and the natural interactions tell the story of this production. This add a whole different element to your story and one that we don't often get to hear. Be careful to not repeat your b-roll shots.
- 3/14 9:46 pm - Let me begin by saying you did not break any rules but anytime a natural sound package is covering some kind of music it makes it easier to transition in and out of sections of your piece. Stories without a music element have to be a little more creative at bringing in the natural sounds to enhance their piece. Using music is always easier, that being said you did a beautiful job using the sound bites/music to transition in and out of the interviews. I thought the B-Roll you shot was beautiful. Sometimes it slowly trucked, sometimes it was static, sometimes the focus would intentionally roll. I liked the intentionality, and the creativity that would pull your audience in. Be careful not to use B-Roll twice you used the same basic scene at 11 seconds and 1:31; and because your footage is so iconic (good) when you see the same thing twice it sticks out (sometimes you can mirror and zoom in a little on one of the clips to give it a different look and before anyone catches on that it is backwards you are off it). The majority of the time I felt like your B-Roll was really supporting what was being said, and I also feel like you have a really good sense of know what you want your audience to focus on sometimes it is the interview, sometimes it is the audio, sometimes, you just give them a chance to think about what they just heard. Not all students get that, but I must say you have a good sense of being patient and having your audience focus on what is most important without distractions. Your interviews were also great, each new interview added a new piece to the puzzle, without being redundant. They took the story a little further than it had been yet and revealed more each time someone new spoke. Great job coaching them, knowing what you want them to talk about, and how all the pieces come together. Seldom does this happen by accident, good job planning. This was one of my favorites, because it was so well done, I think what would have made me like another one more is if someone did all the things you did, but didn’t have “music” to help it become more dimensional. Again you didn’t break any rules so you are good. Great Piece.
Judge 1
Positives: Great natural sound and starting with the rehearsal video. Nice use of nat sound pops throughout too. High quality sound bites. And all of the audio is terrific.
Improvements: While the piece has great video and audio, the story needs to be developed a little more. Make the newsworthiness clear. A little too much movement in the video where there does not need to be movement.
Judge 2
Positives: SOT audio sounds good. (BUT hide microphone cords) Mixing performance and rehearsal video adds variety.
Improvements: Unmotivated camera movement is distracting. Tell the story through shot sequences rather than montage. Needs an establishing shot to provide context of the scene.
Judge 3
Positives: 1. I LOVED this intro. The way the music swelled slowly and then transitioned to the first interview. It was immersive and immediately showed you what this story is about. 2. The interviews were mixed so well. I loved how you asked multiple people to summarize the musical and then spliced the interviews together.
Improvements: 1. I loved the Mama Mia graphic at the beginning but felt it wasn't needed at the end. You had such great B-Roll, I think a shot from the very end of the musical or a scene of them bowing at the end of a rehearsal would have been great if you had that. 2. All of the interviews except 1 are shot with the subject on the right staring into the left. This is nitpicky because this was a very good piece, but I find it more visually interesting to alternate sides.
Judge 4
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Improvements: