Zounds Entertainment - ID# 109
Glenbrook North
Natural Audio News Package
Entry Description
A spotlight on David Gichner, a senior, and his journey to create a successful entertainment company on the north shore.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/18 11:39 am - I know it was a news story, but at times it felt more like a commercial (especially at the beginning), because I felt like you were selling me something. I know at the beginning you have to tell us what it is, but it came across more as an advertisement for the business (“for all your party needs”). If it was a news story, or mini documentary I feel like I would have heard from a parent or teen about how you did “celebrating” them. Your mom’s interview reeled it in as a news story, but again the DJ sounded more like he was always trying to sell himself/the business. I know that will always be part of a news story where people have an agenda, it is just something you must look out for. Good stories should be about people, not necessarily just the business. When the owner of Zounds speaks he sounds very rushed, very choppy (he sounded more natural at the end). I get the impression rather than having him speak to one idea at a time, he spoke once and you tried cutting it up, but it ends up looking and sounding very choppy. What didn’t help with the choppiness is every time you went to B-Roll that audio would come up, and then it would go down when someone started talking – let that authentic audio sit/bleed underneath the interview a little so it pulls/ties all the pieces together. You had the right idea to break up the interviews with the b-roll but the audio jumps up and down, make the piece come across choppy. Audio levels were generally matched, but some of the b-roll audio seemed to pop up above the interviews which again with the up and down I talked about above made the differences stick out even more. Camera work was good, I loved the shot at 12 seconds with the extinguisher, it made for a nice transition, interview shots were all nicely framed and had backgrounds that were diverse yet fitting, the only change I might suggest is it seems in the interview of mom, the couch was more lit up than she was, so it visually shifted the focus a little off her. Not a big deal, but look out for stuff like that. Overall I liked the story, the topic, clean up the details when transitioning in and out of B-Roll, make it more of a story than a commercial and you have a really nice piece.
- 4/16 1:23 pm - Lots of positive things in this video. First, you started with natural sound to kick off the package. The sound bytes are informative - first from David telling his story to a bit of background information from his parents of how he got started and how important it is to let children follow their dreams. The use of natural audio throughout the story is good. I would love to hear a little bit more of David interacting with the crowd at events - think that would show off his personality a little bit more. The audio edits on this were well done - the fading in and out of the natural audio was done very well. Many students don’t pay attention to those small details, so kudos to you for doing so.
- 3/6 2:09 pm - This was a really interesting story about a student achieving his dream and was well told by the interviews. Interview composition was well framed- for the shot of the mother, I would ensure she takes up a bit more of the frame and follows the rule of thirds. She is only taking up about 1/3 of the space and I would like to see her as more of the focus of the shot. The audio gave the viewer the sense of the type of music played by this entertainment company. The only thing I wanted to see/hear (if it exists) was actual shots of the student at work either DJ-ing or building playlists. The b-roll you did have was well shot and I loved the rotation effect you put on some of your dancing clips. Excellent work overall on such an inspiring story!
Judge 1
Positives: Nice visuals of what the entertainment company offers. The natural sound and b-roll clip flow nice into interview sound bites.
Improvements: Not having sound flow underneath videos kind of interrupts the story flow. I would have liked to see more b-roll on top of video. Additionally, it would have been nice to hear from a customer about why they chose this student's business.
Judge 2
Positives: Good quality interview audio. Natural sound helps convey energy at the event.
Improvements: Grabbed my attention in the first shot with nat snd BUT then a talking head SOT ruined that connection. Show more of the action/exciting video and have his voice under to avoid loosing the audience. Need to see David doing something other than the interview. It may be him in the footage, but it's too dark to tell. Needs more shot variety, especially closeups. ShAkY iMaGeS are distracting. Out of focus interview.
Judge 3
Positives: Great storytelling here. David and his parents are great interview subjects and tell a compelling narrative about David's life. Great choice for the opening sound for the package. Very dynamic b-roll that really shows how fun and wild his events are (but I could have used more tight shots - may
Improvements: The opening shot was very dark, and so were some of the scenes from the dances. Some of the dark shots work because of the nature of the scene, but some are clearly underexposed. David's mom is out of focus.
Judge 4
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 5
Positives:
Improvements: