What's the Worst That Can Happen? - ID# 104

Deerfield
Dramatic Narrative
Entry Description

A student tries gather the strength to ask a girl out to prom, but he gets stuck along the way.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/24 8:51 pm - Outstanding edit with some clever tricks and solid mix of variety and repetition to both keep it entertaining and communicate the story. Strong performances that really bring the film to life. Good blend of humor with the anxiousness of the main character. The editing match action at 2:18 works very well! Something to work on is the color grade. At times it is a bit flat and it isn't always consistent – at times warmer or cooler or more/less contrasty. Excellent audio: dialogue levels, mixing and balancing and effects (such as the dipping of the sub's lines at 4:05). Overall, very impressive!
  • 4/23 11:56 am - Great idea, and the Groundhog Day editing is awesome. I love the script, but I really love the editing and composition—how shorter and tighter you are getting and the build up to the climax - very thoughtful and creative. The very fact that you thought about coverage and how to tell your story is awesome. Well done!
  • 3/15 11:19 am - Fun concept! I like your script. One suggestion to help with clarity - it needs a cut or fade to black before the bell rings and we see the class period repeat. It's really well edited though. The pacing getting faster and faster does a great job building up anxiety (same with sound design - hearing the bell ring more and more frequently helps you build up that intensity as well). Cutting to insert shots of him bouncing his leg, the pencil jar falling, etc. contributes too. Your shots are framed nicely and are well lit, but I recommend some color grading to help with the saturation.
Judge 1

Positives: Great use of high concept here. Really loved this one. It took a major swing and hit it out of the park. This is exactly what I like to see for editing pacing. The repetition could have felt way too long and drawn out and made the whole thing not work, but with the quick cuts, various angles, and attention to the details, it pays off very well. The comedy was well balanced with the tone of the film as well. Including that mentor moment with the sub teacher was a really great add for breaking the loop and worked for me. I also like that he didn’t get the girl, but instead learned its more about asking than the actual outcome.

Improvements: There really isn't too much to improve here without getting way too nit-picky and into the weeds (mayyybe a few camera compositions were off, or i'd personally prefer a more contrasty color grade), but i feel like what the team was able to accomplish is exemplary and a great gold standard for student work. Great great job. Story and how you make me feel when I watch the film is all that really matters, and this nailed both.

Judge 2

Positives: The framing of the shots were good and incorporated the right things within the frame. I also liked how the camera movements became more handheld while the character got more stressed, it helped tell the story.

Improvements: Make sure that the lighting between the shots matches, especially when they are when they are cutting between each other in the same location. The lighting was a little dull throughout it and the audio levels were a little loud. I liked the cutting once there started to be more action, but there was a bit of confusion with the storyline in general. Was it all happening within the same day?

Judge 3

Positives: The main character's struggle works very well. The buildup to the conclusion also works very well. The voice track came through and was mixed well with the background sound and music.

Improvements: Experiment with color correction. Some of the shots are rich with color, and some are not. Compare 2:06 with 0:48. You may also want to think about developing a look for the replaying of time where the first time through, you use what you currently have. Then, experiment with color filters and adjust things like saturation and contrast.

Judge 4

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Judge 5

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