Des Plaines Tree Lighting - ID# 16
Maine West
Natural Audio News Package
Entry Description
This is a news package about the the annual Des Plaines Tree Lighting Ceremony. The story focuses on the importance of preserving tradition in a modern, fast paced world.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/30 4:15 pm - Strengths: Excellent shot variety and variety of NATS! I loved all of the different sounds incorporated from the cheering of the tree lighting to the dancers to people playing music. You told a clear and cohesive story with your interviews and I was impressed with the people you were able to talk to (history center leader, super, mayor). This gives a lot of credibility to your project. Areas of Growth: I would love to hear more about the technology piece of this story- this was so interesting!
- 4/30 3:09 pm - I was initially concerned when the very first scene was the tree being lit, I thought where will go from here you started with the climax of the event - what's left. You did an excellent job going into all the other aspects of the event, what it is, who is there, how family’s can benefit, how it brings the community together, etc. The event is so much more than just counting down to lights going on. Great job! Each interview peeled back an additional bonus about the event and you presented it all in a very logical order and at a pace that didn’t come at me rapid fire, but also didn’t give me a chance to get bored. Great post-production decision-making. Lots of great attention to grabbing the sounds of the event to make me feel like I was there. The natural sounds were not obnoxious or overdone; they again came at a pace that made your story natural. The only suggestion I would say is it ended somewhat abruptly I will assume it was because of the time constraint but I would have loved someone saying something like I come every year and once again I am glad I came this year, it was alot of fun. Great footage, great interviews, great editing, good job. This was one of my favorites.
- 4/29 6:52 am - Good introduction to the story with the countdown at the beginning. You had a few good natural audio pops, but there were spots where you could have had more. Make them intentional. Your sound bites should be between 0 and -6 on the VU meter. When you want the viewer to hear the natural audio, make sure you’re bringing it up to the same level as the sound bite - but not at the same time as the sound bite. Remember that the purpose of this category is to not only have natural audio in the news package, but to use that natural audio to help tell the story and move it forward. That can be done with audio pops and putting a wireless mic on someone and following them around. Let’s hear the children interacting with Santa or getting hot chocolate. Let’s hear’ the vendors interacting with the crowd. At 1:12, bring the singing up full for about 2-3 seconds before moving on to the next sound bite. You kept that audio level the same so it didn’t draw attention to the natural audio. But you had a 5-second space there to bring that audio up full. Watch the VU meter when editing. All of the sound bites should be between 0 and -6 - some of the audio got softer at parts for no apparent reason.
Judge 1
Positives: 1. Your piece started with an excellent usage of natural sound at its beginning. It's very important natural sound pieces have some sort of compelling "nat pop" at their beginning to draw people in. Not only did your story do that, but it displayed good uses of nat sound throughout to break the piece up and make things a little more interesting. 2. Your story was well written! You composed your soundbytes in such a way that not only did the final product convey a clear message, but it also conveyed an actionable item for viewers to consider: that we all need to slow down and enjoy periods like the holidays. While from a journalistic standpoint you should never express your own personal opinions, it is a good idea to capture and highlight themes you notice on the ground in your reporting. You did that and it showed through your usage of several bytes during the end of the piece.
Improvements: 1. The student lit the interview subjects well, but many of the other nighttime shots were a bit too dark. 2. The story could have used a little more creativity in trems of video composition as well. Next time, try to shoot more close up shots of attendees' faces or even just things like bulbs on the Christmas tree or a cup of hot chocolate. The following is a bit counterintuitive to the tried and true broadcast concept "say dog, see dog" too. There were parts of the story when you took back to moments that had occurred during the daytime. I presume you did that because your interview subject had mentioned that those events had occurred in their soundbytes. But, in the future, always remember you don't have to include everything you capture during a story shoot. In this case, those daytime events were really jarring to see visually when the majority of your story was focused on the nighttime event. As a result, I'm not sure they if they actually added more to your piece. They may have been a bit more harmful.
Judge 2
Positives: Good use of nats and talking to lots of people
Improvements: I think you should start with the first sot and end on the tree lighting. I get that you wanted to open with an attention grabber, but this made the story feel a bit confusing. It’s nice that you used a lot of nats but some of it seemed there just to have nats and make the piece longer. Try to trim this to 1:30 Make sure you focus your camera when shooting broll
Judge 3
Positives: The lead audio hooked me into the package. Interviews are well lit and composed.
Improvements: While there is ample sound to choose from, I was missing the sights and sounds of the day. It's the little moments that can enhance a natural audio driven package. Think about mic-ing up a choir singer for a song or placing a mic nearby when the folks handing out hot chocolate. Think about trying to educate the audience by taking them on a journey with someone you interviewed. For example, keep the mic on Elizabeth and have her interact with someone attending the event. This will help blend your storyline. While there's a good variety in broll/VO, the execution of shots lacks. Some clips are fuzzy or the lighting could be improved.
Judge 4
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 5
Positives:
Improvements: