Farm-To-Table - ID# 211
Neuqua Valley
Documentary
Entry Description
This documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at how farm-to-table practices are fostering a more sustainable food culture.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/3 6:35 pm - KEEPERS: This was a really cool story and location. It's just cool to know that farm to table experiences exist and that they're accessible. The story was well told through your interviews. Nice work producing the interviews and cutting the sound bytes. I felt like I had a good grasp on their business and what makes it unique. Your interview set ups were all well thoughtout and fit with each person's occupation at the farm. You're very adept at filming general coverage broll. Great work with all of your signage shots and various parts and pieces of the farm and restaurant. I thought your song choice worked very well for this piece. IMPROVEMENTS: The most important next step you must take as a documentarian is to film each of your interview subjects working in their environment. That broll is just as important, if not more so in terms of driving story. I wanted to see each of them working, interacting with vendors, customers, cookng food, etc. Not having any of that footage and its associated natural sound was a big hole in this documentary. A general rule should be to spend as much time with someone filming them working as you do interviewing them. Work on varying your broll shots. Each shot moved in almost the same manner. Throw in a few locked down shots to get away from the constant panning. A few shots had noticieable image stabilization added. Your music was a bit hot in the mix and as much as I liked that song for this piece, it should not have been the ONLY song. You probably neede 3 different song choices - approximately one for each interview subject. Try to use music dynamically in your documentaries - not just as a bed. It's another emotional tool that you can use to drive story to create greater impact. Overall, there is a lot to like here. Keep telling stories and keep growing!
- 3/4 9:45 am - What Worked Well: ✅ Unique & Engaging Topic – A behind-the-scenes look at farm-to-table practices is a fresh and compelling subject. ✅ Strong B-Roll Footage – The footage of the farmer’s market and farm enhances the visual storytelling and adds authenticity. ✅ Great Interview with Elise – The background choice and composition for Elise’s interview are well thought out and visually appealing. Areas for Improvement: Font Consistency – Be mindful of the fonts you use throughout the documentary; keeping them consistent will create a more polished and professional look. Interview Lighting – The backlighting from the window overexposes the background and underexposes the subject. Shooting with a strong backlight requires a camera with high dynamic range or additional lighting to balance exposure. Lack of Narrative Drive – While the documentary provides a great overview of the company, it leans too much into a promotional style rather than a compelling story. Focus on crafting a clear, engaging narrative arc to drive the documentary. Music Variation – Consider changing the music throughout the piece to better reflect shifts in tone and keep the audience engaged. Overall, this is a visually appealing and informative documentary, but refining the storytelling and technical elements will make it even stronger!
- 2/24 1:54 pm - STORY: This story, and the way you tell it, was engaging. It kept me interested throughout the entire video. CAMERA and LIGHTING: your main guy’s interview lighting isn’t great, because he has natural light blasting in through the window behind him. You need some daylight balanced KEY lighting to offset that strong backlighting. The ladies' interviews have much better lighting overall. Your b-roll is really good; a lot of shots and shot variety, very smooth movement. AUDIO: Watch your audio levels. That music bed in the beginning came in way too hot compared to your interview audio. Primary audio (interviews and voice overs) should come in between -6 and -12 db on the VU meter. Nat sound and/or sound effects should be between -15 and -21 on the VU meter. Music beds should be between - 18 and -24 on the VU meter. Mixing matters. EDITING: When you’re editing an interview and you have b-roll that can cover up your cuts, you might as well cut out as many “Ums”, “uhs”, and throat clearing. The whole section from :24 - :36 had like 4 of these that you could have easily cut out and covered with your existing b-roll.
Judge 1
Positives: Concise and cohesive story - covered all of the bases of who he is, what he does, who his customers are, etc. Good mixture of b-roll.
Improvements: Instead of backlighting Russell, I think it would've been more beneficial if you utilized the window to give him a nice side light. Volume level of music was slightly distracting.
Judge 2
Positives: Great camera movement on the B Roll. Steady, clean, nice variety of movements well done. The information was well presented and easy to understand. The video moved along well and kept my interest.
Improvements: Use lights whenever possible. Or use light from windows but don't put your subject in front of a window without a light to brighten their face. Put in a lower third graphic with their names.
Judge 3
Positives: Super great broll to really show me the story. For example, if i turned off the sound on this film I would still know generally what is happening, so great job capturing it all! Great camera work as well. Well structured story, everything was very clear and I think you did a good job finding the correct people to speak to the greenhouse/restaurants/why this is important work. Well done! I enjoyed watching this.
Improvements: At the beginning of the film, instead of immediately starting with the guys intro, it might have been nice to start with some broll, music, the title screen, sort of build the world for a moment, and then let his narration start. It felt a bit abrupt. You have great B-roll and starting with a talking head in my opinion is not the strongest, when I can see that you do have great imagery and broll! The narrator had a lot of "ums" during sections when you had broll covering, you could consider removing those as they were a little distracting. Also, the credits rolled a bit too fast! I want to see who was behind this great piece so please slow them down or maybe just overlay the text behind a relevant image or black screen.
Judge 4
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Judge 5
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