Slug & Lede

Cats need homes by Pawel Dwulit features Frank Currell, a man who lives with 80 or more cats. The video begins with Currell sitting on a couch surrounded by a few of his cats. I really like how it just starts off with him saying, “We always had in the numbers of 90 to 100 cats here.” It really grabbed my attention and was a strong starting point.
I think it was a nice touch to add the picture of his late wife while he said, “My wife passed away.” Currell was a little hard to hear and I had to watch the video twice before I could understand what he said when talking about being a cancer patient. Also, later on in the video he mumbles quite a bit. I’m not sure if this could be edited but maybe another piece of the interview could be used instead-a more understandable one.
I think it’s great that the cats are actively involved in the video and we can see Currell petting them. The close-up shots of just the cats (under the table, walking around, with cans, etc.) were great to see. It was nice to see more cats and showed just how many there really were.
The video was unsteady and the camera seemed to move a little too much which was distracting. I liked the background noise throughout the piece, especially when the cats started to make noises. It made it more realistic. I liked that Currell was the main focus of the video but it would have been nice to have the sons (who were pictured) talk a little bit about the situation as well.

The Star posted a video about an old man who is having to give away many of his beloved 80-some cats.

The video starts off and it is apparent that the videographer is not using a tripod. The camera is visibly shaky when it is panning out on the old man, caressing a couple of his cats. When the man tells about how his wife passed away, they have him speaking while getting a close-up of a photo of his wife. The camera is still not on a tripod, because the camera is still very shaky. If this was the case throughout the entire video, I do not think it would’ve been a problem. The man is quite old, and although he is not physically shaky, he still has a slow and turbulent voice. But instead of using this format throughout the entire video, they only did it for the first 45 seconds or so, and then they decide to set up a tripod. Then it goes back and forth from getting shaky shots to stable shots. The inconsistency was very annoying. He also switches camera angles of the man, which is okay, except the first shot of the old man shows him directly in the center of the camera, which is usually not a good place for the subject to be. Later in the video, though, he is on the left third of the shot, which is a better place for an interviewee to be situated in the shot.

The shots of the cats were a very nice touch, mostly because they chose to get on the same level as the cats. There were so many cats throughout the video, I thought that using these angles was very appropriate because that’s the main viewpoint seen in the house. They didn’t just get floor videos looking up, they got many different shots; cats on the couch, cats on the table, and what the cat would be looking at.

I wish that they would’ve got the opinion of more than just the old man, though. There is a shot where he talks about his sons, and then you see the sons hanging out in the kitchen, but you never hear from them. You hear some cats’ opinions throughout the video for background noise, which I thought was great. With so many cats in one place, I bet that’s just normal for them to hear hissing and purring all the time. Although the cat background noise was a nice touch, at the end the old man tells a funny joke, and unfortunately you can hear a woman laugh a little bit. I don’t know if that could have been edited out, but it was a bit distracting, especially because you don’t hear from any women (or anyone else besides the man for that matter) during the entire video.

Donna Vivino transforms into the Wicked Witch of the West for her role as Elphaba onstage at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN.

The opening shot of the theatre and the lights is nice, it provides a good visual as the journalist, Richard Tsong-Taatarii, introduces the piece. 

The beginning of the video is shot in close-up and increased speed as the green makeup is applied.  It is effective to show the time lapse.  There is VO throughout.  This seems disconnected.  It may have been more effective to pair the video of the makeup application with audio of the actress singing a song from the musical.  As I watched the speedy video I was expecting the audio to be fast, as well.  Music may not have the same problem.

I also think they could have showed the time lapse all together in the beginning and then talked to the actress and the makeup artist, Joe Dulude II.

There are good closeup shots of the brushes and application of makeup on each part of the face interspersed throughout the piece.  The audio is clear, but the makeup artist’s audio seems to be quieter which is most noticeablewhen they go back and forth between him and Vivino.

The video of Vivino getting ready for the performance was nice, it gave the viewer a behind-the-scenes feeling.

I enjoyed the wide shot at the end of Vivino onstage during the performance.  It starts out too wide, however, and would be more effective if it started as a closeup and zoomed out to show the whole stage.  The extreme wide shot is too much, you can barely see the actress on stage and there is too much black space on camera.

My favorite shot is near the beginning when there is a medium shot of the black witch hat sitting on the sofa.  It is subtle, but effective.

Another problem may be that they don’t explain any of the story of “Wicked”.  People may not be familiar with the idea of the musical and its connection to “The Wizard of Oz”.  One may be left wondering why she needs to be green at all.

Overall it was very entertaining, but not very informative.  I would have liked to hear more about the actual makeup.  What brand is it?  What is the name of the color?  Was it created for the show?  In a package about getting made up for “Wicked” these questions should be addressed.

First off, I have a very hard time understanding how this story is even news to begin with. The video, Andrew Brundidge Refused to Sing for John Legend, feels more like a home family movie than any type of news story. In all honesty, had this not been for an assignment, I would have stopped watching this less than a minute in, for it does not really seem to have a point.
The entire thing consists of the reporter following around a poor two-year-old while his other tries to get him to sing John Legend songs. The boy does not want to sings, yet the mother continues to hand him a “microphone” and encourage him. In fact, I feel this little boy. That is all this video proves to do. It makes me resent his mother for trying to turn him into a circus act so he, and more importantly she, can get their 15 minutes of fame.
Like I said, the video has a very “home-made” feel to it. First off, the reporter herself tries to encourage the young child to sing. This does three things. One its only shows his reluctance to actually perform. It is not a simple defiance of his mother; he does not want to sing. No matter who is doing the encouraging. Two, it constantly reminds the viewer that there is someone behind the camera. The person behind the camera actually interacts with the people and I feel this really takes away from the piece. It makes it feel very casual, and like it is really not news. Lastly, it messes with the sound quality. This is something that happens throughout the video and really hurts it. It is hard to understand with background sounds, uneven levels, etc.
There is not a thing this video does well. The boy is very cute, and it does show you that, but that is all. There is no story here, and I feel like this is merely a filler they used for lack of anything else. Or they used because the people involved were expecting it to be somewhere. And while this is nowhere near a good story, I do not see how it could have been turned into a print story. While I feel no story was there, the reported did use what little she had to make at least something. And that something was a home-made, family video.

“Intended Consequences” is a heart wrenching story about females who survived the 1994 Rwanda genocide and subsequently gave birth to unwanted children that were the result of rape.

One of the video’s strengths was that every image, whether it be moving or still, is composed and framed very well. Although there are some images that have people placed in the center of the frame it helps to make the story more resonant. Having their faces in the center is jarring in a way, against a black background it helps the viewer focus on their eyes and faces for the brief moment that they are on screen. Other shots follow the rule of thirds and thus allow the viewer to explore the images more fully.

The main weakness of the video is that there was a language barrier. Because of the language barrier, the interviews needed to have voice overs. Usually this isn’t a problem but there were so many different people being interviewed and only about three voices doing voice overs. This was a confusing combination because it became hard to tell the difference between people and stories.

Also, most of interviews were voice overs of other moving images. For instance, the woman being interviewed would be crying and looking into the camera while her interview was voiced over. This made the interviews less genuine because the viewer could not be sure that the voice was of the person featured. This is not to suggest that the interviews were fraudulent, but rather that they seemed assembled instead of presented; it became less natural.

Jonathan Torgovnik probably struggled with this decision a great deal because it would have looked jolty and inconsistent if he just put one direct interview after another. My suggestion, however, would be to either include less interviews or tell one complete story and move on to the next. That way the video would have flowed better for the viewer because they wouldn’t be wondering about the speaker instead of listening to what they were saying.

The video piece from the Star Tribune, Hard Work Pays Off is a story about a kid that goes to Blaine High School in Minnesota.  His name is Jake Urton and he was born with cerebal palsy and is now helping with the football team.  Jake is considered an inspiration to the team because he works hard and constantly works hard to improve his coordination and strength.  This video was really strong because it gets to how hard he is willing to work by showing him workout.  There are also some great quotes from the coaches and Jake himself on how the coaches have helped him as well as how the coaches feel Jake has worked hard to get where he is today.  The quotes do a good job of supporting what the video is showing and seems to stay to the point. 

The one thing I think would have been better with this piece is sticking to the point of Jake’s story.  I get that it is an amazing story how he inspires the football team and how he helps out at practice.  However, I thought the piece would be a lot stronger if it just stuck to his struggles and possibly mention the football team as an achievement in his progression.  I feel like that way the story would have been shorter and left a much stronger impression on the audience.  That would be the only thing I would change.

As far as a different medium.  I don’t think much else would work.  I believe a story like this would be good in print as a personal profile type piece but it wouldn’t be as strong without the video.  I’d compare it to ESPN where there are some very good written stories but when you see it on TV on ESPN 360 or another show it is more powerful and it captures the audience.  Therefore, I do think that video is the strongest medium for this piece.

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Narrated by Katherine Q. Seeyle, “Choosing A President” was a video showcased on nytimes.com. The obvious goal of the video was to give a summary of the campaign, with a focus on Barack Obama and John McCain. The video is a little over 16 minutes, which may turn some viewers away. However, as I began to watch the piece, it immediately grabbed my attention.

The video consisted of mostly pictures. The pictures were taken by New York Times photographers which did nothing but help the piece’s credibility. Some may have appreciated seeing more video than photographs. However, I felt the pictures made the video more enjoyable to watch. I am a firm believer that the photographs taken during this historic campaign really defined the feelings and excitement that Americans had.

In the opening of the video, a graphically designed view of the United States showed headshots popping out of numerous states. The camera would focus on each headshot and a voice over of that person would become audible, saying who that person was supporting and why. This opening sequence grabbed my attention and it provided a more creative way of getting sound bites from people.

Throughout the piece, Seeyle used a very soothing voice for narration. This helped the listener feel comfortable while viewing. Yet, one of the best things Seeyle did was when she used “Touch and Go.” When Seeyle “touched” on the economy and health care, photographs were shown of a stock graph and of an elderly woman being treated. The incorporation of the “Touch and Go” helps the viewers see and hear which makes the piece become clear.

Whenever SOTs were used in the video, they were usually enhanced by laying photographs over top of them. In instances when Barack Obama was making a speech, a still picture of the crowd’s reaction usually followed. Breaking up the SOTs with photographs enhanced the video by making it less stale.

The video was broken up into four parts, with each part having a title and a time stamp. Breaking up the time made the viewer feel as though the piece wasn’t as long as once perceived. It was also helpful because the viewer knew what was coming next. The titles were also accompanied by a timeline that was visible each time a new segment came up. The timeline was a graphically produced imaged that helped transition the segments and made the video flow well. Music was also used throughout the video which made the piece more upbeat. There were no voices in the music, only instruments were used which kept the viewer focused on the content of the video.

While there were many positives seen in the video I did find some areas that needed work. When Sarah Palin made her first appearance in the piece, one of the SOTs said that “Sarah Palin is flat out scary.” If one did not have extensive knowledge of Sarah Palin’s interviews and actions during the campaign, he or she may be confused by that comment. It would have been helpful to show a clip from her interview with Katie Couric to see why the SOT said that.

Another area that could have been better was the portrayal of Hillary Clinton. In many of the SOTs of Clinton and in the narration, the piece showed her speaking against Obama. This was a correct portrayal of Mrs. Clinton, however it was never mentioned how much of an ally she was to Obama during the last few months of the election.

I noticed very quickly that in the Pie Crust Making Video the camera shots were only going to be close-up and medium or wide shots. Although it was important to do this for a cooking video in order for the viewer to see the details of the food and the preparation, I thought the cuts to each shot were too jumpy and too much of the same thing. The angles were not varied and it was just like they were focusing in and out so fast that it was almost dizzying. I also though some differences in where the camera was placed would have helped change it up a little, and would have given a more human aspect to the video. I know when I’m learning how to cook something, I want to watch the person cooking from all different angles so that I don’t miss anything.

I also wished they would have zoomed in and out at least a couple times so that the viewer was eased into the close ups. Or they could have used other techniques, such as moving the camera from left to right or vice versa.

Although there were really only two different shots used, I thought the cameraperson did a good job of using the rule of thirds and not leaving any weird, gaping holes or “whitespace.” And though the timing on when a close-up shot was coming was predictable, they were used in the correct places. For example, they did a close up on her rolling the pie crust (something that needs to be seen up close.)

In the beginning of the video the cook said she had written a piece for the newspaper on the same subject, so obviously this topic does work in other forms of media. But I think video is the best because you are actually able to see how the cook prepares the food and the way she does it. It is one thing to say “roll the dough,” but it’s another to actually see if she’s rolling it tenderly, quickly or forcefully. An audio slide show would also have been fine, but with a topic like making pie crusts the photos would probably be boring. A good cooking audio slide show might be interesting with a really colorful and intricate dish.

All in all I think the video was mediocre and is in need of improvements and variance.

      The video “Sun Youth Forum” from the Las Vegas Sun covers 1,000 senior high school students as they participate in a forum talking about various issues surrounding the country.           

      The technical use of video in this piece creatively shows the experiences of these students as they participate in the conference. To start the video, the camera picks up an oncoming bus of students to the facility where the day’s activities will be conducted. The use of a moving shot brings about anticipation not only for the kids on the bus but for the viewer as well. We see the start of their day, giving us a nice reference for the entire piece.

      The video emphasizes a mixture of close-up shots and medium range shots. A few shots at ground level match perfectly with the visual effect of the massive amount of students as they walk to their different speaker sessions. The video does a sufficient job of capturing the many different sessions using wide enough shots to capture the students as they listen to their speakers.

      There were only a few close-up shots that were used for interview purposes, but they were effectively interspersed between the wider angle shots, allowing us to draw upon the personal experiences of a few individuals. The angles used during the various interviews with participants captured their expressions and movements and allowed the individual to become a more central focus of this larger story. However, one interview with a congresswoman from Nevada seemed too close and encroaching on the viewer. It would have been best if the cameraman would have stood a few feet further away and shot from a better angle.

     One of the final shots in the piece involving the awarding of scholarships through a raffle was by far the most well thought-out arrangement of the entire package. The camera starts out on a close-up of the tickets being mixed together and then pans out toward the large crowd to find the winner of the prize. The close-up and wide shot mix together nicely and provide a simple but highly effective picture for the viewer.

     The faults of the video in my view are minimal. The pace of the shots can be bothersome at certain points. The camera shifts angles and levels of visual space rather quickly and can be distracting to the viewer. To solve this problem, the producer could have slowed down the pace of the footage and given each individual shot more clarity. Furthermore, a more sensitive use of zoom and panning shots could have cleared it up.

     Overall, the use of video for this particular piece was extremely necessary. It allowed the viewer to get a visual picture of the day spent by these students. Print could have also been a possibility and still told an effective story, but video was still the best and most suitable option.

            http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/2008/nov/25/1199/#

A refreshing mix of angles are used in J. Pinkley’s video Make your own pie crust featuring Minneapolis writer and cooking instructor Beth Dooley.

The shots are based off of what she says. No one will easily forget to use cold, unsalted butter after 25 seconds and two close-ups on her face and the butter package drive the point home.

Pinkley follows the rule of thirds closely. While at times Dooley lacks headroom at the top of the screen, she almost always is featured on one of the two imaginary parallel lines that split up the screen into thirds.

Dooley is featured looking straight into camera. This was the right choice as she has the confidence to pull it off. It also adds to the very personal and informal aspect of the video.

There is a window in background reflecting a bright light, but it’s not bad. Instead, it adds to the “at home in the kitchen” feel of the video.

The shot portraying the dough at its “cornmeal” state could have been a tad longer. The point is to be able to see and remember the texture of the dough. A one-second shot is too quick to do so. Two or three seconds would have been more effective.

There is an awkward repeated shot of the refrigerator closing. While the point is to show time lapse, it is lost in the fact that the door closes twice in a row without opening. They should have transitioned to say that they waited 30 minutes or simply lengthened the second shot to show her open the fridge again.

Why the apples in the pie plate? It feels unsanitary, not refreshing, when Dooley removes the apples and puts the piecrust in the plate. They are distracting and don’t add to the piece.

However, the piece excels at using an array of different shots, keeping the audience watching. I think I might go make a pie crust.