The Sin City Shooters video does a great job of using the natrual sound of the guns to start the clip.  It really gets your interest quick and is a great opening piece for the video.

Later we have the individuals talking about the joy they get from the shooting range, and it really helps you understand the joy that they get when at the range and hitting their targets.  As the one lady put it, “The satisfying wopp” of when the bullet hits the target.

A few of the others interviewed were less enthusiastic about their time at the range, but they all seemed to really enjoy what they were doing, with one saying, “I wouldn’t spend my time any other way.”

One of the camera angles used was a great, as it was behind a target being shot at, so the footage makes it look like the person shooting the gun is aiming at the camera.

The same lady who talked about the satisfying wopp of the gun, again describes the feeling of hitting a target and how a person is “just struttin’” after hitting their target.  She does a good job of describing the feeling you get after a great shot on a target.

For me, watching this video makes me want to go out to a firing range and experience what they are talking about.  This video does a great job using sound and good shots of video to make a very good overall piece about the shooting range and the people who enjoy it.

The personal interviews with the coaches, with B-roll footage of the hard work done that involved coordination is especially moving, because the coaches speak honestly and sincerely about their admiration for the young man, and it goes well with the visual of Urton pushing himself to achieve something that is truly difficult for someone with his condition. Doing this as a video piece is essential to creating a clear picture, using audio or text would never do justice to the amount of hard work that Urton puts in to better himself. The video footage that shows how difficult it is for him to even walk, let alone do complex speed excercises and lift weights, is crucial to understanding Urton’s level of commitment and dedication that serves as the focal point of the piece.

The only weakness of the piece, in my opinion, is that the narrative explanations (seemingly from the producer of the video, but never clearly defined) are not synced well, the volume is especially a problem, as it is much louder than the rest of the audio in the piece and seems out of place.

Overall a very good piece, well put together and the video and audio works well together, only technical issues with the narrative. Video was definitely the best medium for this story.

There were many great elements to this piece. I really appreciated Pawel Dwulit, the videographer’s, use of angles in his shots of the cats. You can tell he really put himself into character as his angles seemed to be in the perspective of the cats themselves. This idea really led the main focus of the story to be about the cats, which I felt were the most important elements of the story.

I also felt Dwulit did a great job of editing the material, the transitions flowed quite well and I never felt awkward instances of voice overs or placement of pictures.

Some elements however I felt should be changed. When Dwulit was taking medium shots of Curell sitting on the couch, it seemed to distract me when he would cut of the very top of his head. I’m not sure if this was to be a creative element, but I felt he should have been more cautious of these small errors.

I also wish the video would have offered more information on where the cats will be going now or how he will deal with their absence. I feel this information is vital to the story and it may have given a much needed depth to this piece.

I really enjoyed this piece as a video, I feel the presence of the cats and how they occupy the home were essential to understand visually. 

Overall this piece was put together very well and I found a great interest in the story. I also felt this piece was much too sweet to be overly critical!

Another positive quality of the video was the mix between actual footage and interviews of the people in the shooting league.  Since some of the interviewees were a little boring, I think putting their voices as the background at various parts was also a successful idea.

I would only change two things about this video.  First, I would take out the high-speed panning at the beginning and go for a different approach.  Instead of panning, I’d go for a wide shot positioned in front of the shooter.  This way, you could watch him run and do the shooting course without getting motion sickness.

Second, I would take out some of the interviews.  Sometimes I felt like they were kind of rambling and not really providing any necessary information for the piece.  I think taking a little of that out would really clean up the video and make it even more entertaining for its viewers.

The piece started out with a great close up of Derek’s dad playing the guitar, I thought this was a great start and a good way to show you what this video will be focusing on. Also they do a great job of transitioning into the interview part of the video right away. I like how they stop playing the music at just the right time when Derek’s dad is playing the guitar.

Another thing I really liked was how they used most of Derek’s music for the video. I can’t say they should use different angles when showing footage of Derek, but that’d be hard since they were taking before he passed. I think having his videos and using his music makes this piece all the more touching, and real. I think this was the thing that definitely stood out for me, and one of the many things I liked about this video.

The video does a great job of transitiong into different shots and different segments of the video. I like the close up shots on the guitar, then medium shots when interviewing, and then an over the shoulder type shot when they went over a guitar into the window of the recording studio. Also they do a further shot that shows Derek’s entire room which was set up like like a music studio and it showed that they had wide interest in music.

Another part that I like about the video that wouldn’t always work well is the narrarator. I really think they used it enought where they were getting important information, but not enough to take the focus off the topic and main character. I thought this also worked well. Along with the narrarator were the shots of Bob Dylan’s music close up, and his Dad telling us that he uses this music to get out of bed every morning, made for another intimate part.

My favorite part of the video was the last shot. It was a split shot of Derek and his Dad. The shot shows them both playing music and finishing a song, then Derek gets up and turns off his camera and ends the show. I thought this just gave the ending a little more personality as it was very symbolic. It could have been interpreted in a few different ways, and I just thought it was a great shot and good way to end it.

Overall i thought this piece was influential, emotional, and it makes you think about a lot of various things. I don’t know how much I could actually say about this piece that I didn’t like. The only thing that was questionable for me is about 1:55 into the video, you could argue that they should have used a close-up shot. I think you could also argue it the other way, saying that it shows you he was in Derek’s old room and not in some random place. I probably would leave it how the creator of the video has it. This video was tremendous, and I’m glad that I had the chance to see it.

In terms of actual video footage, I think it does a very good job of incorporating multiple shots. The extremely close shots do a wonderful job of portraying the intensity of target shooting. They not only focus on the power of the gun itself but also the force of the bullet hitting the target. In my opinion the interview portions are the strength of this piece. The camera was held very still and follow the 2/3 rule quite consistently. The interviews allow the viewer to gain insight into the people at hand, while still capturing the scene in the background.  The one shot that I thoroughly enjoyed in particular was when they were talking about it’s like a family and the camera is pointed upward into the faces of three people that were standing in a semi-circle. I thought that was a very effective shot and was inserted at the perfect spot in the video. The last strength of the video that I noticed was in the last scene when the video panned from right to left as it followed the girl shooting at the targets.The timing of the pan was consistent and well executed.

The main weakness I noticed was there were a few instances where the shot was taken at too close of a distance and as a result the subject’s head was cut off at the top of the screen. Although the close shot is intended to focus in on the facial characteristics of the person, I found shot itself to be poorly executed. It either needs to be re-shot so the subject’s face and head are fully on screen, or it needs to be taken from a slightly further distance.

Overall the piece was done very well. Static shots weren’t used quite as often as in other video pieces I’ve watched, but considering the circumstance of being at a shooting range, moving shots seem to be more appropriate. After a few minor editing adjustments, the piece will be near perfect. Job well done!

The action shots used are extremely valuable to the piece and really are the reason behind it being successful. Many of the clips show impressive scenes of the shooters in action and these also include some of the gear and targets are shooting at. Viewers catch a good look at many different types of wepons that might interest them and targets that look out of the ordinary. Also, the camera angle used is impressive including scanning of the scene following people as they go from station to station on a course and the camera angle which gives the perspective of being shot at by one of the contestants. Even during the interview sections the background is intriguing, but not overly exciting to take the attention off of the subject that is talking in the scene.

Although many things where done very well in this video, several things could have been improved. One interview in particular added very little to the piece as a whole. The man in the red shirt mostly just said he was from somewhere else and usually shot at other places but had come there today. I know this adds the aspect that people come from other areas to participate, I thought that it took to much time in such a short piece. I would have preferred to see a manager or someone who had some kind of authority interviewed and asked questions about the people who come to the site and the atmosphere of the community. Also, the women interviewed at the begging and end of the segment pretty much repeated herself. She had good energy and excitement but not nearly as much as seeing someone shoot and blow up targets, I would have preferred that segment to have been changed and have asked her another question or put it as a voice over with action shots of people shooting.

Overall, I think the piece was good and the camera work was the best part. I do feel however that when working with such a short segment that better quality material could have been shown during some of the video.

I think this video starts off at a good place in terms of what Frank Currell is saying. It gives the context to the piece - that he has somewhere near 90-100 cats. That starts the piece in a really unique way, because not many people have that many cats and it thus makes me want to hear more.

The parts I thought worked well were when the artist associated words with pictures. When Currell said “my wife passed away” the editor showed a picture of the wife. That was a great use of the b-roll. Then when he talks about his boys, it shows his children interacting with the cats. It was also really effective to show all the b-roll of the cats around the house.

I also think the editor did a good job with interchanging different kinds of shots. There are some zoomed shots and panned shots- and there are close ups which are very effective. And the wide shots work to provide the setting. I think, however, in the beginning he didn’t use a tripod because some of the shots seem a little shaky.

Although I enjoyed the beginning of the piece, I don’t think it should’ve started with a zooming in on him. I think it would’ve been more effective to start with a video of the cats, or maybe a video of the house. I would’ve loved to see what this house looked like either from the outside or the inside. Preferably I would’ve liked to see more shots of cats being everywhere inside the house.

Another thing that could be worked on is the transition between the different clips the editor uses. You can tell when different parts of the interview are grabbed. Then I also think the ending is a little subtle.

Although the video has its flaws, I loved the idea. It is sad though that he has to give the cats away.