Archive for the ‘Baseball’ tag
A kid’s Game for the Olympics?
Wiffle ball is not a typical sport. One player referred to it as “baseball’s baby brother”, while a spectater likened the ball to Swiss cheese. Players practicing the sport in the YouTube video, It’s a Kids Game ; however, take it quite seriously. One spectator even suggested it might be an Olympic sport some day.
The video starts in an awkward way. The camera shows a wide shot of a car pulling away. The shot fades, indicating it was perhaps the ending of a previous video. The next shot is a wide one, showing a trail leading to a tennis court in the distance. The sound in the background is machine-like, leading one to believe it’s following the car pulling away. This is a fallacy, however, as the next shots, shown in rapid, disjointed succession reveal people practicing wiffle ball on a tennis court. The sound from the previous shot came from a ball dispenser.
The video flows nicely from then on as the story unfolds. In fact the overall narration is strong. Each shot builds upon the next. They take the viewer closer to the action. First the camera moves with the sudden action, then shoots from spectators’ eagle-eye perspective. The video flows closer and closer to the players and specators on the ground, audio from them coinciding with the video.
The narration is strong and has purpose. It brings the viewer from outsider to in. The cuts, however, are frantic and too quick at the beginning. Smoother shots are needed at the beginning.
A Look at Target Field
A Tour or Target field, produced by Richard Sennott and Jerry Holt was very interesting to me (Because I’m a Twins fan), but it is not without its imperfections. There could be some editing done, and more fluid transitional cut scenes.
The multimedia spot opens with a panning shot of the construction work in downtown Minneapolis, giving the viewer a chance to see the progress on building. The shot also works well with the first quote about the field being the most urban in all baseball. It juxtaposes this by showing the close by Minneapolis skyline.
There are no interviews per se, it is comprised of the lead engineer talking about schematics and plans. At some points the man is voicing over as there are several snapshots.
The cuts between live action film and stills are frequent, and the producer spends too much time on certain still shots, taking up to 10 seconds at one point.
The best part of the clip in my opinion was when they showed the dugout for the new field. It was interesting because it showed the field at its bare bones, allowing the viewer to build an image in their mind about what it will one day look like.
There is no music in the clip, but natural sounds are used the entire time. The background noise involves construction, automobiles, and general outside weather sounds.
Another gripe I have with the film involved the shakiness of the camera at some points. However, I understand the difficulties as the cameraman was forced to follow the construction around for the tour. Another small problem was the extra construction workers in the background distracting the viewer.
Overall, I believe the video was very interesting, even trying my best not be biased. The infrequent flaws definitely stood out, but not too much.