Slug & Lede

The video entitled Sin City Shooters was a short video piece about a group of people who love spending their time at a Las Vegas shooting range, including bimonthly shooting contests at Desert Sportsman’s Rifle and Pistol Club in Summerlin. The piece is designed to demonstrate the passion the people have for going to the shooting range and how exhilarating target shooting is for them. The people also explain the freindships and bonds amongst each other they they form from participating in the events.

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!

Evelio Contreras’ Sin City Shooters video illustrates the thrill that a group of gun enthusiasts experience as they practice shooting targets at the Desert Sportsman’s Rifle and Pistol Club in the desert of Summerlin, Nevada.

The video which was published by the Las Vegas Sun opens with the sound of bullets hitting the metal targets, followed by a close up of a gun used to fire the shots. The combination of the gunshot sounds and the images of artillery was a good way to set the mood for the rest of the piece. Contreras was very successful in the blending of the interviews and the sounds of guns in the background. He also did a good job of using the rule of thirds while shooting the interviews and the sound during the interviews was very clear for the most part.

The video could have been stronger if Contreras had used more close up shots. Most of the shots throughout the video were either wide or medium shots which were not as effective in telling the story as close ups may have been. In addition, the video would have been easier to watch and follow if the choppy transitions were smoother. Specifically, there was one awkward portion toward the middle of the video which first pictured Brandon Wallace on his own and then transitioned to a group of three. At this point the video became somewhat shaky and was shot at a very awkward angle.

A video was probably the best option for this story which would have been too boring for print. The video was able to capture the setting of the hot desert, the fast pace of the shooting and the passion of the gun enthusiasts.

Last year the Las Vegas Sun featured a video piece about the Desert Sportsman’s Rifle and Pistol Club in Summerlin, Nev. The video, which clocks in at just over a minute in length, was produced and filmed by Evelio Contreras.

The opening shot with the close up shot of the hand gun at the beginning is a cool and effective way to start the video. It gives the viewer a good idea of what the video is about right away. Also I like that the shooters miss the target occasionally. This gives the video more of a candid feel so that it doesn’t rehearsed. It’s also a cool technique that the camera pans along with the movement of the individuals. It reminded me of the scene in Goodfellas when the camera follows Herny and Karen through the restaurant. I also like that it includes interviews from three different people which is the perfect number of sources for this length of story. I think that the line “it’s a lot of good time spent with a lot of good friends,” was the best quote in the video.

My biggest critique of the video is the boring subject matter. If it wasn’t for this class I would absolutely never watch a video about a gun club. However the thing about journalism is that many times the reporter may have no interest in the material that they are covering but it is their job to make it as interesting as possible. Another thing that I didn’t like was that the gun shots were too loud. Being that I am not a gun person this displeased me right away. My final complaint is the video’s short length. It just seemed like it all happened so fast that it was kind of hard to figure out what exactly the video was about. Upon second viewing it seemed obviously that this video was simply a feature piece about a gun club in  Nevada.

The filming techniques used are well done and overall I feel that the reporter did a good job. I would give this video a rating of three out of five.