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.

Sin City Shooters, is a video on a shooting competition, which is held in Las Vegas at Desert Sportsmen. Evelio Contreras’s video is a short clip looking into the world of shooting competitions.

The video did a great job with mixing different shots and angles showing the shooting competition happening. I liked that instead of watching a person talk about shooting the voice over came on while they were in action.

The extreme close up of the gun mixed with the medium and close shots of the people in action kept the piece moving. During the piece there were many medium shots of the groups of people together teaching each other different movements. The camera was in the action, which showed how they shot and that the shooting competitions are a community of people getting together.

One thing that I noticed that I thought could have been improved was the use of the voice over with a shot of a gun at the beginning of the video. I would have preferred to see the woman shooting because it was her voice over at the beginning of the piece. I enjoyed watching the video and thought that it was a great piece, which was a good use of video. I do not think that a written story or an audio slideshow would do this justice. 

          The sun shines as the Sin City Shooters video begins, highlighting the emptiness of the vast desert, heightened by the metal crunch of gunfire reverberating through the canyon as a motley crew of gun enthusiasts discharge bullet after bullet.
         

          Evelio Contreras weaves commentary with plenty of movement, pushing the constant crash of gunshots to the forefront. Even as the shooters praise the sport, the “satisfying whop” of lead on lead remains.
 

            As for the footage, the crew did an excellent job dealing with the bright desert sun cascading down.  Seemingly everyone donned a pair of sunglasses, shielding from the bright, hot light. In one frame, however, the camera captured the sun, angling up towards a group of people at an awkward angle. Although short, the frame encompassed the feeling of the day, accentuating the warmth and delivering the knowing feeling so well.

           This warmth did not appear in any other scene as the crew positioned interviewees excellently. The distance was just about right, as was the gap to the left, showing an expansive view of the landscape as well as fitting the person into the frame comfortably.

           This deliberation failed to find its way into the transitions, as the video delivered a barrage of images, ostensibly jumping from one to the next. Although it accentuated the action, the lack of transitions was manifest and created a rough experience. Video’s strength as a smooth, transitional medium does not come through as well as it should have.

          Additionally, the close ups of the hands and guns were few, but executed well. Seeing the shot of a man’s hands grasping the gun at the beginning adds a dimension to the video by providing some diversity. Some more shots like that would have been helpful as the rest of the video focuses entirely on people and scenes set in the desert. Understandably so as they were in the desert, but breaking up the monotony with more close ups of the firearms would have been helpful.

My video that I am critiquing is called “Powwow For Veterans.” I got it from the website: “http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/2008/nov/08/1094/.“ This is a really good inspiration video. It has great information and you can understand the speaker clearly. I enjoyed the traditional effects in the background because it made the video more cultural and for the most part it wasn’t distracting but there were parts where the editor might could have toned it down a little bit.

Some of the weaknesses in the video were quite obvious. At about 47 seconds into the video, the speaker’s voice became louder all of a sudden. I think having a continuous sound level of the speaker(s) throughout the video makes it have a more clean finish. Also at about 1 minute and 6 seconds, as the drumming sound became louder it was a little bit too distracting and it made me pay attention more to the dancers instead of the speaker.

To fix those problems the speaker and/or editor should hold the microphone at the same distance at all times to avoid any overpowering speaking. Or maybe the editor could have edited that little part and turned that sound down a little bit. Otherwise, they probably should have listened to the take before hand and re-record it. For the drumming sound, I think I know where the editor was going for. I think they wanted a big cultural scene with the drums for that specific part which is a really good idea. However, I think toning it down a little bit more once the speaker starts talking is better because it eliminates less distraction for the viewers so they can focus on what the speaker is saying also. Overall, I just think this video needs a little bit more editing to clean things up like the voice effects and the sound effects. Otherwise it is a good cultural video.

I was looking forward to watching watching No Way Out. because it seemed like the perfect video for Halloween season. However, I had numerous issues with the way the video was filmed.

First, with the title “No Way Out”, I was expecting a spookier video. This was not the case. Even the clips that were intended to be scary were not. I think that if Evelio Contreras would had shot majority of her video at night she would had accomplished a more suspenseful feel. For example, take the opening scene. The children are playing basketball in the front yard of a suburban house. One wouldn’t expect there to be a haunted house here, however we see the garage decorated in the background. I think a better approach would to have had the children playing in the back of this suburban home and then immediately take the audience into this haunted house. The two completely contradict one another, but would have a dramatic effect.

Kevin Brekke, a high school student, transformed his family’s garage into the haunted house, and as a viewer I felt as though he also shot the video. Many of the camera angles seemed not thoroughly thought out. For example, in the living room when the father is talking to all the teenagers, we see a variety of worm eye views and bird eye views. I didn’t seem as though these were the most effective camera angles for those shots.

I like how Contreras took viewers inside the haunted house. I would had liked to see more of this. Perhaps, move the father talking to the teenagers into the haunted house they built. The one part where we are taken into the haunted house is almost seen as a joke because the teenagers are laughing. I don’t think that is an effective way to get visitors to a haunted house.

Another thing I liked was the interview with the teens who created the haunted house. Contreras does this outside of the garage that is decorated like a haunted house. Since there is already spooky audio playing in the background of the intro I think it could have been cleaver to have the teen in his costume, maybe just with his mask off. This would show the viewers that it is indeed the teenagers putting on the haunted house.