Slug & Lede

The “Cats Need Homes” piece on TheStar.com was incredibly adorable. I loved the idea of the topic, and I love that this guy has that many cats. Also, I love cats.

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.