anorexia

[one eye open]

Even though i'm a news photographer, i consider myself more of an editor than a shooter. Meaning, i shoot stuff and just let my editing do the talking. so with this story, i challenge myself to have a simple piece with solid shooting, straight cuts (some dissolves), good lighting and solid storytelling.

It runs 6:36 but i'll take critiques for the first 3 minutes, if you have the time . (feel free to watch the whole thing though). Thanks in advance and feel free to give me tips or suggest things i should of done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ti24bHTyls

 

[BryantVW]

Some really good shots and creative use of pictures and lighting. I like how you scrolled along the calendar to show the passing of time.

You needed to clean your lens when you did that two shot of the reporter talking to Matt. It was all cloudy and distracted me. A jump cut when you went from Trish's interview to the shots of her at the computer. Could have been avoided by putting a closeup of her typing first for a second, and then out to her.

Also her desk is pretty messy. Not sure if you were trying to make it that way or not but I found it distracting. Your interview shot should tell the story just as much as your interview itself. I found myself staring at the computer monitor, the phone, and that giant book she has on her desk. None of that screams out "Anorexia Expert" to me. Maybe put that bookshelf behind her. Or somewhere else, really anywhere else except her desk with the Windows screensaver.

Try changing up Matt's interview shot every once in awhile. It gets repetitive, especially after 3 minutes, seeing the same medium shot of him in his room. When he's talking about his hands shaking while typing "anorexia" you should have been closer in on his face. Just change between wide medium and right to vary your focal length.

Thats about all I got for you at the moment. Well shot, just a few jump cut and shot selection things that could have been easily avoided.

 

[Latin Lens]

Very nice overall...you got a creative intro with some nice effects...had plenty of variation and interesting visuals in the gym and nicely lit interviews. This sweeps piece is more up my alley because I work in our investigations unit...and yes, its hard when you are working on stories after the fact or that are b-roll limited but you did great finding elements to help visually tell the story....however, you need to concentrate that sound plays a role too...the googling part could have used a nat break or atleast nats underneath because it was too quiet. Sound would have helped there. You also did what I consider a pet peeve of mine...the 2-shot to interview dissolve...yuck, I don't know why but when I see it I cringe...a straight cut is more desirable so you have to make sure you have the right composition for each shot in order for it to work...be mindful when taping (this occured at 2:13 and at 2:41)....then you did an axis break at 2:27 (another pet peeve)...again, you have to be mindful when taping or else you're screwed...then there was a jumpcut from intv to b-roll at 2:50...avoid those and all these things as much as possible. Utilize all the space you can to get different looks or depth of field to help in these instances or get creative with pans. Also you needed more pictures...more pics of the manoxeria days to really give us insight to what he looked like going through the disorder...so get creative with the pics by taking stills of them out of the frames to use in non-linear editing. But nice work. Hard subject but you did well.

 

[TXTechPhoto]

Nice work! I agree with the above posters it was well done and I agree with their adivce(clean your lens, improve the soundmix and watch the jumpcuts).

Your lighting was good, but it could have been great. I know time is always an issue but I think you could have improved the lighting quality with a few extra steps. I can tell you are an exceptional lighting photog, so I would suggest buying a roll of opal, cut a big sheet or two that you can attach with clothespins(c47s) to the front of your soft box. It will soften the light that the soft box produces even more, it will feel a lot more natural and soften that nose shadow. Also throw a small sheet of opal, preferably two, on your back light it was a little hot but it was positioned well.

The b-roll lighting when he is on the couch was way too hard for my taste. I know the mood you were feeling and going for but it just was too harsh. It looked like it was just your open face light or frenel that was lighting him. I would have tried using your soft box in addition to the hard light to soften shadows and fill the shadows up a bit. Although contrary to the textbooks I would have put that fill light close to the key, it kinda gives ya a double key and adds texture levels to the face with out it going to complete black. Then if ya could have moved the key a little bit around to the left, it could have given it a little more polished look. If the diffusion or opal was at your disposal that day you could have had a couple large sheets on the softbox and the light would have fallen off quickly, still leaving your background dark and moody but softening your subject up a bit.

Im sure you were kicking yourself in the edit bay but watch the reflection in the picture you shot of the guy at his graduation. Just like your interview, take advantage of the fairly large space you had to shoot in. Put the pictures in a place where you can get some depth, kinda like the shot you have with the yearbook, get some kind of background in there even if its minimal. Even try lighting it like an interview, put them in the center of the room add a soft key and a backlight or two and gets some depth and visual interest in there.

If you do get some opal take care of it rips easy. Again nice work and you have a solid piece to consider for your demo.

 

[one eye open]

every time i write a long response back.. i get logged out and end up losing all what i type. but i wanted you all to know that i appreciate your feedback.