High School Sweethearts Reunite

[BryantVW]

This story was a hit with our viewers, mainly because it's just a cute story of long lost love. I was happy to be able to work on this, just to get a break from the every day grind of Council meetings and neighborhood break-in stories.

Two high school sweethearts finally reunite with one another after being apart for 56 years. The story is great but there are always other things I wish I had done as far as shooting and editing goes. Both the reporter and I wish we had more pictures to use, but also I wish I had more time to shape this woman's nervous attitude when waiting. She kept pacing back and forth and checking her watch, and because this was a time crunch story we couldn't put a lot of that in.

I'm pleased with how it turned out but I'd like to hear from you all as well. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbEcqGyk0uU

 

[Latin Lens]

Overall...not too bad. Yeah, this story is a great change of pace from the daily grind and I can tell you had some fun with it. The biggest problem was your b-roll....a lot of jumpcuts of the lady...which means you need to get crafty with your shooting to not allow this to happen. Let subjects walk-in and walk-out to help if they are moving. You mentioned that you wished you could have used the nervousness more in the story...and that comes down to storytelling and approach...had you used the nervousness as a character then you could have setup the story more with it and probably end up telling a better story because of it. Its not always the easiest thing to see but if you work well with your reporter and can bounce ideas off eachother then you can start to look a little deeper and possibly make a great story even greater. Characters aren't always actually people..they can be feelings or emotions attached to someone. Put that on display and craft the person around the true character and stories can get better. So kudos on this. Good solid effort. In my mind the closing shot was a little weak just because they are walking away thru sliding doors...perhaps something better could have been found but I am not familiar with your airport.

 

[satpimp]

Tension of the wait

I agree a setup of that tension could have carried through the piece and made the end shot stronger as a wrap of the waite kind of thing. Very nice story. If you have checking of the watch and pacing on tape it screams followup. Especialy if it has already resonated with viewers.

Regards,
Omar

 

[BryantVW]

I like the idea of making the nervousness a character. That would really intensify things. I think if I had more time (ie, if this wasn't a day turn) I could have gone through and found all the little nat pops she has... a sigh... maybe some more repetition of her words (she kept saying "thats not him, thats not him" and I really wanted to work that more in between her SOTs), and spiced it up a little more.

Thanks a lot!