New to video, part two

[Square Circle]

This is my second post. As I mentioned in the my first post, I've been shooting since February 2008 for the company website.

The videos (nat paks) in this post are from July, three months later than my first posts. Hopefully, you'll see some progress.

One thing that I now see is that I could have edited the dog video a bit tighter.

My next post will be videos from September and October. There should be some improvements.

I look forward to your suggestions and comments. Thanks.


http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2008/07/pit_bulls_in_cleveland.html

http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2008/07/break_dancing.html

 

[Latin Lens]

Okay....couple things. You can tell you're improving but you need to think a little more about the action or inaction going on so it doesn't look so amateur.

BreakDance story was a tremandous leap in the right direction. Interview framing in the stairwell was cool. Don't forget to get tights and ultratights...this help in the edit bay to avoid jump cuts and breaking of axis. With lots of motion like in breakdance and really tight shot of a piece of clothing whizzing by can be used as a "wipe" to the next shot. Adds character and flare to the piece.

Pitbull story was very unimpressive....lots of jump cuts and wide shot to wide shot to wide shot....again tight shots will help you. Allow motion to enter IN and OUT of frame so the edits don't look odd or strange.

You also need cutaways to help you in the edit bay. Cutaways are shots that have nothing to do with the action but are a part of the story. Example....you have the shot of the turntable in the foreground, breakdancer in the background....someone is watching him do his thing....so the cutaway from the action is a tight shot of the person's face watching or his eyes....something to "cut away" to so the edit isn't so rough.

Keep trying.....keep trying....keep trying. Took me 10 years to get where I am and I am still learning....don't every forget that. You never stop learning.

 

[NEWSSHOOTER3]

Pitbull

Let me start by saying, maybe this works well for your particular outlet. I don't know...

But, to be an effective, straight, TV news piece, this thing is :55 long.

In that :55, maybe start with the wide whistling. Then, "my name is, and I..." SOT. From that point, keep breaking up his (in truck) SOT.

Also, you've GOT to start shooting some tighter shots to edit with. You're having to dissolve these wide-to-wide shots. That's just unacceptable, and can easily be improved by firing off a few tight, Tight, TIGHTS!!!

You're getting the picture, though...

 

[Square Circle]

I really appreciate the feedback. I have to keep reminding myself to get cutaways and tight shots. I did shoot a video that shows some of the points made in the critiques. I might re-edit it to incorporate some of the improvements mentioned even though it's already been posted. It has plenty of tight shots but I went wide to wide a few times.

The videos for the website range from 1 - 3 minutes with some even more than that. I try to keep my videos to no more than 2 minutes.

Thanks again for taking time to critique my videos.