Show Your Work 2004

[Alain Aguilar]

I liked it, it had the uplifting feeling that you get from watching this type of commercial. May I ask what program you used for the animation and compositing?

[Alfred Okocha]

I liked it too. I didn't like your site though.. It looks too much like a pop-up for my taste. ( I almost closed it down thinking it was one!) I'm sure you can do better. ;-)

[Travis Cossel]

:Alain:

Glad it came across as uplifting. That was the idea. For the animation and compositing I just used Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.



:Alfred:

Thanks for the input. I never expected to get a review on my website, especially not a bad one, but that's cool. I appreciate the honesty. I won't be changing it anytime soon as it has already taken a year to get it to this point. But again, thanks for the input. That's pretty funny that you thought it was a pop-up (oh no!!!). d:-)

[Steve Roffler]

I am strictly an amature. Just followed my kids around one saturday with my new pdx10. I'm sure it is boring since they are not your kids but the target audience is the relatives.

Any suggestions on how to improve are much appreciated. Even though I am just making home videos, I would like to make them to the best of my ability.

long version (14 min)
http://www.vanemery.com/~sroff/2004/satweb.wmv

1 min version
http://www.vanemery.com/~sroff/2004/sat1min.wmv

[Nicholi Brossia]

Honestly, as far as family home videos go, that was really good in my opinion. I actually watched 10 minutes. Considering that I don't know your family and didn't understand half of what they said, holding my attention for 10 minutes is certainly an accomplishment.

The most common killer of amature video is shakey and poorly framed shots. You kept the camera steady and everything was framed well, so good job there.

I like the way you edited the video into little scenes with cuts between close-ups and wideshots. Cuts make the video much more watch-able by keeping the pace up.

Next you might want to impliment more matched action. That is timing the cuts so that it looks like motion never stopped. For example, with a wideshot on the boy as he is reaching for the butterfly, right before he grabs it, cut to a close up of the butterfly as the he is grabbing it. Then back to a wideshot after he's picked it up. This is one of many standard "rules" to making professional looking videos, and can definately be implimented into your home movies.

Also, I recommend going through the tutorials on InternetCampus.com. This website is a very helpful learning tool for those starting out in video production.

Overall, I think you should be very pleased with the production as I'm sure your family will love it.

[Steve Roffler]

Nicholi - thanks for your suggestions, I really appreciate the feedback.

I think I understand what you mean by matched action but it doesn't seem trivial to implement. Have to capture the right kind of video in the first place but being aware of what to tape is probably half the battle.

By the way-the little boy is a little girl- she just has a short haircut :)


Thanks again for the help.

[Nicholi Brossia]

Oh man, I'm sorry. I'm pretty good at putting my foot in my mouth. This time I just put my keyboard there too ;).

You're absolutely right about having to plan out the edits before shooting, and its not at all trivial with this video. I just figured it might be something to try out next time. Either way, good job.

[Anthony Faust]

Hey Everyone,

My name is Anthony Faust and I am a film producer in the Washington D.C area. I put up my film, Hunter's Quandary, on my site. It's about a disgruntled college student, 24 hours away from his college graduation, who goes on a life-altering deer hunt. It was shot on DV, and is 11 minutes long. Check it out here.

http://www.anthonyfaust.com/hq/view_film.html

Look forward to getting any feedback.

Cheers,

Anthony

[Rob Lohman]

I liked the "ending" of the film and the story it had to tell. But
I thought it took too long to get there. The editing might have
been a bit faster and more active (in general, certain scenes
were well edited!). The conversation parts where the most
difficult I think editing and pace wise.

[Alfred Okocha]

Well done Anthony! It's looks good. I can agree with Rob that it is a bit slow at times but it didn't really bother me..
What shook me a bit though was the scenes with the animals. Why would he shoot at the horns? That the camera didn't go down more felt like a give away that there was no animal.. only horns.. (I understand your problem here and I'm not sure how to make it better.. just telling you how I felt like =)

Other than that it seems very solid! (I haven't seen the ending yet.. it won't load for some reason.)

[Rob Belics]

Excellent premise. I like the mood you set.

You take too long to get to the "inciting incident", as McKee would say, but you should spend more time on the choices your protagonist has to make afterwards.

The conclusion was a let down. His choice wasn't bad but it came off as weak or lame. But that can be fixed if you work on it.

[Stylianos Moschapidakis]

Anthony, good work. As for whether or not the film is slow at times, "you have to be patient."

Keep it up.

[Michael Le]

Nice job.
I also thought the editing could have sped up the movie. There were lots of lingering shots that could have been cut by 1-2 seconds and helped.
But overall I enjoyed it.

[Paul Tauger]

In case anyone is interested, the creme de la creme of reality programming, PBS' "_____ House" series is back with "Colonial House." Third in the series, Colonial House has 17 volunteers living for 4 months as colonists in 17th century America. It's an extremely accurate historical recreation of the circumstances of life in early colonial America, cast as an experiment to see how 21st century people cope with the primitive conditions. Previous seasons were "1900 House" -- life in turn-of-the-century London -- and "Manor House" (my personal favorite), a real life Upstairs/Downstairs set in early 20th century England. At least here in San Francisco, 1900 House is being re-run after the Colonial House episodes air.

The show is shot, as most reality shows, with multiple video cameras and features some rather extraordinary camera work, sound production, direction and editing -- the elements of production are never seen and never intrude, despite capturing intimate details from multiple angles in incredibly cramped conditions.

This is a high-class production in every sense of the word, and my wife and I find it riveting. It's well-worth watching, for both the technical production and the content.

[Joe Carney]

It's also being shown in HD on the local wetahd channel in the dc metro area. Very impressive.