Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sample Student Videos

Coming up with ideas for a project can be difficult, but by looking at examples of other students’ work, the possibilities open up. The videos posted on the blog provided a starting point for examining what works and what does not work in a film.


It’s Like Cooking
I like the footage from the cooking video. The frames are clear, they show the process of making the meal, and they include some really great shots, especially the lighting of the stove and scenes with the skillet.

While the film is visually appealing and flows with his use of steps in preparing the meal, the audio could use some work. He probably could have done without the dialogue. I think he tries to convey a deeper meaning in his words, but the message gets lost because he says too much.  

The music is a little darker than I would typically choose for a cooking video, but I do like the way it speeds up at the end as the meal is presented. The sounds of the kitchen, such as the chopping, the flame igniting, and the sizzling in the pan, really add to the atmosphere of the film as well.
 


Life Is a Ride
Out of all of the videos we watched, this one was my favorite. I really liked the way it told a story, starting with the bike and ending in the wheelchair. Even with still photos, he was able to capture the idea that life is a ride and that he was constantly in motion until the accident. As the pictures move from the outdoor adventures to the hospital, there is a definite change in mood.

The use of post-its was a clever and unique strategy for conveying a message in text and the music flows well with the film. I also like that even though the story was very sad, he was able to end on a high note. His optimism is reflected in the video and the final question leaves the viewer thinking.


Seriously
The “serious” video was a really clever idea. Throughout the film, it seems as though the subject is telling about herself, but in reality everything she says is a lie. However, she does tell us about herself in a way because by using this strategy, she shows her sense of humor. That sense of humor is further emphasized by the fact that she has a guy in a wig pretend to be her in the video.

Overall, the film conveys the opposite message of what it seems.  “Life is too short to not take seriously” clearly comes across as life is too short to take seriously.


All of the student projects provided some great ideas. While there are things that could be probably be improved about each, they were all well done videos. It gives me hope that we will come up with something just as good.

1 comment:

  1. This post jumps straight into the author’s viewpoint and immediately gives reader’s the parts of the video the author likes in the student videos. The author decides not to stay too opinionated and goes straight into details that make these videos stand out. This post brightly depicts different aspects of each video and tells us how they come together and why the are preferred by the author of the post. Responding to the student videos took strong amounts of opinion since you had to choose your three favorite, however this author was able to find the perfect balance between giving an opinion and having strong amounts of back up detail in the same paragraph. I did not focus on any of these particular videos that the author chose, however I can say I agree that some of these videos tell stories in unique ways. In the author’s critique the good often outweighed the bad, but when there was something negative to be stated about the video it was clear and the points were efficient. The best part about each post was the way the author quickly recapped the videos so when references were made the readers were not lost if they did not vividly remember the video.

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