Details
Category: Feature
Media: Video
Turnaround time: Less than a day
Description of story
The first video in a series of features done during the 2012 Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. We wanted to understand what jazz meant to the performers and attendees of the event. Done by Madison McCord and Joseph Engle, The Argonaut
Feedback requested
We are looking to see if the video tells the story of jazz from the artists perspective, cohesiveness of the piece, quality of the shots, quality of interview, any other advice.
Gear used in production
Video — Nikon D7000
Audio — Nikon ME-1
Editing — Final Cut X
Madison (and Joseph):
First, my apologies for the slow turn around on reviews, we are working to speed things up.
I think my first question would be why you wanted to integrate stills in to your video? You have a solid video interview and material from the performance, so I am curious about your thought process. Not a right or wrong answer.
My biggest concern is how much head movement your subject has, at that focal length my eyes were starting to feel weird. Generally I like to recompose my interview shots from time to time so that they are varied when I cut back to the person. I also found the jump cut during one interview unsettling. A wipe, fade in/out, a flash, something to visually cue me in on the cut would have been welcome.
Understanding that you were out in the field, I would really try and isolate your subject as much as you could to cut down on background noise.
I must also admit that I was confused if the name of the group was Arts and Crafts or Art and Craft. Not sure if that was a play on the group's name and what you were trying to cover with the video, but that caught my eye.
Two technical notes. The ME-1 mic sounds closed to my ears. Not sure if that was capture or post-production work to cut down on noise, but the sound did not feel open to my ears. I also noticed some changing of exposure during the interview and wonder if that is a function of the D7000, I have no experience with that model. Did you run the sound directly in to the camera? Are there setting for it in camera?
I think you have a solid interview. I also think you have some nice performance video and I know how hard it is go get a good capture on just a group's music. Did you think about floating some of their music underneath the entire piece? Is there more video of their performance?
Overall, I think this is a good start for a less than a day turnaround video. I wonder if there were or are things you would do differently having produced this piece or revisiting it now after some time has passed.
Thank you for sharing, I look forward to seeing your next project.