Great Britain's football team at the Amputee World Cup

Great Britain's football team at the Amputee World Cup (view this story)

Paul Byrne
Freelance
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Details

Category: Feature
Media: Video
Turnaround time: More than a week but less than a month

Description of story

A video report following Great Britain's team at the recently held Amputee Football World Cup held in Argentina. While covering their participation the piece also aims to give a bit of the back story of the players and their experience of the sport and the event.

Feedback requested

Primarily the overall structure and any creative concepts I might of used to make it more visually interesting whilst keeping in mind it is a totally individually produced piece with time restraints and cost restraints

Gear used in production

Sony Z1

2 comments - Login to comment

Rep: 33

Adam Wisneski Jan. 19, 2011, 10:07 p.m. permalink

Nice story. I was engaged the whole time. I thought your structure worked. You had a lede, an explanation (nut graph), and some character development. Then you built up to the championship which was a good ending. I felt the build up and was looking forward to seeing how the team was going to do in the game. I thought you had some nice action/reaction shots, and your b-roll wasn't just filler. You put me in the setting, let me know where I was, with each new scene.

I thought this was a great story, interesting, engaging and told in an effective way. Very in-depth for a one man show. I love when I really feel like i've learned something instead of getting a glossed-over, surface story. This felt complete, or as complete as it could be in 10 min.

For me, there was one major thing that was distracting. Realizing you're on a time schedule and doing this all by yourself, I think it would be an easy fix.

Your audio cuts are jarring. Often when you're cutting nat sound, but also with interviews. I think crossfades on both ends of your audio clips could help. And, I think an effective way to soften audio transitions is to avoid cutting the audio AND visual at the same time. You did this a lot. Someone will start talking (you, or a player) at the same moment as a visual cut, and it feels choppy. You could lead the audio in for a couple seconds then make the visual cut, or vice versa. I'm talking about nat sound and interview sound. I think it would help your stories feel more smooth and polished.

Anybody else do this consciously?

That's the only major thing I noticed. The ending felt abrupt, too. Hope this is helpful.

Rep: 1

Submitter

Paul Byrne Jan. 20, 2011, 7:01 a.m. permalink

Adam,

Thanks a million. Really good to get your tip on the audio transition...from now on I will use your advise in doing this more effectively.