The Daily Corndog--the Minnesota State Fair in 60-seconds.

The Daily Corndog--the Minnesota State Fair in 60-seconds. (view this story)

Details

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

Description of story

Twelve 60-second videos (one daily) from the MN State Fair. Best lesson: reducing something down to a minute inevitably makes it better, something I need to remember when I’m admiring my next four minute masterpiece. I got the idea in part from Rochester's great column "Just a Minute." My personal favorites--Ribbon winners, judging lamb, the pitch, drawn in caricature.

Feedback requested

Any reactions people might have.

Gear used in production

Sony V1U
Premiere Pro on a PC
Some timelapse with a still cameras (Nikon D300)

8 comments - Login to comment

Rep: 2

Matt Norbut Sept. 27, 2010, 9 a.m. permalink

All of these videos were missing voice over and I'm glad. Ben did a great job capturing the experience with unique angles, sequences of shots, and sounds. The footage was great and I enjoyed just watching and getting a feel for the topic without hearing someone talking over the footage with a voice over. Great job.

Rep: 21

Peg Achterman Sept. 27, 2010, 4:02 p.m. permalink

Tastes and Midway felt the strongest. Loved the single focus on the one couple with the character cartoonist - good reveal.
Only thing at all that kind of stopped the action for me was kid getting dunked in the tastiness piece - kind of needed a lead in of 'we like to play tricks on each other' -- or something like that. It was on all the eating up to that point - just took me a few seconds to clue in on what was happening. It was a nice moment, but a shift in perspective that got a little confusing.
BUT -- all that said - these really captured the fair! Hope people clicked on them a bunch!

Rep: 10

James Nix Sept. 28, 2010, 8:28 a.m. permalink

I really enjoyed watching all of these and liked that they run together .. after the first couple I was hooked and kept watching. My favorite was the drawn in caricature ... like Peg mentioned, showing the couple at the end was a great reveal.

Also, I love the concept. Going to the fair is all about the experience and I love that you focused in on that. After watching those, I feel like I just spent the day at the fair. I may have to borrow this idea the next time our fair comes around.

Rep: 444

Eric Seals Sept. 28, 2010, 9:22 a.m. permalink

Fun stuff Ben!! First off...the name Daily Corndog? Classic!

The 1 minute videos of daily life at the fair? Great idea and I'll be "stealing" it for next year if you don't mind :-)

I agree that it was nice not having voice over of the person or narration and no lower thirds as well (on a majority of them)

Like them all. The State Fair on Speed was fun, your choice of music was perfect.

Like others said you made us feel like we were there without spending money or gaining weight eating all that state fair food.

Curious to know was there a print package for this as well that pushed people to check out your piece online??

Great job!

Eric

Rep: 4

Submitter

Ben Garvin Sept. 28, 2010, 5:59 p.m. permalink

Thanks for the feedback! I was so excited to have the chance to practice my shooting. No interviews or A-roll to bog me down. I was able to shoot what I felt was the coolest and most compelling stuff and not be bothered by an actual story. Ha!

It was an online only project, although a video still ran in the paper each day as a refer to online. I'm actually not sure how many hits the series got and am hesitant to ask the online folks. If it was lots I might get a big head, if it got few I'd be bummed. And really, I did it for me! If I was motivated too much by page views I'd be shooting spot news and pro-football all the time. And of course that is a big part of what I do.

Anyway, the fair was nice enough to provide me with a space onsite to edit and escape the chaos. That way I could run out, shoot something quick, edit, whatever. I also worked excessively long hours which was unwise and unwelcome by my wife. But it's just once a year, you know!?

Peg makes a smart comment about that one scene in the food video. It was one of those things I sorta knew didn't quite work but so badly wanted to use that clip! Sorry Peg...

Thanks for the comments,
ben

Rep: 444

Eric Seals Sept. 28, 2010, 6:29 p.m. permalink

You're not going to take me to court if I do this next year for my paper at the Michigan State Fair right?

Brilliant idea and I bet more people enjoyed that than a Vikings photo gallery, especially the way they are playing :-) Yeah, I'm a little pissed they beat my Lions on Sunday!! LOL!

If you come to Detroit for the Vikings game January 2nd let me know.

Eric

Rep: 6

David Berman Oct. 4, 2010, 1:36 p.m. permalink

Eric. Its called inspiration! ;-)

I think these were a fun piece. nice editing and some nice shots. Thanks for sharing