Pre-video Assignment, Shahzad

https://vimeo.com/187823706

Bug Man - Good Multimedia Project

This is an example of a good multimedia project.  “Bug Man” is a short documentary about Steven Kutcher, a man who collects and studies bugs, and also uses them to make art.  He dips the legs of his bugs into paint and lets them walk over a canvas to create lines and patterns.

This is a good piece because Iqbal Ahmed, who made the documentary, uses natural sound very well.  The video starts out with cricket sounds and makes the viewer feel like he/she is surrounded by bugs, like Kutcher is.  The documentary is very engaging because of its shock factor; Ahmed shows footage of Kutcher covered in cockroaches.  Kutcher talks about how he thinks he is different from other people.  His voice-overs correlate well with the video.  For example, Ahmed shows video of Kutcher isolated in his art room with bugs while a voice-over plays of Kutcher talking about how strange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT2ASOnMMwAa

Thin - Bad Multimedia Project

This is an example of a bad multimedia project.  “Thin” is a short student documentary highlighting the prevalence of body image issues in high school girls.  Many girls are interviewed and asked if they want to change anything about how they look.  Many of the responses are difficult to hear because the audio is not very good.  Sometimes the quieter responses are overpowered by the background music the producer put in.

Some of the interviews conducted in a school had distracting natural sound in the background of students talking or people shuffling and walking.  Some of the video is in black and white, seemingly for dramatic effect, but it does not add anything to the documentary.