Pre-Video Assignment, Condon

Good Video Example

This video makes use of many different environments — from bars to bowling — and naturally-occurring candid conversationsto tell a vibrant and newsworthy narrative about factory workers whose plant relocated to Mexico. The audio and video are high-quality, and the reporter makes a hot-button issue personal by telling the story of a dispute between two friends. This video is a great example of multimedia storytelling.

Bad Video Example

This video from a much more local outlet, the Carroll County Times of Maryland. The video is lower quality and the audio is filled with background noise, which seems a misguided attempt to include natural sound. Only one source is quoted, and none of the children actually doing the project are interviewed, even though they're pictured on camera. The source's quotes aren't even particularly colorful.

Pre-video Assignment, Lubbehusen

Jake Lubbehusen

November 1, 2017

JOUR203

Professor Jacobsen

Pre-Video Assignment

Good Example

This masterful video by Colin Archdeacon of the New York Times takes an in-depth look at the darker side of the maple syrup industry in Quebec. The video features extremely informative interviews and provides the viewer with an abundance of important information surrounding the topic. Close up camera shots of the syrup-making in action are so detailed that you can almost taste the fresh and sweet maple syrup. These mouth-watering shots of the bubbling syrup made my mouth water. One of my favorite shots is of a syrup farmer riding his four wheeler through the woods. The camera is strategically placed in front and behind the farmers’ head to make it seem as if the viewers are on the four wheeler riding through the woods themselves. Facts scattered in-between interviews add important context and allow the audience to gain a better sense of the controversy surrounding the maple syrup industry. The closing shot is a beautiful close-up of one of the maple syrup farmers walking through the wet grass. The picture and sound quality are so high in this shot that water droplets can be seen and the farmers’ boots crunching the grass can be heard vividly.

Bad Example

This video was presumably made by students at the University of Missouri and focused on those paying out-of-state tuition to attend the university. The project was plain, poor quality and jumped around to different topics too often. It periodically featured a black screen with different questions and information, followed by responses from University of Missouri students. Not only were the camera angles uninspiring, but the quality of the video and sound were very low. In my opinion, the extremely repetitive soundtrack takes away from the content and because the content itself is weak, the project fails to accomplish what it has set out to do. Featuring the interviewees back to back makes it difficult to remember the details in what each person says. When the person comes back to answer a follow-up question, the viewer cannot remember that person’s stance on an issue. After the students are asked if they know where their tuition goes, a very brief shot of one interviewee looking puzzled is featured. The problem with this is that the shot is so brief that the viewer does not have time to comprehend the student’s response. This video is a perfect illustration of the type of project one should avoid and is an example of a very low quality video.

Pre-Video Assignment O'Kane

Bad Example:




9.81 from Jörg Gross on Vimeo.

I would say this is a bad example because it is very sporadic and has no theme, in fact I can't really tell what their talking about. I get it that its supposed to be artistic, but with no interviews and constant clipping of the video it makes each scene so short and makes me kind of dizzy. Not to mention that they kept repeating scenes over and over again.


Good Example:






I find this to be a good example because it has nature sound of the ocean in the background, it has interviews from the band members that talk about what they do. I like the way the camera flows through the house showing what each band member is doing. I also like how it showed scenes of them on the beach or on a truck with their interview in the background as sound. I think was a good example of something similar to what I want to do for my final project.

Pre-Video Assignment, Lee

Bad Video Example

I would categorize this video as a bad video example mainly because of the audio and picture quality. The title sequence was strange in that it was moving in and out at a weird angle. The audio is very hard to decipher due to the subject not being mic'd as well as the background noise. The creator chose only one position to shoot from, randomly zooming in and out of that position which made for a visually boring piece. The quality of the footage is also lacking in clarity. So much so, that it distracts from the content of the video, which was difficult for me to glean from this video.

Good Video Example

I would categorize this video as a very well made video. It is visually stunning and exciting. The choice of having none of the interviews on camera and using video of people all over the world and short snapshot video footage of each person interviewed was so interesting and made the video constantly moving and compelling. The title of the video: "One nation under the sun", also adds to the message of this video. Although the video was clearly about the eclipse the angle that NPR points to was that everyone, people from all walks; states, races, jobs, and religions, came together to witness and marvel at this natural phenomenon. The editing of all these stories really made this video stand out. They took what could've been a straight shooter video about the eclipse turned into a heart-strings-pulling, incredibly compelling human interest piece.

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.

Pre-video Assignment, Singh

Good video: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/entertainment/how-to-adult-how-to-have-a-good-nights-sleep/2017/10/31/117da77e-be67-11e7-9294-705f80164f6e_video.html?utm_term=.e38b9f9c400b
This is an example of a good video because all the sounds are in balance and the video content is relevant to the topic of the video. The narrator does a good job of maintaining a good pace for the script and isn't overpowered by the background music. Although none of the video is filmed by the person making the video, all the shots pertain to the topic of why people should get a good night's rest and flow well through good transitions and clean editing.



Bad video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5SwpbkTT6w
Although the content and interviews as well taken, I thought the audio and background sounds competed with each other too much. The narration wasn't loud enough throughout the video and got lost in the background sounds. I also thought the video quality could have been better, as it is kind of grainy. I also thought the interview with the main army man should have been taken from a higher angle to make it seem like the viewer is actually talking with him and not looking up at him.

Pre-Video Assignment, Gershkovich

Good Video: https://www.nytimes.com/video/style/100000005281179/herve-pierre-melania-trump-designer.html?playlistId=100000003089567&action=click&contentCollection=channels&contentPlacement=3®ion=video-grid&version=video-grid-thumbnail&module=video-nav&pgType=Multimedia&eventName=video-nav-click 

This video is titled "Meet the Man Who Dresses Melania Trump" and is narrated by Herve Pierre, the fashion designer himself, and compiled by the New York Times. I like this video because the music and visuals work nicely with the information being presented. I also think it gives viewers a thorough insight into the life of Pierre. Being a designer, Pierre's role is usually one that is "behind the scenes," and this clip makes Pierre's career the center of attention. I also like that text is used to compliment Pierre's comments (which are witty and entertaining) rather than the voice of a journalist or narrator. This allows the video to have a nice flow and doesn't cause unnecessary interruption. 

Another Good Video: |https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzAS41cpL_Q&t=187s 

I am not sure if this counts as a multi-media project, but this is a video from my friend's wedding which I think is excellent and I wanted to share it. My friend is Jewish, and she got married in Israel this past summer. I feel that the music in this video works very well with the visuals, which are beautiful. The way the story is told causes viewers to instantly feel connected. While watching this, I really felt like I was part of the scene. I like that the video and music tell the story here rather than the voice of a narrator. 

Bad Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEcD6bUur-c This multimedia project is about sports. Based on the video description, it seems as though the creator of the video wanted this video to focus on the health benefits of sports, though I do not feel this was accomplished at all. Additionally, all of the video used is blurry/shaky/out of focus, and whenever text is used, it is extremely difficult to read due to it bouncing around.