This is a change from the syllabus. Tuesday, Sept 20th will be an online assignment day. Do not report to class. You will need to post your critique of the following piece by the end of the class period.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6929979
Please be specific about production techniques. Discuss:
depth of field
re-enactment scenes
interview shots
movement on stills
Did this piece strike a resonant chord with you?
First I must say that this is one of the most powerful and inspirational feature that I have ever seen. ESPN does a great job with their background and homework before doing their features.
ReplyDeleteThe feature uses several techniques to tell the story. The first is the re-enactment scenes. They are very well done. It is evident with filters that the re-enactment shots are fake, but the way they are shot without emphasis on the face and more on the historical background of the story makes the viewer feel like they are watching old footage.
The next technique to put emphasis on the importance of the interviews was the depth of perception. All of the close family members were shot with close ups and close depth of field, while the people that were further from him were show with a deeper depth of field.
The still images really strike a resonant chord because they speak a thousand words. The images are so iconic and graphic that they bring out all the emotions of that day. The filter on them and the color correction that was added give a deeper effect to the cause.
All together the story, shooting, and editing made for an emotional and very well done feature that keep the audiences attention through the piece.
The beginning catches the audience by asking a question, which makes you want to know more about the story and why he's asking the question. Also, the piece ends with question it asked in the beginning, so it came full circle, which now makes you wonder even more after seeing the story.
ReplyDeleteThe depth of field and re-enactment scenes puts emphasis on Welles life and what kind of person he was. The interviews of the parents were shot really close and almost invading their personal space. But it put you right up in their face.
The interview shots really put you up front with he emotions of the parents of Welles. The way they caught the true emotion was compelling. Also, by showing one of the women he saved and showing her burns really pulls you into the story.
The movement on stills worked well with the story by showing the red bandanna and pictures of him and his dad. Also by having the right photos at the right moments can say a lot without saying anything. Pictures alone can bring emotion.
The piece did strike a resonant chord because of the emotion it added by showing scenes from actual footage of 9/11 and true emotions from the parents. Also, by putting emphasis on the red bandanna and how it was the telling point behind how his survivors identified him.
The opening view of New York captivates the viewer as the camera closes in on the city with the twin towers still erect. The b-roll showing different symbols of the red bandanna add dimension and dept to the storytelling. The dynamic framing of the clip (the hourglass) starts out broad on the subject of showing how Wells began wearing the red bandanna then it moved in a fairy tale-feel good story showing how the symbol of the bandanna gave him a kind of inner strength. Next, the twist or mystery starts with the different shots of American flags posted on different venues going into the day of 9-11. It bottlenecks into Well’s heroic story began. Finally the story goes back out into a feel good moment of love and admiration.
ReplyDeleteThe part of the story that hit the resonate chord for me was hearing the actual message left for his mother that he was okay…then the clip quickly moved to the woman bearing the scars left from the 9-11 tragedy of love then moves towards. In the same arena that strikes a the resonate chord is the close up of Well’s father as he begins to tear up as he re-enacts his thoughts at the moment he feels his son has died, “Dear God…take me now, leave him here. The background of the shot is blurred out with Mr. Wells pictured in perfect lighting. The still shots cut from one to another enhanced patriotism and admiration of a hero to the viewer. The skyscraper background of Judy Wing’s husband, Jerry, added to the story-making process. The tone of calming music was conducive to the narration of the story.
The closing of the story was ended with b-roll of the hockey team each wearing a red bandanna which ties the story back to the beginning along with shots of the individuals who lives he touched looking at Well’s photograph.
During the segment I noticed that depth of field was used to focus on the bandana. This was done by having a shallow depth field where everything else was out of focus except for the bandana. By doing this the focus was on the one item that connected so many people. Later on the focus was also on the bandana through the re-enactment scenes. It was shown during re-enactment shots of Welles receiving the bandana and him riding his bike with it in his pocket.
ReplyDeleteWith the interviews I noticed that other paraphenilia of Welles' was placed in the background of the shots. By doing this the focus was on the person speaking as well as Welles.
In regards to the movement on the stills, they helped enhance the story with information on Welles. For example, with one partucular photo of Welles in his junior firefighter uniform, it showed how enthusiastic he was about helping with something that will benifit more than him in the future.
Overall, this story did hit a resonant chord with me as most stories like this does. By having the visual of the bandana which connnected so many people, it was hard not to shed a tear about a story is so inspirational.
-Grace Jordan
Absolutely amazing piece! Let’s start with the technical aspects. The opening completely grabs you with this idea of the red bandanna. They do really great depth of field shots including the red bandanna for their b-roll. I really loved the way that in each shot the bandanna was the focus and the rest of the world seemed to bend to it. The shots were very well executed to achieve that look. The reenactment scenes added a great deal of texture and emotion to the piece. Since there was no way to get b-roll of the dad giving him the bandanna it was nice to have the reenactments there. It made the piece more interesting and compelling to have that.
ReplyDeleteThe interview shots were also well done but very typical in the way they were designed (chest and up). However, the locations of the interviews were interesting and served a purpose sometimes. For example, when they were interviewing the dad in his house and he said that he was in that room right there when he saw the towers fall. That was a compelling moment. Movement on stills also served as a great tool to help tell the story. I love the photograph with the dad and Welles and how they created movement to zoom into the twin towers behind them. That was a great use of foreshadowing because right after that is when we got to the tragedy part of the storyline.
Now, resonate cord was VERY WELL DONE in this piece. They did an amazing job of showing the emotion behind his story. The mom and dad crying were very compelling, and getting people that were saved by him to speak was just brilliant. They did everything right to make this piece hit close to home by relating it back to the viewer and asking them how THEY would live the last moments of their life. Asking that question in contrast to Welles life put things into perspective for the view. It was motivating, and very emotional. Very...well…done!
This piece did very well with story telling and was shot and edited well also. The depth of field was something that was played with a lot. During the interviews, all of the close-ups were shot with a shallow depth of field, adding emphasis on the person being interviewed and putting the viewer face-to-face with their emotions.
ReplyDeleteSome of the b-roll shots were established with a shallow depth of field,like the football field gate, soccer, a flag, and his mom viewing the newspaper, which made me focus on what I was about to view more closely. Shots of a red bandana to symbolize his, were all shot with a shallow depth of field to add emphasis on the bandana. An interesting play on the depth of field was when the camera scrolled across the faces of his parents together, something that touched me and made me feel their sadness, the depth of field shifted from shallow on the mom's side to shallow on the dad's side as the camera moved off of him, so that both were not completely focused at once, emphasizing the pain of each individual parent.
The beginning re-enactment used, what appeard to be, a sepia filter to add an aged look to the video while talking about Welles' childhood. The re-enactment of him putting on his red bandana as a football player was shot an interesting angle. Also, the sun coming over his shoulder made it seem like the bandana added some kind of power, strength, or courage, maybe all to him as he put it on.
The use of the photos were interesting, the picture of him and his dad was zoomed in on, and the focus was brought to the twin towers in the background. This foreshadowed the next part of the story. The other photos of the twin towers brought the viewers into the atmosphere of the situation.
Gerry Sussman's interview was interesting because he was initially shot very far away while he was talking about his wife. This made him feel more detached from the attack, but when he said what Welles' told his wife and others the camera moved in closer as if he was brought closer to the situation by knowing what Welles' said, and what went on inside the building that day.
The resonate chords for me were when the woman said she couldn't see because her glasses were filled with blood, the scroll across the parents' faces, and when the mother saw that a man with a red bandana was saving people, which was shot with a shallow depth of field for emphasis on the words in the paper.
Overall this was a great piece and it really did embody the feeling of how heroic and courageous the young man was.
from Candice:
ReplyDeleteStarting out, I enjoyed the very long depth of field of the 1st shot of the city. To me it was a contemplative shot that equated the notion of "taking it all in" with the graphic complimenting the narration with asking "What would you do in the last hour of your life?" The short depth of field in the shots of the red scarf in particular stood out as simple yet bold and individualistic. Like it had its own story to tell alongside Welles.
The reenactment scenes did a great job of taking the viewer back in time with rustic shots. The red bandana's focus, the blurriness of the shots and not seeing the little boy's face was a good way to allow the viewer to better identify with him as being Welles.
The interview shots were very well done. I enjoyed seeing them use mainly medium shots to frame the interviewees. Seeing a whole person who gesters gives even more credibility to an aim of humanity.
Also, the black and white shots give Welles his own stamp in time or history.
This piece definitely resonants with me. It was beautifully done and I literally cried through like half of it if not more.