Constructive Criticism on Video

[Sam Comer]

Some nice shots and lighting.

The one thing that stands out for me after a first, cursory viewing, is audio.

First, I think the music track is a little distracting – a lot going on. Maybe something little smoother and slower? (Matter of opinion, I suppose).

Second – It sounds like all the interview dialog is coming out of the right channel only. You need to center-pan the audio so it’s coming through both speakers, otherwise it’s just disconcerting. This is done different ways depending on your editing program. You could also just export it so the audio is Mono instead of Stereo, but there is a slight hiss in the audio as well. This could be from the channel that didn’t get a signal while recording. Filling both channels with the mic’s signal will help with that a lot. If it’s in both channels, then a little noise reduction or EQing should go a long way to help that.

[Mark Suszko]

Not a lot to criticize here. Its functional “as-is”. What I’m suggesting here is more of a description of what I’d do differently, not saying you should do everything I mention.

I would put a rim of dark edge and soft shadow on the fonts, to help them pop a little when the backgrounds are light-colored.

It seems to be all cuts, and I think a few of the transitions would benefit from dissolves. The music is kinda bland and low, and perhaps too “wall-to-wall”; you might think about using it only on the b-roll shots, or using multiple cuts of music to help define individual sections of the narrative.

Your narrative audio is clean, but sounds a little “thin”; you could run this thru an audio compressor filter and “beef it up”.

The framing of the interviews is a little same-same, and you’re changing the framing just with the zoom: it’s more work, but these shots look better if you physically move the camera in or out in between questions answered. You do that by asking all the questions twice, once for each camera position. Also, I caught a couple times where you cut in or out of a subtle zoom; I think those transitions would work better as fast to medium dissolves, or you should let the zoom move finish, before you make the cut. Zooming live on people talking is always tricky, but it can help add emphasis when it’s pushing in, or start to detach you from the message and give it a ‘wrapping it up” feeling as it pulls back. You have to really listen to the content of the remarks as you roll, to know when it might be appropriate to make that kind of move, and to judge if the speaking pace of the talent is going to give you time to make that move, without looking abrupt or hurried. It’s always going to be a gamble; usually it pays off. If you blow it, there’s always b-roll to cover.

It would be good to hear more of the pastor as voice-over while watching him walk around in b-roll. More b-roll of the church itself might be nice too.

You’re in love with your footage, which is a common problem I get myself, but you could be more ruthless in shortening this down. Once you’ve made the major point, it feels a little long or redundant in spots. The interview shot where the lady’s eyes wander is distracting. A lot of the b-roll is existing light and some of it was a little under-exposed or harsh, or it’s shooting from behind people. I get that you might be constrained in showing faces.

I liked the rack focus shot you did, and wished you had a few more really wide shots or high and low-angle shots to add variety.

You could perhaps add a graphic in there somewhere to finish, with the text from John 21 where the quote “feed my sheep” comes from.

[Brock Burwell]

Great advice thanks!

I use final cut and I’m not really sure how to do that, but I can do some research and find out.

Did I tell the story OK? Does it all make sense?

[Brock Burwell]

I love all this advice. I really appreciate it. This is the first video I’ve done and I really like the suggestions. I will absolutely make some of these changes.

I am in no rush for this so I am going to take my time with it. Thanks again!

[Mark Suszko]

To fix the audio? Double-click on the tracks, see the window with the waveforms pop up. See there are sliders for overall volume and panning left and right.

Once the audio track is double-clicked, you can also go to effects>audio filters> Compressor/limiter, and play with adding some compression to the audio to make it sound “bigger”, without actually being louder.

Does it tell the story? Well, it tells what the program *is*.

Was there a “call to action”? Not really. A call to action might be a pitch to donate food to the effort, or to tell someone you know, when to come and why. It tells you currently what Feed My Sheep *is*, but not what you should *do* with the information… like… attend?

If that’s a first effort, you’re doing very well. Just keep tweaking it.

[Brock Burwell]

That’s a good thought on the “call to action.” I guess I didn’t really give the viewer anything but information. Not sure how I can do that without reshooting with the Pastor and getting him to basically give them a call to action. I may be stuck with this video unless you have an idea.

Yea this is my first try at this. I kinda copied someone else’s video idea and tried to emulate it. I didn’t go to school for this or anything but I’d love to start getting into it. I feel like this place is going to help out a lot as I may be asking for advice a lot.

[Mark Suszko]

No, it’s easy. Add the CTA at the end with a graphic, like the scripture quote I mentioned, and under that, some type:

“To help support the effort by donating food, or to learn how your church can do this< contact xyz etc etc etc” And add a voice-over with it. Done.

[Brock Burwell]

Good call on getting more video of Pastor for B-roll. I may need to do that.

I will take a look at some more music to see if anything fits better. Where do you get your music? I found a place on iTunes that has royalty free music, but I’m not sure if there are better places.

Do you have any specific suggestions on what can be cut to shorten the video to make it less redundent?

What do you mean you wish I had “more really wide shots?” The rooms I shot in for B-roll weren’t very big so I couldn’t really get wide shots. I am though going to film tonight to get some shots of the outside of the church that will be wide, but I’m not sure if that’s what you mean.

I love the idea of adding John 21 in there at the end. I will definitely do that. Great call.

[Mark Suszko]

If you’re shooting more b-roll tonight, try to get some very high angles and some low, table-height angles, on the wide shots. Keep a checklist with you:

Get singles,
two-shots,
3-shots,
“cover” (wide) shots
Establishing shots of people entering and getting welcomed.
Wide interiors of the church, some panning and tilting shots of the windows, maybe a rack focus or two.
More food prep shots, with people and just with hands and mouths.
Get shots of the kitchen team resting and talking, slowly packing up after everyone else is gone.

Get more “wild” audio and b-roll video of the rooms, of people talking, of “fellowship”. Shoot two people conversing from two angles, keeping in mind the 180 degree rule.

Play with more eccentric framing of shots. Not everything should be dead-center, and “look space” should be there. Compose frames where there is action in the background AND foreground, separated left and right (your basic focus pull setup)

SoundDogs and AudioJungle and Music Bakery are three places I like. Digital Juice has a large worship-focused collection you might want to peruse. I also make a lot of use of loop-based music using SonicFirePro 5.

[Brock Burwell]

As I said previously, I didn’t go to school for this so I don’t know all the terminology. I looked up some of the terms you listed here but I would like further explaination on a few if you don’t mind.

What does singles, two-shots and 3 shots mean?

Also, when you say “look-space,” do you mean something similar to the rule of 3rds? Space on one side of the subject

Also, You said shots of hands and mouths. Do you mean of the people eating?

Also, do you have any videos that could be used as an example for me to go on?

Thanks for all your help. It means a lot!