1st Place
Andy Wallace WBNS
Judges Comments
JW-WITI Johnny Go's House of Music 9 10 10 10 Really great job with this. Not usually a fan of "As the old saying goes" line, but your reporter really made it work. Great opening and character. Nice job moving the pace around to fit the mood of the bite too. The story was bookended with wide shots. It worked, but could have used something more intresting to start off the story. Really nice job!
JI-WITI Johnny Go's House of Music 10 10 9 9 The most important aspect of a story is a great character. You guys nailed it with Johnny. Nice pacing. Great balance between nats, character, and reporter track. I liked the fact that the reporter mainly stayed out of the way of the story. The long nat at the beginning could have been a tad shorter, in my opninion.
JG-WITI Johnny Go's House of Music 9 9 10 9 "This is an example of well-executed storytelling.
Ambitious photography with appropriate use of quick cut and shots that breathe. Using music is always a risk, even considering the subject matter in this story but it works.
Wide, medium and tight shots are all represented. Story is well paced and the ""closing"" reveal is well executed. Good Work."
2nd Place
Jacob Nice WQAD
Judges Comments
JW-WITI CRAFTING SIGHT 9 8 7 8 Nice opening and some great little moments throughout the story. Try not to sperate the reporters thoughts too much. In the opening, "as the old saying goes" has a lot of space before the thought is completed. Easy way to loose a viewer. Make sure to fade in and out every audio track. Some get a little choppy. Try to get your nats tighter. There is a few frames between the start/end of a nat and the reporter track. Make sure to complement the track as well. "Take a look at the maker" we should have a shot of his face. The interveiw shot where he is getting emotional is a little weird. Try to keep things in the interviews look space, not behind them. It gets a little weird if it's behind them especailly when there is a cut shot to a wide. Big jump cut there as well. Nice transition. You always want to hear before you see. Ramp the sound up under the last bite and try to let that opening shot sit a little longer, and let it set in with viewers. Not a fan of the cut out slow zoom. I would rather see them working. Keep the repoter out of your shots. If there in the way, dont be afraid to tell them to move. Nice work on this.
JI-WITI CRAFTING SIGHT 8 8 7 7 The opening 30 seconds are really good. The opening nat is up for a little too long. If it was somebody saying something, fine. This was a loud, grating noise that could have been a bit shorter. Maybe a pop of the machine then the nat "I love what I do" followed by another quick pop would have flowed a little better. Great emotion when he is recapping his story, but maybe stay on the wide Go Pro instead of using the tighter one with the black bar on the right side of the frame. Seems like you lost focus during the interview shot at 2:37. I like the framing of the shot, but keep on eye on your focus. Edit your nats tigher. There should be almost no space between the reporter track and a nat pop. That's why it's called a nat pop and not a slow nat fade up. The jump cut at 4:38 (from wide of Steve working to tight of his laughing face) is pretty glaring and I imagine done out of necessity. Good effort overall. You're on the right track, but keep some of these suggestions in mind.
JG-WITI CRAFTING SIGHT 9 9 8 8 Strong photography effort. I rather enjoyed the collection of tight shots during production. Experiment with leaving great tight shots up longer. Even adding another 15 frames can make a reporter phrase even more compelling. I'm not as confident the still image pull-outs worked as well but thanks for being creative. Tripod shots are mostly steady and the off-the-shoulders are clean. I wonder if there were any old newspapers available to cover the background story of Steve. Opening sequence was OK but I thought there were too many nat sots between the the opening reporter tracks. You're on the right track!
3rd Place
Anthony Panicucci WQAD
Judges Comments
JW-WITI DONT GIVE UP 8 8 7 8 Great Story. I think the pace was a little slow. There's a line about not having much time, but the pace is slow. Would liked to have seen it picked up a bit.
JI-WITI DONT GIVE UP 7 8 7 7 Pace was a little slow for my taste. I would have liked to have heard more nats other than cars driving by. When the car is being worked on in the garage could have been a good time for a few pops. Maybe some video of Josh suiting up before the race could have helped move things along. Overall good effort.
JG-WITI DONT GIVE UP 8 8 7 8 "Strong photography skills are displayed in this story. Good use of wide, mediums and tights. Wides offer viewers context and good tights give a story texture.
Most of the photography was on sticks; good. Off-the-shoulder was smooth. Adequate shots for transitioning and good use of GoPro but couldn't we have put one in the race car!?
Despite solid photo skills the story seemed to drag."
Honorable Mention
Michael Botsford WFAA
Judges Comments
JW-WITI ZIP TO A NEW LIFE 9 9 9 9 Nice Job. Really well shot and edited. I liked the opening a lot. I would have liked to see more of "nature before the out interview subject. Good moments throughout. A few very similar shots when cutting between the lighter and the sun. Would have liked to see something a little different. Great job with the zip line sequence. A few more super tight shots could have helped editing a bit. The graduation fell a little flat for me. Everything was off the shoulder and I never got a tight shot of his face. The two people talking about him where jumpy. Nice moment with his son. Nice ending as well.
JI-WITI ZIP TO A NEW LIFE 8 8 8 8 The beginning talk about nature was a nice way to start the package. I feel as though some more nature shots were needed and few dissolves. Some more tight shots during the zip lining sequence would have gone a long way. The video was a little repetitive after a while. Nice shot and edited though. You used some nice moments from the graduation, but it feels as though that part was just tacked on hastily. That may be more of a reporter issue, but something to pay attention to in the future. Nicely done!
JG-WITI ZIP TO A NEW LIFE 7 5 5 5 "Very important subject matter but I believe your story was back-loaded with the best video. I saw the fountain far too many times for it having no other purpose than shots of water with a high shutter is pretty to look at.
Thanks for using the GoPro but would have liked to have seen more angles."
Judges: WITI