Zhai, Video Project #2

A Sweet Battle 

Video Assignment #2, Cao

Video Assignment #2, Penn

Video Assignment#2 Safi

Video Assigment #2,Paddison

Video Assignment #2, Richard Moglen

Video Assignment #2, Hyon

Video Assignment #1, Nguyen

Video Assignment #1, Richard Moglen

Video Assignment #1, Kim

Video Assignment #1, Rachel Moglen

Video Assignment #1, Hyon

Video Assignment #1, Penn

UMD Voting in the 2016 Election

Video Assignment #1, Hessler

Maryland basketball interviews from David Hessler on Vimeo.

Video Assignment #1, Cao

Video Assignment #1, Paddison

Video Assignment #1, Zhai

Video Assignment #1, Gray

Video Assignment #1, Safi

Pre-video Assignment, Nguyen

This is an example of a good video. What impresses me the most about this short film is that it was all shot on an iPhone. There were several different shots of the same frame, the image was stable, and the use of voiceover added to the footage of the artist painting. I especially like the very beginning where the filmmakers used the sounds of scrapping and mixing as the background noises for the title scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q44GCnYICw

This next one is a relatively bad video. Although the plot had potential, the audio was very bad quality to the point where it was hard to hear the actors sometimes. Also the camera was very shaking and we could visibly tell someone was simply holding the camera with their hands and following the actors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=celcitefywQ&feature=youtu.be

Prevideo Assignment, Paddison

Good Multimedia Assignment:

 Video effects are good

Audio is clear

Video is clear

Good angles
Good actors

This is 2016 Super bowl football advertisement. I think this is a good example of multimedia project for a few reasons. One reason is the video editing is very good. I believe that good editing makes the scene look more real which gets you more involved. Secondly, I believe that the audio is clear and comprehensible. In addition to all of this, I believe that the angles make the overall video better.

Bad Multimedia Assignment:

Bad audio and video quality

Hard to follow whats happening 

Camera is very shaky 

Do not really get the story that is trying to be conveyed  

This is a old multimedia project made by a young producer. Though she has a lot of heart, the video's quality is not the best. The video is all about dachshunds taught through a confusing story. The audio is very hard to hear at points as well as her camera quality is very poor.  In the video the story she is trying to convey is slightly hard to understand and follow.

 

Pre Video Assignment, Kim

Good Example

This is a vlog (video blog) style video by Julien Solomita.  This video has really nice action clips of getting to the airport and boarding the plane. He had an interesting mix of different sequential scenes. Some were sped up or were in fun perspectives. The music also fit the occasion well. The Spanish music fit because they were going to New Mexico, and the fast tempo matched their rush to board the plane. Julien also has a drone, so he includes a lot of amazing overall shots with their red car driving across isolated desert paths.

Bad Example

The quality of the video clips are pretty bad. They look very fuzzy and blurry, and many of the video clips were recorded with an unsteady hand. Most of the videos were recorded in the dark, and it is hard to see. In addition the transitions between videos is very abrupt. There was also a typo in the beginning of the slide ("intended" was misspelled).

Pre Video Assignment, Zhai

Bad Video: Coca Cola School Advertisement Project

 
  As the name of the video suggests, it is a school project video to advertise Coca Cola. The camera is shaky and unclear throughout the video, and there are a lot of juvenile sound effects interspersed at inadequate times. There are also many childish and flashy computer graphic effects that are also seem quite childish. The video at one point also splits into multiple screens for added humor and includes laugh tracks that are more abrasive and distracting rather than smoothly integrated. Even when the videographer zooms in on individuals or the product, the visuals are blurry and at awkward angles so that a lot of important details are cut off. The cuts seem random, and the overall "storyline" of the advertisement jumps around. 


                                   Good Video: Collecting the World: Inside the Smithsonian 

This is a video by Great Big Story, which is actually one of my favorite channels on YouTube. It is a video network that does many short 3-10 minute documentaries on a variety of subjects, issues, individuals, animals, inventions, news etc. The network gives the viewers a large quantity of bite-sized stories to choose from and watch during those small windows of spare time interspersed throughout the day. There shots are very well done, with clear audio and smooth transitions to visual to visual. They use a variety of video techniques such as close ups, stills, filters, wide shots, series of quick frames, etc. and many of their shots have significant depths of fields, unique angles, and interesting perspectives. They do a very good job of hooking the audience right from the beginning, and the background music fits well with the pace of visual changes and story. The audio is always very clear and the sound effects match what is happening. There is never a lull in the video, everything is fast-paced but just enough to keep the audiences attention throughout the video.

Pre Video assignment, Richard Moglen

Good

This is one of my favorite videos from Casey Neistat. What makes this video special and effective is the way Casey tells the story of his summit of Mount Aconcagua. He uses a diversity of shots from the actual summit, interspersed with video and voice over of him going over the footage and giving background. He structures the entire video around the idea of risk versus recklessness which makes the whole story relatable.

Poor

This video, aptly entitled terrible mall commercial, is an advert for a shopping center. What makes this a bad video is the choppy editing, awkward acting and performances of the vendors, all set to an annoying and unappealing beat-box beat. Additionally at the very end the graphics cover the face of the girl which is distracting.

Pre Video Assignment, Hyon

Good Video Project: Start at 1:25

First of all this video is interesting because of the perspective. This is filmed in the point of view of someone experiencing Japan for the first time.  The natural sound in this project is amazing and adds to every step of the story.  The natural is edited to have a sort of rhythm that does match the music.  The music adds a depth of emotion and almost nostalgia of good time even though the viewer may have never experienced this first-hand.  The echos of the natural sound help add to this effect.  Visually the shots are stunning and well crafted.  There is a sense of balance in the shots and there is very good use of the rule of thirds.  The color editing was amazing and everything that was important in the shot was brought out.  There was good minimal use of head space and there were many unique shots that showed typical things in a new perspectives.  Also the transitions were so smooth that the experiences this traveler went on all melded into one meta-experience.

Bad Video Project

This commercial for this mall is comically bad.  First the music is terribly made and the singers are off beat and out of tune.  This adds a very unprofessional sense to the commercial.  The shots were terribly composed leaving out the important body of the singers and leaving way too much head room.  The green screening behind the singers is very awkward and the mic is placed in front of their faces so a lot of that detail is blocked.  I saw about 4 different text fonts in this video with 4 different shades of green which was disorienting and very unprofessional looking.  Also that glitter effect was a cheap attempt to higher the quality of the video project but it ended up added to the unpolished look.  There was no attempt to keep the shots in rule of thirds and instead were kept just in quite in the center.

Photo Assignment #4, Hyon

Outside experiment with the kids.

Melting down a styrofoam cup.

Bubbling up.

A whirlwind.

The vapor.

Pre Video Assignment, Hessler

Bad: This comically bad (so bad they made fun of it on SNL) fragrance commercial has many flaws. First of all, for no apparent reason, the whole thing is shot in black and white as the camera gradually zooms in on Brad Pitt as he talks in various different directions, giving it the sense that he is pondering some deep existential question. The camera then suddenly jumps too close to his face in a very sudden transition as he keeps talking. For some reason the lighting in the room is constantly changing, causing Brad's face, his shirt and the wall behind him to keep changing from lighter to darker and back to lighter again. If this didn't distract you enough to keep you from listening to the words, you would notice that his stream of consciousness ramblings make almost no sense, let alone the fact that they are unrelated to the product he is promoting. Then, just when you finally found out what the product is and assumed the commercial is over, it cuts back to Brad Pitt so he can look into the camera and utter one more completely unrelated word with no context: "inevitable".

Good: This video aims to interest its viewers in coming to Yorkshire and does an absolutely fantastic job of doing so, no words necessary. It starts out with the perfect scene to draw viewers in, and the soundtrack they picked is spot on. The beginning music and scenes convey a sense of wonder. Then, as the music picks up, the scenes show more of the hustle and bustle of cities to match it. The music gradually changes again to convey a sense of excitement and adventure. To go along with it, we now see shots of people embracing that adventure by flying planes, wind surfing, running and hiking, again in stunning locations. The video closes with a great moving shot up a hill to look out all around, and asks the question "When are you coming?".

Pre-Video Assignment, Penn

Good Multi-media Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ryyVXtC46E

This is a good short documentary about Brandon Damitz, a coffee farmer for Big Island Roasters and Paradise Roasters coffee companies. The hook at the beginning was good, asking what if you found your calling on Craiglist. The sequences of B-roll footage matched with what Brandon was describing. The music fit the emotions of the video but didn't overpower the video. The story that was told was factual and poetic.

Bad Multi-media Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zuJeT7flJ4

Title of the video says it all. This is a random, bad high school project about the periodic table. The students forget their lines. The video is shaky because it was shot hand-holding the camera. There are hard, jarring cuts between video clips. "3rd string" is spelled "3rd sting." The backgrounds in the video are distracting at some points.

Pre Video Assignment, Gray

Bad Multimedia Project

This music video went viral in 2009 because of bad video production as well as the song itself. A main concept of the video is the rapper, Bangs, rapping in front of a green screen. The backgrounds he is rapping in front of are low quality pictures found on a google and don't make much sense. Also, the placement of where he is on the screen is hard to follow. I also don't like how images of him are being cut together in these sequences while he is wearing two different outfits.

Good Multimedia Project

This music video was recently released by Chance the Rapper. The video features Chance amongst a cast made up entirely of puppets. Die-hard fans will recognize that this video is a continuation of his performances on tour, where he utilizes puppets to recreate the many choir parts featured in his music. The video works as an homage to old Muppets videos, which you instantly recognize with the pink ombre background. The pans and cuts work as Chance and his puppet costar perform at a grand piano. I also think this video works because it matches the song which is all about growing up. The final twist at the end further brings everything together as Chance walks off the set and the audience is able to see that the crew is also made entirely of puppets.

Pre Video Assignment, Safi

Good Multimedia Project:
This Ad by the DOT is very effective, because it uses the element of surprise both in the content and in how the video is shot to capture the audience and get their message across. The ad starts out with soft, uplifting music, and cuts smoothly from scene to scene, establishing the security and familiarity of ordinary car ads. After the accident, you hear cars honking and crash sounds. The scene itself shifts very fast, adding to the surprise of the video. It is a great example of how to make your video memorable, and keep your audience engaged.

Bad Multimedia Project:
 This PSA school project is bad, because it goes all over the place. The music is patchy, the narration is boring, and the scenes cut too quickly from one to the other, and dont flow smoothly into each other. It's not well thought-out either.

Pre-Video Assignment, Cao

Good: Novak Djokovic Made by Determination

This is a short film about Novak Djokovic's journey to becoming one of the top tennis players in the world. I think this is a good multimedia project because it combines a compelling story with beautiful visuals and cinematography. Djokovic tells the inspiring story of growing up in war-torn Serbia, being discovered by a tennis legend, and rising to the top of the tennis world. The visuals showing the landscape of his hometown, the details of the tennis courts (close-ups of the net and cracks in the ground), and Djokovic practicing with slow motion effects are powerful and reflect the narrative. The accompanying music and audio play a big role in setting the inspiring tone of the film as well. Also, the camera movement is very smooth and the framing of the interviews is done well.

Bad: A fan advertisement for a school project 

This multimedia project is an advertisement for a fan. It has a lot of room for improvement. Some portions are filmed vertically, which isn't visually appealing. The camera is shaky throughout most of the video. The visuals weren't strong. The clips of the fan sitting on the floor and blowing a piece of paper wouldn't convince an audience that the fan is a great product. The interview was framed poorly and filmed at an odd angle. The audio also wasn't synced up with the movement of the speaker's mouth in the interview. Overall, the ad didn't keep me interested and didn't convince me to buy the fan.