Just my opinion,

Tim

The easy way to do this would be to say that it was really good but there were a few things I would improve, but that would seem like I was nit-picking and I don’t want to come across like that. I hate people to just pick out the things I mess up on so I hate doing that to others. Also, I usually already know what’s wrong with my own videos anyway.

The intro was great! I really liked the titling and the rhythm. The audio dropped off a little too abruptly between the intro and the opening. An audio cross fade would have fixed that.

It looks like you don’t use a tripod much but whatever hand held technique you use seems to work real well. I know that it is much easier to work a crowd without dragging a tripod around.

You do a good job of staging the content so that the story has direction and cohesion. I especially like the use of b-roll, with the interviewee still talking about the subject as the b-roll runs. Nice transitions. I like the one where you fade in and out to tie two separate statements that a boy made, together in to the same clip. You used this technique again towards the end of the video. It works well.

Your lower thirds were easy to read, but could have been a little snazzier. You might try using boarders or some movement, like letting them slide in from the side.

The audio could have come in a little sooner and slower right before the Fireman started talking. A little bit of ambient air noise and a audio cross fade would have done the trick.

I noticed you began using a tripod with the fireman. I thought some of your timing started to fall apart after that. I have a similar problem. I loose patience somewhere in the middle of a video; at some point I just want to find an end to all of it. You worked really hard on showing the camp and these interviews took a lot more work. Breaking the video down in to sequences helps a lot. It’s like eating an elephant “one bite at a time”.

I liked that you used more than one camera but I thought your cuts where in the wrong places during a couple of the interviews. The 2nd shot of Cindy should have been replaced with b-roll of the clinic while still using her voice over the b-roll.

Personally, with Brandon and his mom, I would have made the cuts at the end of her phrases instead of in mid-sentence or mid-word. Most of all the other interviews were fine in opinion.

The music you selected for the ending seemed to work very well and all the text was easy to see and read.

Altogether I think you did a very good job. Remember, this is just my opinion. I hope something I said helped.

Thanks for sharing,

Tim