The Escapist Presents: The Escapist Goes to Epic
- Thread starter Team Hollywood
- Start date
Maybe I should have spent more time in the pantry. I'm buying new pants again this weekend. It's stopped being funny at this point. Clothes I wore in high school no longer fit. I need more toaster strudel in my diet, I think.
As someone who has also taken a long time off from video production (and made my first short documentary recently), I'll offer a few more unsolicited observations.
The opening music (while used in the Gear of War commercials as I recall) set a slow/somber mood to what I thought would have been a pretty exciting opportunity.
You re-used a couple of the early shots (how many stairs and Mountain Dew close-ups do we really need?)
I couldn't see what the framed artwork was on the wall. (Awards, I'm guessing.) When shooting things with text, it's easier to read if the camera moves left-to-right, so we can read along.
The narrator is on Xanex.
I also discovered the limits of on-camera microphones the hard way. You can get an affordable clip-on at Radio Shack or Fry's. Nothing loses an audience quicker than having to strain to hear the interviews. (Especially after we turned down the sound on Escapist's logo intro!)
See this link to learn how to make a $14 steadycam. I made one. It's awesome and it really costs only about $14! (It's more of a weighted pipe than a "Steadicam," but it does the job.)
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/
I'd lose the jokey "interview" at the end. I dunno, it just seems less professional than the rest of the show.
I don't mean the critique to be harsh. I would really like to see more of your video work here. It's great to see this business covered by someone who really knows and cares about it. Best of luck!
The opening music (while used in the Gear of War commercials as I recall) set a slow/somber mood to what I thought would have been a pretty exciting opportunity.
You re-used a couple of the early shots (how many stairs and Mountain Dew close-ups do we really need?)
I couldn't see what the framed artwork was on the wall. (Awards, I'm guessing.) When shooting things with text, it's easier to read if the camera moves left-to-right, so we can read along.
The narrator is on Xanex.
I also discovered the limits of on-camera microphones the hard way. You can get an affordable clip-on at Radio Shack or Fry's. Nothing loses an audience quicker than having to strain to hear the interviews. (Especially after we turned down the sound on Escapist's logo intro!)
See this link to learn how to make a $14 steadycam. I made one. It's awesome and it really costs only about $14! (It's more of a weighted pipe than a "Steadicam," but it does the job.)
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/
I'd lose the jokey "interview" at the end. I dunno, it just seems less professional than the rest of the show.
I don't mean the critique to be harsh. I would really like to see more of your video work here. It's great to see this business covered by someone who really knows and cares about it. Best of luck!