"Stick With It" Very first Episode - NEED CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

This is our first webisode/episode... whatever you would like to call it. I edited the footage and would love to hear some constructive criticism.

I get that everyone in this industry is after the same piece of pie, but my thought is why not help each other out and improve the quality of the industry?


Let me hear your brutal, yet honest opinions!

 

More cutaways. Wildlife, tree stand, equipment, etc. overall good though. Keep um coming. Sorry about your loss. Be safe.


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First congrats on take a great buck. Now here is my opinion. Overall I really liked how you told the story. The music at the start blares for a sec and then cuts to the geese at the opening. Little distracting. For my tastes the music just seemed off. I think you used it appropriately but just didn't care for the selection.

Your footage is really good. You have some beast bucks too and that doesn't hurt. When the buck came in you were trying to stay in front of him and I would have really liked to see him in center of the frame. You are solo filming so it's understandable.

I will commend you on saying your shot was not perfect. You followed up with a second shot. Hind sight being 20/20 I would have took the second shot then followed up with interview. I really liked the over the shoulder when he was standing there. That was awesome. The second over the shoulder when he still had his head up I would have cut. Also it would have been nice to see you walking up to do the recovery. During the hero shot it would have helped to clean him up a little. Tuck his tongue in and wiped the blood off his nose and face.

Good job please keep at it and keep them coming. Quick question what cameras are you using? Could have been my connection but some scenes seemed a little grainy. Great job and thanks for sharing.

 

What exactly do you mean by Cutaways? Also, Thank you for your condolences, I will send them along to my buddy.

 

In film and video, a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else.[1] It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut.[2] The cutaway shot does not necessarily contribute any dramatic content of its own, but is used to help the editor assemble a longer sequence.[3] For this reason, editors choose cutaway shots related to the main action, such as another action or object in the same location.[4] For example, if the main shot is of a man walking down an alley, possible cutaways may include a shot of a cat on a nearby dumpster or a shot of a person watching from a window overhead. Wikipedia


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I film my hunts. Yours are much better than mine. However, I used to film for a hunting show and the hunter would always tell me to get more cutaways. Like while your talking show squirrels, turkeys, windmills, stuff like that. And the cutaways are quick 3-4 seconds.


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Keep it up. Good stuff bro.


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Thank you for reply! I agree with you on a lot with what you have to say! As far as the music selection, I took a couple of hours just searching on YouTube for royalty free, non copyright music since I really don't have the budget to be spending money on music for every episode.

The camera my buddy was using for his A Cam was the Canon HF G20, it's his first year filming so there is still a lot of room for improvement on functioning the camera it self. For the second angle (Over the shoulder) camera he was using some cheap $100 consumer grade camcorder. So yes, the grain you saw was more than likely not your connection.

As far as my own setup (If you are wandering) I use the Sony PXW X70, gopro hero 4, gopro hero 3.

Again, thank you for criticism!

 

Really appreciate it man, I'll keep that in mind and spread it through the team!

 

I like how you told the story. Finding good free music is tough, you could spend days looking and still not find what you are looking for. I pretty much exclusively self film and it can be challenging. I would say focus on keeping him in frame as he was walking in the whole way. Looks like he was a bit out of focus, and I know how hard it can be to try and find focus while a buck is moving towards you. I wish the auto focus button was in a different spot on the X70, because it's pretty much impossible to punch it once you have your bow in hand. I have a preset button on top of the camera that I can hit to turn Peaking on and off. I use that to make sure I'm in focus. I'll be upgrading to a 7" field monitor pretty soon to help with that. I have a hard time knowing my focus from the lcd screen. Check out the rule of thirds if you're not familiar. I would try and frame the buck like in the attached picture. You're in tree interview was a little out of focus too. Trust me, these are very easy things to miss in all the excitement. Framing and focus are probably the two most important aspects of good video, followed by having good sound.

As others have said, clean him up before you do the interview. I always carry a bottle of water and some rags to wipe the blood off. It just comes off as more professional than a dead deer with his bloody tongue hanging out and blood all over his chest cavity.

One of the things we tend to forget is B-roll footage. It's easy to forget or get lazy, but it really does add to the overall quality. If you watch shows like Heartland Bowhunters, they have tons of B-roll shots. Sunsets, timelapses, getting dressed, loading/unloading the truck, walking in, climbing into the stand, pulling your bow back, using your bino's or range finder, cutaway shots of things like other animals, leaves blowing, equipment, the hunter. If you get B-roll, you can really turn a hunt into a great story with high production value. One of the interesting things you can do, is watch one of the better shows like HB and count how many cutaway shots they do per minute. It will blow your mind. That's why they are the best though, they put in the time and effort and have some really creative ideas that they use in their shows.

I enjoyed your work, so don't think anything I mentioned as a negative, we all have stuff to work on and it's just damn hard to get everything perfect, especially self filming.

 

No, I really appreciate it man! I need people to be brutally honest with me. I do not want any sugar coating. You gave a lot of good info that I will definitely share with the team!

 

Also, Skywalker I will have to count the cutaways! Im actually eager to focus on it and see what kind of numbers they pull off.

 

I am the worst editor known to man. No music poor framing,out of focus. Half the time i forget to hit the record button or turn the mic on. That being said i loved it. My only criticism would be to lose the chewing tobacco while your doing your interviews. It was unbelievably distracting.

 

Everyone has pretty much covered it. I would also say try to get more B-Roll for cutaways. Shots of driving, walking in/out, getting dressed, hanging stands, checking cams, wildlife, pretty much anything and everything will help bring the video together. It's a lot of extra work but it makes filling in spots on your videos easier. I have used Free Music Archive: Music for Video for some stuff. It's free and has some ok stuff to try. All in all, practice makes perfect so keep it up!

 

I actually think that you did a very nice job with the video. We all can improve every time out, but this was actually an enjoyable hunt video to watch. Self filming is very hard, I have been doing it every time out for the past 7 or 8 years. So I commend you for getting this footage laid down and with multiple angles. Yea you could have tracked the deer better, but it is so hard staying with them and predicting where you will stop them at, centering them up, and then getting drawn. I don't fault you one bit. The buck that I shot this year, I did a terrible job of tracking him through the timber before the shot. It is flat out hard.

My only real complaints are 1) ... clean him up before the post hunt interview. Get the blood wiped off and the tongue back in his mouth. I always keep a couple towels and a few water bottles in my truck just for this stuff. Leaves can work too. Heck I have taken a base layer shirt off before and used it as well. 2) ... and this is a minor pet peeve of mine, so take it for what it is worth ... I get a mouth full of dip while in the tree (I have buddies who cannot hunt with out dip in), but take it out when in front of the camera at your studio. Like I say ... a pet peeve of mine ... so it may or may not matter.

All in all though I think this was an excellent video.

 

Good camera work. Enjoyed the hunts. I actually liked how it was obvious you were trying to anticipate his path and frame the shot.

Nice to see you owned the spine shot although I agree- finish him off then do the interview. Although I can appreciate waiting to see if he would expire before flinging another $30 into him; you didn't have to chat with the camera before you did...

Also, the sharp quarter-to shot on the doe was glossed over.

Lastly not to pile on, but I agree- lose the worm dirt for the interviews. Heck, do yourself a huge favor and lose it permanently. Stuff is absolutely horrible for you. Off my soapbox now..

I personally could not care less about the blood/gore. We participate in a blood sport. It's real. But that's just me.

All in all a good production and I would watch a series like this.

 

I agree with the chew, it was a bit distracting.

One thought would be getting a backdrop of some barn wood wall or something? For me the black seemed a little gloomy but other than that it was a great piece.

 

Thank you guys!! I'm excited to do the next piece with keeping all of these in mind! You guys have really helped!

-Tyler