Response to Jeff's, Hannah's, and Mike's Final Videos

Response to Jeff’s:
I liked the idea of doing a “Rugrats” stylized remake. It was well filmed, well lit, and had good continuity in all areas. As I said in class, you seem to have a particular style that has come through in all your pieces, and as the semester has progressed I like that you keep exploring your particular style and getting more complex in your shooting, editing, and sound design. In the video I think that the sound design in particular set the tone of your video really well. I think that it was okay to never see the actors together in a circle, but if you want them to appear like they are in the same room together you might think about doing some L-cuts with the audio so that it sounds more conversational, but keeps to the style of the filming.
The times when the characters were dancing were definitely my favorite parts of the video. I liked the movement of both the characters and the camera, and the quick editing. It also looked slightly altered, and I am not sure if it was strictly camera work and lighting, or if you did something in post-production, but I think that was where the epitome of your style came through and I would like to see more of that. Overall, you do very careful and complete work, and out of it came a lot of good work.


Response to Hannah’s:
I like the topics you are exploring in your film. I think that it is a topic very often talked about, making it difficult to bring something fresh to the discussion, but that you have a very good start on it. I especially like that you are asking women to draw what they think is a “beautiful woman.” I think that the part that was my least favorite was when you added in the media-images of women. I think that sometimes that can come off as too blatant and is done pretty often, so as you continue with this project you should be careful where you put it in. I like the idea of it being a contrast to the young girls you are hoping to interview, and I think that you can use your techniques to juxtapose girls and sexualized women and your film can become a powerful statement on this topic.

Response to Mike’s:
I really liked your twist on people who are bombarded with media becoming zombies. It looked like you had taken inspiration from a lot of the videos we watched for our class into account when making your video, and I liked how your video came out. I think you have a good handle on the definition of hegemony, and your own ideas on it as well. Your ideas about the media are often discussed in Hampshire classes, and I think that many students have become desensitized to many of the ideas, but I think your video says what many discussions I have sat through over and over tried to say much more eloquently and concisely. Your use of found footage right after your definition of certain words worked well because by putting the definition into context the viewer could grasp immediately what you were saying, and by knowing the images on the screen (for example, we all have seen images of war on the news), you give the audience a particular context in which to view the images, evoking a different response to them than usual, and therefore you open up discussion on both the definitions you put up, and media’s place in out lives.