video critique assignment

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Why study other speakers?

• How to Study and Critique a Speech
• The Art of Delivering Evaluations
• Modified Sandwich Technique for Evaluations
• Evaluation Forms, Tools, and Resources
• Toastmasters Evaluation Contests

Studying and evaluating the techniques of other speakers is an excellent way to become a better public speaker.

• When a speaker impresses, ask “ Why was that impressive? “
• When a speaker bombs, ask “ Why didn’t that hit the mark? “

Analyzing other speakers provides an abundant supply of ideas that can be incorporated into our own presentations.

Why use video critiques?

With a growing supply of speech videos readily accessible, video critiques can be especially useful teaching and learning aids.

• Without video , you can say: “ Remember that keynote speaker last week? Weren’t her gestures powerful? “
• With video , you can refer directly to precise moments: “ The keynote speaker last week was fantastic. Her gestures at 1:27 and 2:38 of her speech were powerful. “

Speech Critique Examples on Six Minutes

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Speech Critique Examples http://ht.ly/1KPec of famous #speakers — presensation May 14th, 2010

Speech Critique Examples http://ht.ly/1KPed of famous #speakers — Michael Moesslang May 14th, 2010

Speech Critique Examples http://ht.ly/1KPed of famous #speakers — top1speaker May 14th, 2010

Why study other speakers? http://tinyurl.com/cfnph8 from @6minutes thanks @mikesansone for pointing me to Andrew's wk! — bigwags Jun 6th, 2010

@MatthewAGilbert Matthew, many university instructors/students like this http://t.co/P5yRCQm7 and these http://t.co/0Sc4PzEY — Matthew A. Gilbert Nov 20th, 2011

@Janaclarke @twopdhart @edbierman @rebranded @cguenard @clwitte Thanks for RT of my Lincoln critique. More critiques: http://t.co/0Sc4PzEY — Andrew Dlugan Nov 26th, 2011

want to know how to give a good speech? http://t.co/rMaLIoWV – excellent material — madi Jan 15th, 2012

http://t.co/v2rJkSeO interesting stuff on how to deliver a speech! — Ashutosh Tamhankar Jan 26th, 2012

#ExamPrep #SpeechCritiques http://t.co/pNt6Seqd via @6minutes — Ayoola S. Efunkoya Aug 23rd, 2012

US thought:Learn from Obama and Steve Jobs! See & adopt things you like about their talks-video speech critiques here http://t.co/kIRnqfEi — Dee Clayton Nov 7th, 2012

11 Blog Links

salegro Vertriebs-Blog » Archiv » Speech critiques — Mar 29th, 2010

Giving a Talk About Your Book » Holly Brady — Apr 14th, 2011

Giving a Talk About Your Book « Holly Brady — Apr 20th, 2011

Critiquing Speeches – ELC Learning Place — May 11th, 2011

Reading Response for Class 11/22 | Visual Design – Com 364 — Nov 22nd, 2011

Honors English III: 10.2.12 — Ms. Ward — Oct 2nd, 2012

English III: 10.4 — Ms. Ward — Oct 7th, 2012

6 of the world’s best blogs for presenters | Remote Possibilities — Dec 1st, 2012

Final Presentation Assignment | WPC Main Blog — Mar 16th, 2013

Speech Critique | angiehakopian — Apr 22nd, 2013

Speech Critique: Averting the Climate Crisis, Al Gore | mcalpinmba — Apr 28th, 2013

Featured Articles

• Majora Carter (TED, 2006) Energy, Passion, Speaking Rate
• Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) 6 Techniques to Present Data
• J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Gestures, Prop, Writing
• Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Figures of speech, rule of three
• Al Gore (TED, 2006) Humor, audience interaction
• Dick Hardt (OSCON, 2005) Lessig Method of Presentation

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Visual Rhetoric

Video essay resource guide.

PAR 102 (M-Th, 9 AM- 5 PM) Fine Arts Library Media Lab (same hours as FAL) PCL Media Lab (same hours as PCL)

About video essays

What are they.

“The video essay is often described as a form of new media, but the basic principles are as old as rhetoric: the author makes an assertion, then presents evidence to back up his claim. Of course it was always possible for film critics to do this in print, and they’ve been doing it for over 100 years, following more or less the same template that one would use while writing about any art form: state your thesis or opinion, then back it with examples. In college, I was assured that in its heart, all written criticism was essentially the same – that in terms of rhetorical construction, book reviews, music reviews, dance reviews and film reviews were cut from the same cloth, but tailored to suit the specific properties of the medium being described, with greater emphasis given to form or content depending on the author’s goals and the reader’s presumed interest.”

Matt Zoller Seitz on the video essay .

what makes a good video essay? 

Tony Zhou on how to structure a video essay

Kevin B. Lee on what makes a video essay “ great “

why should we use them? what are their limits?

Kevin B. Lee’s  experimental/artistic pitch for video essays

Kevin B. Lee’s mainstream pitch for video essay

“Of all the many developments in the short history of film criticism and scholarship, the video essay has the greatest potential to challenge the now historically located text-based dominance of the appraisal and interpretation of film and its contextual cultures…”

Andrew McWhirter argues that t he video essay has significant academic potential in the Fall 2015 issue of  Screen

“Importantly, the [new] media stylo does not replace traditional scholarship. This is a new practice beyond traditional scholarship. So how does critical media differ from traditional scholarship and what advantages does it offer? First, as you will see with the works in this issue, critical media demonstrates a shift in rhetorical mode. The traditional essay is argumentative-thesis, evidence, conclusion. Traditional scholarship aspires to exhaustion, to be the definitive, end-all-be-all, last word on a particular subject. The media stylo, by contrast, suggests possibilities-it is not the end of scholarly inquiry; it is the beginning. It explores and experiments and is designed just as much to inspire as to convince…”

Eric Fadden’s “ A Manifesto for Critical Media “

Adam Westbrook’s “ The Web-Video Problem: Why It’s Time to Rethinking Visual Storytelling from the Bottom Up “

Video essayists and venues

Matt Zoller Seitz (various venues) A writer and director by trade, Zoller Seitz is nonetheless probably best known as a prominent American cultural critic.  He’s made over 1000 hours of video essays and is generally recognized as a founder of the video essay movement in high-brow periodicals.  A recognized expert on Wes Anderson, Zoller Seitz is also notable because he often mixes other cinematic media (especially television) into his analysis, as in the above example, which doubles as an experiment in the absence of voiceover.

Various contributors, Press Play Co-founded by Matt Zoller Seitz and Ken Cancelosi,  Press Play  (published by Indiewire)   is one of the oldest high-brow venues for video essays about television, cinema, and other aspects of popular culture.

Various contributors, Keyframe   (A Fandor online publication) Fandor’s video essay department publishes work from many editors (what many video essayists call themselves) on and in a range of topics and styles.  Check it out to get an idea of all that things a video essay can do!

Various contributors, Moving Image Source A high-brow publication for video essays.

Tony Zhou, Every Frame a Painting The master of video essays on filmic form, Tony’s arguments are clean, simple, and well-evidenced.  Look to Tony as an example of aggressive and precise editing and arrangement.  He’s also an excellent sound editor–pay attention to his choices and try out some of his sound-mixing techniques in your essay.

Adam Johnston, Your Movie Sucks (YMS) Although an excellent example of epideictic film rhetoric, this channel is a great example of what  not  to do in this assignment (write a movie review, gush about how good/bad you think a movie is, focus on motifs or narrative content instead of  film form  as the center of your argument).  What you  can  learn from Adam is a lot about style.  Adam’s delivery, pacing, and editing all work together to promote a mildly-disinterested-and-therefore-credible ethos through a near-monotone, which I’ll affectionately dub the “Daria” narratorial ethos.

Adam Westbrook, delve.tv Adam Westbrook is part of an emerging group of professional video essayists and delve.tv is his version of a visual podcast.  Using the video essay form, Adam has developed a professional public intellectual ethos for himself through skillful overlay of explanation/interpretation and concept.  Check out Westbrook’s work as a really good example of presenting and representing visual concepts crucial to an argument.  He’s a master at making an argument in the form of storytelling, and he uses the video essay as a vehicle for that enterprise.

:: kogonada (various venues) If you found yourself wondering what the auteur video essay might look like, :: kogonada is it.  I like to call this “expressionist” video essay style.  Kogonada is the ultimate minimalist when it comes to voiceover/text over–its message impossibly and almost excessively efficient.  Half of the videos in his library are simple, expertly-executed supercuts , highlighting how heavily video essays rely on the “supercut” technique to make an argument.  Crafting an essay in this style really limits your audience and may not be a very good fit for the constraints of assignment (very “cutting edge,” as we talked about it in class), but you will probably draw inspiration from ::kogonada’s distinct, recognizable style, as well as an idea of what a video essay can do at the outer limits of its form.

Lewis Bond,  Channel Criswell Narrating in brogue-y Northern English, Bond takes his time, releasing a very carefully-edited, high-production video essay once every couple of months.  He’s a decent editor, but I feel his essays tend to run long, and I feel rushed by his narration at times.  Bond also makes a useful distinction between video essays and analysis/reviews on his channel–and while most of his analysis/reviews focus on film content (what you don’t want to imitate), his video essays stay pretty focused on film technique (what you do).  Hearing the same author consciously engage in two different modes of analysis might help you better understand the distinction between the two, as well.

Jack Nugent,  Now You See It Nugent’s brisk, formal analysis is both insightful and accessible–a good example of what it takes to secure a significant following in the highly-competitive Youtube marketplace.  [That’s my way of slyly calling him commercial.] Nugent is especially good at pairing his narration with his images.  Concentrate and reflect upon his simple pairings as you watch–how does Nugent help you process both sets of information at the pacing he sets?

Evan Puschak, The Nerdwriter Nerdwriter  is a great example the diversity of topics a video essay can be used to craft an argument about.  Every week, Puschak publishes an episode on science, art, and culture.  Look at all the different things Puschak considers visual rhetoric and think about how he’s using the video essay form to make honed, precisely-executed arguments about popular culture.

Dennis Hartwig and John P. Hess,  FilmmakerIQ Hartwig and Hess use video essays to explain filmmaking technique to aspiring filmmakers.  I’ve included the channel here as another example of what  not  to do in your argument, although perhaps some of the technical explanations that Hartwig and Hess have produced might help you as secondary sources.  Your target audience (someone familiar on basic film theory trying to better understand film form) is likely to find the highly technical, prescriptive arguments on FilmIQ boring or alienating. Don’t focus on technical production in your essay (how the film accomplishes a particular visual technique using a camera); rather, focus on how the audience interprets the end result in the film itself; in other words, focus on choices the audience can notice and interpret–how is the audience interpreting the product of production?  How often is the audience thinking about/noticing production in that process?

Kevin B. Lee (various venues) A good example of the older, high-brow generation of video essayists, Kevin’s collection of work hosted on his Vimeo channel offers slow, deliberate, lecture-inspired readings of film techniques and form.  Note the distinct stylistic difference between Kevin’s pacing and someone like Zhou or Lewis.  How does delivery affect reception?

Software Guides

How to access Lynda tutorials (these will change your life)

Handbrake and MakeMKV  (file converters)

Adobe Premiere  (video editing)

Camtasia  (screen capture)

File management

Use your free UTBox account to upload and manage your files.  Make sure you’ve got some sort of system for tracking and assembling everything into your video editing software.   UTBox has a 2 terabyte limit (much higher than Google Drive) and is an excellent file management resource for all sorts of academic work.

Adobe Premiere saves versions with links to your video files, so it’s imperative that you keep your video files folder in the same place on every machine you open it up on.  That’s why I keep all my video files in a big folder on box that I drop on the desktop of any machine I’m working on before I open my premiere files.  The Adobe Premiere project walkthrough  has more details on this.

Where to find video and how to capture it

About fair use . Make sure your composition complies with the Fair Use doctrine and familiarize yourself with the four criteria.

The best place to capture images is always from a high-resolution DVD or video file .  The first place you should go to get the film is the library– see instructions for searching here .

To import the video and audio from your DVD or video file into your video editing software (like Premiere), you will first need to use a software to convert it to an .mkv.  See instructions on how to do that here .

Camtasia tutorials .  Camtasia is a program that allows you to capture anything that’s going on on your screen .  This is a critical tool for this assignment as you decide what kind of interface you want to present to your reader in your video essay.  Camtasia also allows you to capture any high-quality video playing on your desktop without licensing restrictions.

You can also use Clip Converter to capture images and sound from pre-existing YouTube videos , and it may be a little faster and easier than Camtasia.   I suggest converting things into .mkv before putting them into your video editor, regardless of where you get the material from.

Film theory and criticism

• /r/truefilm’s reading and viewing guide

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Video Review: How to Give Effective Feedback

Videos are a powerhouse when it comes to marketing, explaining your product, and much more.

Heck, when users are spending 88% more time on websites that have videos, you can see their power just in terms of retention.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to request or create effective videos if you don’t have experience in the field. Terms can be confusing, and video producers might struggle to act on the feedback you give if you don’t know how to communicate the message effectively.

That’s why it’s vital to know how to perform an effective video review; there’s an art to it.

At Process Street , we’ve gone through the hard work of learning how to review videos and give actionable comments. That’s why I’ll be showing you how to do just that., including:

Basic video creation process

Video editing steps, what is a video review, video review glossary, the video review process, video review best practices, run your video review processes with process street.

Let’s get started.

Before we dive into the video review itself, it’s important to set some groundwork.

When we first started creating videos here at Process Street, I’ll be the first to admit that we didn’t know much about the field. We had some basic knowledge from the combined experience of myself , Vinay (our CEO and co-founder), Cameron (our CTO and co-founder), and others, but our dedicated Video Producer hire, Heather Haynsen , was our first true step into video creation.

As a result, we spent a lot of time messing around and stuck in the confusion of terms and practices. If you know the groundwork, you won’t waste that time when it comes to the review.

To have your videos ready on time, in-budget, and in the best shape possible, you need to be able to give effective feedback. That’s how we’ve been able to go from one video every quarter to four going live in this month alone!

To do that, you need to know what’s involved in the process.

The basic video creation process is as follows:

• Client brief
• Script and/or storyboard
• Asset creation
• Video review and iterations
• Publication

Step 1. Client brief

Everything starts with the client brief. This is where you need to cover:

• Why you’re making the video
• Who’s watching the video
• What you want them to take away from it
• Launch date
• Requested asset types
• Specific elements needed
• Existing content to be reused
• The longevity of the video
• Where it will be published
• Where the project folder will be stored
• Who will approve it
• Other figures involved

While most of these are self-explanatory, let’s cover some in deeper detail.

First, you need to know why you’re making the video, who it’s aimed at, and what you want them to take away from it. If you don’t have these laid out in black and white it can be easy to include (or even focus on) elements that don’t add value to the final video.

The launch date should be set so that everyone involved (especially the video producer) can work backward from that point and plan necessary due dates. They’re responsible for making sure that everyone has all of the necessary elements, so they need to know how long they have to put everything together.

Speaking of which, the runtime, asset types, specific elements, and any existing content to be reused will give them an idea of how long the video will take to produce.

Asset types are anything that is required to make the final video (voice-overs, animation, music, screen-capture footage, etc), while specific elements are anything that needs to be created from scratch.

If the video has a large scope then you may need to give ground on the launch date. It’s not reasonable to give a date suitable for a 30-second intro video made from reused content to a project for a 5-minute in-depth explanation with custom graphics.

Likewise, the longevity of the video (ie, how long the video will be correct and relevant) matters because it will give you something to weigh against the amount of work involved. If the video will always be relevant then it stands to reason that you can invest more time and money into getting it perfect.

If, however, your product is going to have a UI update in the next month which renders the video incorrect, it could be worth postponing it until after the update or doing a basic job which you can later revisit.

Thinking of where the video will be published will change the approach that the video producer needs to take, along with affecting who will see it. YouTube is an obvious choice and can be used pretty much no matter what your brand image and tone are, while platforms like Vimeo are better suited to high-definition videos with production quality and costs to match.

The project folder location is exactly that. It shows everyone involved where the project will be stored while in progress, and should be somewhere that anyone who could help with the project can access. For example, we have ours in a shared Google Drive which everyone can access.

Similarly, stating who will approve the final video and what other figures will be involved sets expectations for who can be contacted with questions.

Step 2. Script & storyboard

Now we move on to the first step of video creation – the script and/or storyboard. It’s worth noting that, while scripts are common (and almost always necessary, even if it’s just a rundown of the visuals), storyboards tend to be only used in bigger productions.

When writing scripts, our video producer talks to the team members with the most experience of the topic. For example, feature explanations lead to conversations with customer support reps, and so on.

Once it’s been written, the script can be submitted for approval by the people you selected in the client brief. As a bonus, we also read through the scripts as a team and give any feedback we can.

Step 3. Asset creation

Once the script/storyboard is approved it’s time for asset creation. Here is where the producer works with everyone involved in making the elements required for your video, from voice-overs and music to graphics and animations.

This is where an accurate (and reasonable) launch date pays off, as it will allow the producer to give realistic due dates to everyone else involved.

Step 4. Rough cut

The rough cut is the initial version of the video which may not have everything finished yet.

Once the assets are all created, the producer will pull everything together to make the rough cut. Everything here will be mostly finished but aspects such as sound effects, audio mixing, and so on may be lacking.

The idea is to get a basic video together which can be reviewed to critique the core elements. If a more polished video was produced before the rough cut was analyzed, there’s a chance that all of that extra work would go to waste due to a segment having to be cut or reshot.

Step 5. Video review and iterations

Here’s where your main video reviews take place.

When the rough cut is ready, the first review should focus on the basic elements (more on that later). Any required changes will have to be implemented by the producer, resulting in the first (and hopefully last) iteration. This second, polished version of the video is the “fine cut”.

Iterations will continue like this, with a cycle of producing a fine cut, getting you to review it, and then implementing feedback (if necessary).

Step 6. Publication

After a fine cut has been approved, it’s time to publish the video! Here’s where knowing the intended platform will help, and knowing your target audience will let you tailor the tags, title, and so on to be more appealing or informative.

Okay, so we have the basics of video creation down. Fantastic.

However, we’re still not quite at the video review yet. Before that, you need to know the rough video editing process.

I know, I know, it seems unnecessary. So, instead of me convincing you by myself, try answering me a few questions.

Have you ever been given pointers or advice by someone who has no idea what they’re doing?

Have you ever had to do something that you’ve got very little experience with, and ended up unable to perform your tasks correctly?

That’s why we need to cover video editing. If you don’t know what the editing process is, you’ll be unable to give effective feedback or have realistic expectations about when the project will be done.

So, as a quick summary the editing process is, roughly, as follows:

• Script creation – the producer makes the script for the video
• Audio backbone – here they focus on getting the timing down for the voice-over (VO), time the VO, account for intros, outros, transitions, etc
• Rough cut – a basic video without effects, finished audio mixing, or sometimes transitions, but with the basic flow down, with things in the right order
• Fine cut – incorporating feedback, everything is now in the right place, transitions are right, timing is perfect, everything is ready
• Color correct & audio mastering – here color correction for camera footage is done, along with EQs to making sure everything sounds perfect and really pops

Reviews tend to be at the end of each of these stages, so you need to know exactly what’s happening (and what you should expect) beforehand.

All of these are part of the video review process – that’s why you need to know them!

Speaking of which, that’s finally enough background information. It’s time to dive into the topic of video reviews.

A video review is any of a series of reviews that a video goes through before it is published. These are performed by someone other than the video creator/producer, such as their manager or client.

To simplify it, a video review lets a client check in on a creator’s commissioned work to then give their feedback. That way both parties know that the project is on track and running smoothly.

This isn’t to be confused with a video that’s reviewing something. They’re entirely separate.

The reason for there being multiple reviews (one for each step of the editing process) is that it allows any problems the client has to be dealt with quickly. For example, if an issue isn’t spotted until the entire video has been created then the client will be left unsatisfied and the video producer will have wasted their time.

Core errors in the script can be caught before a voice-over is created, negating the need for a second take. Animation storyboards can be critiqued, stopping the graphic designers from having to create an entirely new sequence.

Here are some useful terms that video producers may use which you’ll need to know. If you can refer to their work using these same terms, there’s also a higher chance of them understanding the feedback that you give them.

After all, nobody likes getting feedback that they (and the speaker) haven’t a chance of understanding.

• Intro – the opening segment of the video
• Outro – the closing segment of the video
• Zoom – taking a portion of the current picture and expanding it
• Panning – moving the “camera” of the video in a horizontal motion (this can be used in real-world footage, animations, and so on)
• Animation – a subset of video that’s not filmed directly, and is instead created via computer-generated graphics, motion graphics, 2D drawings sequenced to mimic movement, 3D models doing the same, kinetic text, etc.
• A-roll – footage used to directly tell the story of the video, usually involving things happening at the camera (you could also call these “scripted” events)
• B-roll – everything else (cutaway footage, stock photos used to fill space, etc)
• Video – an encompassing term for something that’s in a player and, when you hit play, it plays
• Multimedia – a subset of videos that use multiple item types (camera, animation, still image, etc)
• Color correct – tweaking the colors of captured footage to make sure that what the camera films is true to real life
• Color grading – making the world look like you want it to (CSI Miami is orange)

Finally, we’re at the stage where we can talk about the video review process. Here’s where you need to take a look at the video so far and make comments based on your brief.

Remember that most things the video producer does will be in an attempt to meet what you’ve told them in your client brief and any feedback you’ve already given.

This is why it’s vital to know what to expect, and what you’re talking about.

Here are the various stages at which a video review can (and should happen):

• Audio backbone

Several cuts of the video can be produced if necessary, but it’s ideal to have only one rough cut and one final cut.

If you take a thorough look through the video resources made so far and compare that to the purpose the video is meant to serve, you should be able to give feedback at each stage which will let the producer act on your instructions without the need for another iteration.

Video reviews are simple in theory. You sit down at a certain stage of production, you look at what’s been done, you make comments, then you leave the producer to it.

Unfortunately, as my team can tell you, there’s a lot more to it when it gets down to brass tacks.

As noted (repeatedly) by our video producer Heather, it’s all too easy for a client to underestimate how long it takes to do reviews. You need to be conscious of it upfront – if you don’t give feedback, they won’t meet due dates.

They need to know what you have a problem with and why, and you need to do it at the point where the work hasn’t already gone beyond that point.

If you read the script, approve it, then later decide it needs changing, that means that a whole new VO needs recording, along with timeline edits that could potentially ruin the current audio backbone and visuals.

For context, once each of the stages above has been completed, reviewed, and approved in our team, they’re “locked” down.

• Script lock – the script has been and approved, after which no edits can be made and the script goes to the VO artist
• Audio lock – the audio backbone has been approved, after which the audio can’t be rearranged structurally
• Visual lock – the rough cut has been approved, meaning that (aside from minor edits) the visuals have been confirmed, letting the producer confidently produce the final version of the video

This might seem extreme, but it’s a great way to force us to pay attention to the feedback that we give to her and to cut off our perfectionism.

Yes, you can always improve your videos, but at a certain point, the tweaks have to stop if you want to get the thing published.

I’ve mentioned how vital it is to have a centralized place to store your video files. It makes sure that everyone can access what they need without having to ask permission or message the video producer and wait for a response.

The same is true of your video production and review processes.

If anyone (at least, anyone relevant) can jump into your processes to see how things are going and who’s assigned to what, they can get down to work on their items without being confused or waiting for permission.

In other words, everyone including the video producer can get the video ready for review and publish it as soon as humanly possible.

The best way to do this is to document your processes with Process Street .

Process Street lets you create, assign, and manage superpowered checklists to keep your business running on schedule. By documenting your processes in process templates , you can provide all of the information that your team needs to carry out their work.

Single-run checklists can then be run from your process templates to track the progress of an individual instance of that process.

For example, you could have a video content approval template.

This template could give specific instructions, sample files , and more to let the video producer know exactly what they have to do. This eliminates any human error or delays on their part.

As they work through a checklist of that template (let’s say, for a product tutorial video), you can make use of our approvals feature to put in tasks that require them to stop and send off for approval from the relevant person. This person can be automatically assigned, which will put the task in their Process Street inbox and send them an email to let them know about it.

Don’t want to spend the time building a process template from scratch? No worries! We have a library of premade templates that you can import into your account for free. These are all ready-to-use but can be freely edited to suit your needs.

Check out the resources below for more information, free processes, and tips and tricks!

• Video Content Approval Workflow Checklist Template
• Enterprise Video Content Management Checklist
• 20 Free SOP Templates to Make Recording Processes Quick and Painless
• The Complete Guide to Business Process Management
• How to Set Up Always-On Video Conferencing Software For Remote Teams
• How to Create Your First Product Demo Video as a Total Newbie
• Best Video Conferencing App: Skype vs Hangouts vs GoToMeeting vs Zoom vs Join.me vs Appear.in
• The 11 Best Screen Sharing Apps (And How to Use Them)
• 10 Templates to Optimize Creative Workflow Management
• How We Use Free Screencasting Apps To Crush Communication At Our Startup

So what are you waiting for? Sign up for a free trial today and turn your video production into a well-oiled machine.

What do you struggle with in the video creation process? Let us know in the comments below!

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Ben Mulholland

Ben Mulholland is an Editor at Process Street , and winds down with a casual article or two on Mulholland Writing . Find him on Twitter here .

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Giving a Video Critique

by Denise Fenzi | Jul 7, 2014 | Musings | 4 comments

With the advent of  simple video cameras and free Youtube, video review has become a common and popular way to learn more about training dogs.  Rather than relying on words we can show exactly what is happening via short video clips.  Videos make misunderstanding less common and allows the reviewer a much more thorough understanding of the issue under consideration.

Where I see an ongoing challenge is in the abilities of those providing the review to communicate in a way that is palatable, supportive, and attainable by the subject.   Some people seem to come by this ability naturally and others have to learn it.

I do a fair amount of video review; on average I’ll critique about two hundred videos every month, and like most skills which we practice, I’m getting better at it. I put together some guidelines to help my students who also wish to do video review, and I’m sharing them here for anyone else who might find these ideas useful. While I will refer specifically to video review, the same principles apply to most any teacher-student coaching relationship.

I usually watch the entire video first to get an overall impression of what is happening, and then I take a moment to make friends with the person. If you liked the way they hugged their dog at the end then tell them! It helps the “critiquee” feel like a human being rather than a subject.  Never assume that a person will be happy to hear what you have to say, just because they asked for your advice. In all honesty most of us are quite sensitive about our abilities, so if the teacher’s goal is to create change rather than to demonstrate superior knowledge, then take care with the other person. Small things can make a big difference in a student’s willingness to listen to you. I have yet to watch a video where I couldn’t find something positive to say about a team. You do not have to do this in every video with the same person, but I’d suggest it as a starting point when you are first developing a relationship. Once the student knows that you have their best interest at heart then it’s less important.

While watching the video, find the “moments of brilliance” to create your starting point and then identify the deviations from those moments of brilliance.  What would the trainer have to do to “pull” those deviations up to the same standard of excellence? For example, for two seconds in a 60 second video, a dog heeled perfectly because the handler walked with authority and kept their hand in exactly the right position, whereas the rest of the time they induced a lag by looking back over their shoulder. Talk with the handler about what they did in that brilliant two seconds and how they can replicate that. The message the person should hold is “when my shoulders face forward and I move with authority my dog looks lovely!” rather than “don’t look back over your shoulder because you’re causing a lag”.  Concentrate your efforts on pulling the student towards the behaviors you want rather than away from the ones that you don’t want.  By focusing on the moments of success, the person will become aware that they really can do it because they already have!  Mention what is wrong, but spend your energy on what is right.

Limit your areas for improvement to, at most, three skills that need attention, and ignore the rest.  Going on for pages about all of a person’s errors may demonstrate your extensive knowledge but it won’t help the person you are critiquing to improve.  When you provide a laundry list of “areas for improvement,” students often become demoralized and want to give up.  And the reverse is also true, if you liked what you saw from start to finish, then say so. There is no point in digging if you really don’t see anything; instead, let your student “win” and  you can celebrate together!

The point of a critique is to help your student improve so focus on that.  You can demonstrate your more sophisticated skills when a student shows up with a near perfect performance; that’s your chance to identify the most minute details.

Be realistic. It’s obvious to most of us that if a person is on crutches, it’s not helpful to tell them that they need to run more. What is less obvious is that it is equally unrealistic to tell a withdrawn person to get excited and run around with their dog.  Yes, it might help and it might be exactly what you would do, but this person is not you.   Sometimes, the hardest thing for an instructor to do is to come up with clever problem solving approaches that are doable by the student, even if they are not your first choice.  “Try harder” is not a solution. Maybe you can break the pieces down even smaller so that they will want to try.  For example, “At 53 seconds, I saw your dog wag his tail when you smiled at him.  What happens if you clap; does he like that?”  That is concrete advice that a person can try, whereas “be more exciting!” is not.  And sometimes, the best thing is simply to tell the student that you’re stumped.  Instructors are human; it’s ok if you don’t have all of the answers.

I love teaching with video as the primary mode of communication. I find it challenging, rewarding, and occasionally frustrating but also truly gratifying when a student improves their skills and their self confidence at the same time.  Keep in mind that success is often sweeter when the road has been hard, so don’t give up too easily!  

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I’ve been following your free videos and commentaries for awhile now. I am a real beginner, having only put a CD on a dog 24 years ago! Your comments on how to critique a video are spot on. It’s no different than training a dog in a positive manner. The world could use a ton more dog trainers like you, Denise. Thank you. And so sorry for losing Cisu. I lost my sweet boy in April and I know how much it hurts.

Thanks for the reminder! 🙂

Great tutorial Denise – thanks! Do you have a tutorial on how to video oneself while training? (as in training alone, w/o someone to hold the camera for you). Please provide a link to it, or write the tutorial for us?! THANKS!

Not sure how much this will help you, but I wrote up a few ideas for academy students who need to submit videos. You can find it here in the FAQ section of the academy website: http://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/faq

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Video Assignment Tips for Instructors and Students

We don’t need to point out to people that video-based online learning has exploded over the past year and a half. But as a video platform with a strong interest in and application for education, we do like to help people make the most of leading online learning techniques. Video assignments aren’t just for film and media studies students anymore; they’re expanding in use as part of the new ways instructors and students all can relate to one another both in standard classrooms and in an online learning paradigm.

This post will run down some basic concepts regarding the video assignment: what forms it can take, how to get the most out of the assignments, some ideas to try, and an introduction to Kaltura’s educational platform for those who are looking to step up to a high-quality online learning solution.

Intro to Video Assignments and their Increasing Use

Tips for instructors, tips for students, video assignments: 3 examples and ideas, the proper way to do a video assignment.

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Video assignments can be thought of in different ways, but in this case, we’ll define a “video assignment” as “student projects that are fulfilled by creating informative video content.” As we pointed out in the introduction, this does not need to be making a narrative short film for Film & Video Production 101, it can also include highly personalized, even social-media-style video clips that address a problem, question, or topic that an instructor wants students to investigate. Video assignments can be research-intensive, collaborative, and highly engaging class activities that demonstrate a range of skills, knowledge, and communication strategy.

Obviously, with online learning’s recent (and often mandatory) expansion, the class infrastructure for creating and posting videos is also likely to be expanding for many educational organizations. Why not take advantage of it to get students’ creative juices flowing and find compelling ways to communicate relate, even over a physical distance?

Here are a few things that can be helpful to keep in mind when assigning video projects:

• Keep it concise! Unless you’re a film program approving capstone projects, it’s good to keep video projects limited to around 2-5 minutes. If it’s high quality, even a 5-minute video can still take 5-10 hours (or more) to produce.
• That said, give your students plenty of time to complete the project. This might be as much as a few weeks, depending on how labor-intensive the research, shooting, and/or production are likely to be.
• Make sure students send you regular project updates. As an instructor, sometimes the best help you can offer is keeping the students on track.

On the student side:

• Always take advantage of whatever resources your school can offer! Frequently institutions have access to high-quality software, if not hardware, that can improve the quality of your project.
• Planning is everything! While digital video has made it possible to shoot hours and hours of footage taking advantage of low-cost storage, you’ll still have to cut that down to a running time. Things may not always go exactly as planned, but preparation and efficiency will still always go a long way.
• Remember that high-quality audio is important. If social media videos have taught us anything, it’s that mediocre-to-bad quality picture may be forgiven, but if your video is impossible to listen to, forget it.

Here are a few suggestions for different ways students can respond or inform using video content:

Recorded interviews

The staple of mainstream news media and documentaries, an interview could be in-person or virtual; intercut between interviewer and subject as a conversation or laser-focused on the interviewee’s answers. They could be serious, silly, or even fictional. The interview format is familiar to most people and is a direct way to get answers to questions that concern you.

Screencast recording

Think of it as “webinar style”. Present ideas and information step by step in slides, and record the presentation and your additional narration and commentary as it plays out. You can clean up any missteps with an editing tool and even rerecord your voiceover. It beats fumbling with a slide presentation in real-time!

Video tour or demonstration

Students who visit a place of interest to their coursework can use video to share it with the rest of the class, narrating as they go along. Video recording also makes it possible to further edit and annotate facts to make the experience as engaging as possible. Or similarly, a student could film a clip of demonstrating a process, solving a problem, or otherwise “showing, not telling” something relevant to coursework.

Not every classroom is AFI film school, so we won’t say there’s one “right” way to make a video or go on about the correct division of labor between production, post-production, talent, and crew positions. There are numerous scenarios for assignments and different approaches to video creation, and different things will work for different types of classes. However! … there are also still a few basic guidelines that can be followed to good effect in any video project:

Understand the purpose of and intended outcome for the video

In other words, “know what you want to say.” Especially in a short format, keep your video on message and make sure it will fit in the time allotted. You can still create a “script” without turning it into an exercise in formal filmmaking, and that will help clarify the information you want the video to deliver. You can even create a checklist of topics or questions that the assignment is expecting you to address.

Determine your format

This might be decided at the instructor level, but if not, it’s worth some thought. As we suggested above, there are different types of video assignments and different ways they might be tackled.

Have a camcorder? DSLR? Access to a digital cinema camera? That’s one way to do it. Got a great phone or tablet camera? That could work too. Screen recording? If you’re doing a PowerPoint-style presentation, that’s not a bad way to go. Webcam talking head video? Thousands of YouTubers can’t be wrong. The thing is to figure out what will work best for your content, as well as be available to you and uncomplicated enough for you to manage within your deadlines. Depending on the resources available that could be anything from a “Hollywood style” high-production value narrative short to a documentary voiceover captured cleverly via smartphone, so long as it fulfills the criteria of your assignment. Make sure it’s clear what kind of deliverable is expected at the deadline (i.e., “mp4 video posted to our learning portal” or whatever applies).

Set a production timeline, and stick to it

This probably goes for every project, ever. If needed you can also create team documents, shot lists, and more, but create a realistic timeline and get moving, the sooner the better. As discussed below, build in a little space for yourself to make changes or correct mishaps.

Schedule regular team meetings (when applicable)

This also relates to your timeline, but in general, you want to make sure the entire team is engaged and on top of their tasks. While it’s a little less complicated if you only have 2 or 3 team members who are handling the shoot or recording together (and, as the headline suggests, a non-issue if you’re creating and executing the entire project yourself) but if you have teammates who are going to do the majority of their work away from the video shooting/recording like graphic artists, animators, dedicated video editors, or musical composers (note: you don’t have to hire Hans Zimmer, “composing” could be as simple as making a couple of keyboard tracks in GarageBand) then you want to check in and make sure everything is on track.

Reserve some time for finishing and polishing

You might or might not be ingesting your video into professional-grade editing software but remember that you may still want to tweak your content, add titles or effects or voiceover, and do other “postproduction” tasks. Don’t back yourself into a corner where you end up having to do everything the night before the assignment deadline: take a tip from the pros and allocate yourself some time after your initial shoot (for instance several hours over the course of a few days) to review, edit, and do finishing tasks (like rendering, transcoding, or uploading) for your video.

Meet Kaltura Virtual Classroom Platform

When you’re delving into video-based learning, we think the “best in class” option (sorry for the pun) is our Kaltura Virtual Classroom platform. It provides online learning solutions for the modern classroom, designed and tested for 21 st Century virtual learning. Our virtual classroom is built for engagement, and to emulate the ease of communication and info sharing of being together in the same room–for when being physically together may not be your best option.

For ease of use, our tools are browser-based and there’s no installation (on the user side) needed. Whether your focus is online learning, enhanced instruction for a hybrid classroom, virtual office hours, or collaborative learning in a study group there’s something to help you upgrade the experience. We offer top-tier interactive features including HD video playback, collaborative whiteboards, and shared content playlists for video, presentation, files, and more.

For instructors who favor the video assignment, cloud recording and editing tools are available to polish and repurpose your content for maximized engagement. For students, Kaltura also allows you to easily record your computer screen, webcam, and microphone.

Our virtual classroom is also easily integrated into a learning management system (LMS) where students can access content to catch up or review. Video-on-demand libraries of instructor-recorded videos or publicly shared student video responses are also made easier with intelligent search features.

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• Writing well

How to write a critique

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Before you start writing, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the work that will be critiqued.

• Study the work under discussion.
• Make notes on key parts of the work.
• Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being expressed in the work.
• Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.

Example template

There are a variety of ways to structure a critique. You should always check your unit materials or Canvas site for guidance from your lecturer. The following template, which showcases the main features of a critique, is provided as one example.

Introduction

Typically, the introduction is short (less than 10% of the word length) and you should:

• name the work being reviewed as well as the date it was created and the name of the author/creator
• describe the main argument or purpose of the work
• explain the context in which the work was created - this could include the social or political context, the place of the work in a creative or academic tradition, or the relationship between the work and the creator’s life experience
• have a concluding sentence that signposts what your evaluation of the work will be - for instance, it may indicate whether it is a positive, negative, or mixed evaluation.

Briefly summarise the main points and objectively describe how the creator portrays these by using techniques, styles, media, characters or symbols. This summary should not be the focus of the critique and is usually shorter than the critical evaluation.

Critical evaluation

This section should give a systematic and detailed assessment of the different elements of the work, evaluating how well the creator was able to achieve the purpose through these. For example: you would assess the plot structure, characterisation and setting of a novel; an assessment of a painting would look at composition, brush strokes, colour and light; a critique of a research project would look at subject selection, design of the experiment, analysis of data and conclusions.

A critical evaluation does not simply highlight negative impressions. It should deconstruct the work and identify both strengths and weaknesses. It should examine the work and evaluate its success, in light of its purpose.

Examples of key critical questions that could help your assessment include:

• Who is the creator? Is the work presented objectively or subjectively?
• What are the aims of the work? Were the aims achieved?
• What techniques, styles, media were used in the work? Are they effective in portraying the purpose?
• What assumptions underlie the work? Do they affect its validity?
• What types of evidence or persuasion are used? Has evidence been interpreted fairly?
• How is the work structured? Does it favour a particular interpretation or point of view? Is it effective?
• Does the work enhance understanding of key ideas or theories? Does the work engage (or fail to engage) with key concepts or other works in its discipline?

This evaluation is written in formal academic style and logically presented. Group and order your ideas into paragraphs. Start with the broad impressions first and then move into the details of the technical elements. For shorter critiques, you may discuss the strengths of the works, and then the weaknesses. In longer critiques, you may wish to discuss the positive and negative of each key critical question in individual paragraphs.

To support the evaluation, provide evidence from the work itself, such as a quote or example, and you should also cite evidence from related sources. Explain how this evidence supports your evaluation of the work.

This is usually a very brief paragraph, which includes:

• a statement indicating the overall evaluation of the work
• a summary of the key reasons, identified during the critical evaluation, why this evaluation was formed
• in some circumstances, recommendations for improvement on the work may be appropriate.

Reference list

Include all resources cited in your critique. Check with your lecturer/tutor for which referencing style to use.

• Mentioned the name of the work, the date of its creation and the name of the creator?
• Accurately summarised the work being critiqued?
• Mainly focused on the critical evaluation of the work?
• Systematically outlined an evaluation of each element of the work to achieve the overall purpose?
• Used evidence, from the work itself as well as other sources, to back and illustrate my assessment of elements of the work?
• Formed an overall evaluation of the work, based on critical reading?
• Used a well structured introduction, body and conclusion?
• Used correct grammar, spelling and punctuation; clear presentation; and appropriate referencing style?

Further information

• University of New South Wales: Writing a Critical Review
• University of Toronto: The Book Review or Article Critique

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Uploaded by John Hauser on September 3, 2024

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It is written: Mystic reaches new culinary Milestone

It can be dangerous inviting two professional writers and a just-retired teacher along on a restaurant review assignment — particularly when I solicited written opinions on their impressions of the outing. I mean, they can WRITE.

But that’s what happened last week when I targeted Milestone Mystic for evaluation.

The restaurant, which was opened last November by Pete and Andi Fine, is a separate, across-the-state sibling entity of their long-popular Milestone Georgetown. It’s also the happy result of the couple’s appreciation for Mystic in general. The Fines started out visiting friends in Mystic a few years back and eventually decided to open Milestone Mystic and purchase a home in the area.

The result?

Welcome to the neighborhood!

And good for us. Simply put: In a tourist town full of fine culinary destinations — including dueling James Beard-ian chefs — Milestone Mystic is terrific.

Perhaps it’s so terrific that it exceeds my feeble capacity to describe the experience. I mean, I’ve been doing this a long time, and I thought I had it down. In fact, I’d already started writing when my requested analyses started popping up in my email box.

RICK: “Milestone is durn purty. Why, one wall has a mural of shiny, bright colors! And the roof is WAY up there! I think at one time or another there mighta been an Asian food joint here.”

PRO WRITER #1: “Built in the oft-repurposed shell of what was once a part of the Reliance Machine Company complex, Milestone Restaurant takes advantage of the lofted wood beam ceilings to create an expansive, welcoming space with pleasant amber lighting.”

And the ambience as it related to the menu:

RICK: “Peter Fine worked at Tipitina’s in New Orleans and I guess he mighta ‘borrowed’ some posters from the place. There are framed images of the Meters and Professor Longhair, but I didn’t see any gumbo on the menu. How’s that make sense?! Maybe the ‘live entertainment’ band would at least play ‘Yellow Moon.’ Nope.”

PRO WRITER #2: “There’s a lengthy bar and vintage posters advertising the Meters and Professor Longhair, but don’t be misled by the slight New Orleans-themed touches; the food on offer is predominantly standard New England pub fare, albeit with modern twists. On this night, the entertainment is also standard New England fare, with a competent duo belting out rock radio standards from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s — a shadow crossed Longhair’s smiling face when the table ahead of him began braying for “Salt! Salt! Salt!” during the most repeated (and most obnoxious) AM radio standard of the night, ‘Margaritaville.’”

That’s enough! I’m not unwilling to share some credit, but I’m not gonna be outshined for an entire review.

RETIRED SCHOOLTEACHER: “I think that’s a triple-negative, Rick.”

A pleasant place to be

Milestone is in fact a lovely spot, with comfort and décor such that the most casual diners fit alongside the more formal “big night out” folks. There’s an industrial feel with painted brick and polished wooden floors; a handsome bar area that parallels a dining section with high back booths, suspended light globes and tall windows overlooking Water Street; and a space with lounge seating that doubles as a stage (live music a few nights a week). Out back — which also serves as the restaurant entrance; you’ll figure it out — is a handsome covered deck with a separate bar.

Brunch is available on Sunday, and Milestone is open for lunch Friday and Saturday. At dinner, there are several options in the following categories: Small Plates, Salads, Burgers, Pies (red and white pizzas), Plates and Sides.

Every dish a winner

We split two Small Plates, the Good Beets ($12) and Fresh Fish Bites ($18). Regarding the former: all four of us love beets. That’s arguably a mathematical impossibility. But we were rewarded in a big way. The presentation included large dices of red and golden beets in a port balsamic and citrus honey glaze with herbed ricotta and basil oil pistachio crumble. There were just the right proportions of each element, and each bite of cool beet segment seemed to offer a subtly distinct twist.

If there’s any complaint, it’s that it would be helpful to have a serving utensil to place them on individual plates. We had to try to skewer a beet or scrape them onto our individual plates with knives in order to avoid using our own forks.

There was a generous abundance of fried cod bites, some of which seemed to be the size of ping pong balls. The breading was light and served as an accent to the tasty cod therein. The house-made tartar sauce had a playful dill component, and the bed of fries underneath weren’t just afterthoughts or decorative – they were stars unto themselves.

For the main courses, we sampled widely.

A Good Bowl ($16) was declared to be a VERY good bowl, and it was refreshing to find a vegetarian dish so thoughtfully crafted. The al dente quinoa base was topped with a pie chart design of toasted pepitas, thinly sliced radish, diced creamy sweet potato, avocado and pickled red onion — and on top of THAT was cilantro and a vinaigrette that tartly infused miso, tahini and lemon. A light but genuinely satisfying entrée.

The Popeye ($19) was a white pizza including spinach, pancetta and garlic. The cheesy crust was flavorful, and the trio of ingredients comingled politely. In a region inundated with great pizza, The Popeye was at least competitive.

We tried the Backyard Burger ($23), with a necessarily sturdy bun housing two thick patties, oversized and crispy bacon, tart slaw, sharp cheddar, a barbecue sauce that, for once, got the point across without overkill, and crackly frizzled onions. Outstanding — and more of the addictive fries.

From the Plates section, which also boasts respective variations on meatballs (called “Balls”), hangar steak, shrimp, pork chops and a half-chicken, we opted for Pan Roasted Salmon ($30). The brick-like cut of fresh fish was seared with a sorcerer’s mixture of black lentils, blood orange beurre blanc and coriander — and the moist salmon was superbly contrasted with the crispy exterior. For added taste contrast, it was reverentially laid across a colorful salad of corn, scallions and celery.

Dessert? Sometime soon, we hope. But we were full and happy. It’s worth noting there are plenty of drink specials, a nice wine list and craft beers a-plenty.

It’s also worth noting that our server, “Emily Z,” was a thoughtful and efficient representative for the whole restaurant.

Milestone Mystic

12 Water St., Mystic

(860) 980-8787, milestonect.com

Cuisine: Upscale New England pub fare with plenty of fresh twists

Atmosphere: A very pretty place where the impact is to feel comfortable rather than formal

Handicapped access: You have to enter the restaurant down a side alley onto the outdoor deck; it’s otherwise very roomy

Reservations: Not a bad idea on weekends

Prices: Reasonable, particularly for the size and quality of the servings

Service: Excellent

Credit cards: Yes

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