Another Tape Review

[MN News]

I know a lot of people post a link to their tapes, and for the most part, posters do a great job of responding with constructive criticism. For those of us trying to break into this business, that is certainly appreciated.

With that said, I'm posting my first draft of a sports resume tape. If you want to watch, please do. If you don't, that's fine as well. If you wish to provide constructive criticism, I'll gladly accept it and work on those points.

Thanks in advance.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4597236988121346270

I should mention that everything is either from stuff I've done at school, or during an internship I had this summer.

[anchormanNEPA]

You *will* get a job with this tape. Loose the Minnesoooota accent.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Tape looks really good for someone with such little experience. Sports gigs are really tough to get right now...but that tape should stand out, at least in a place wanting to pay you based on experience. Glass half full? It will get you a paying gig where you can work out some of the weaknesses.
My thoughts on weaknesses? The accent could limit you....but if you want to live in that area....I can't see it being a problem.
You are way ahead of your game....but expect ND's to like your inexperience(on paper) because they can easily use that against you when bargaining.
Good luck.:thumbsup:

[that's life]

god knows I should be constructively critiquing myself but I notice the same things in my tape.

First off- the good...
-Good thinking on your feet in some of your montages. I kind of want to see more of that?
-Good sound bites; obviously you know what the bad ones are and I don't but they all seemed to fit well.
-Good speaking; one of the problems I see (hear) a lot (even in myslef) is that people sound like they're reading... I didn't really feel that way watching your pieces.

Now the criticism...
-Did you shoot the video yourself? Some shots were shaky and repetitive. And in some places I could tell you were on auto-focus. Overall, a good job on the video but some places were just shaky and repetitive.
-Some of the video didn't match your story too well. The one I remember off the top is when you said, "with the Vikings" and there's a shot of a camera. I'm being picky here but it's just something to keep in mind to get to that next level.
-Mostly in your Vikings story, personally I think you cut some of the clips TOO tight. When using Back 2 back clips, cut them tight, but not too tight where it sounds like its all one player. Let them finish the word they're saying- you might need to use frame by frame on that.
-Finally----- ***** most noticable and important!!!!!!!
------SMILE a little! Sports is happy :-) unless you're a 49ers fan.

Again, great piece- it *should get you a job. Just added this stuff to give you some feedback on what you could work on in the mean-time. You can never be over-analyzed.

[FrontierMan]

I think your tape is fine. You look like an athelete, which is something some NDs like to see in sports people. The MN accent does stand out, but I've seen fairly successful reporters with those accents, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just be concious of it and try to tone it down.

It's a pretty standard tape for a first-timer, but I think your tape is MUCH better than a lot of other stuff I've seen from people working longer than you. Sports gigs or any gig in news is very hard to find these days. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I'd make a second tape with some news stuff as well. You need to broaden what you can do and prove to NDs that you're versatile, especially with the way the business is headed.

Shots are shaky, it is pretty amateurish overall and you could be a bit more clever with your your writing, but I think that tape is good enough to send out. I think you could find a job with it, and I'll stress it again: Your tape is leaps and bounds better than many others I've seen snag jobs.

Best of luck to you, but PLEASE THINK OF GOING INTO ANOTHER PROFESSION! THINK LONG AND HARD ABOUT WHETHER THIS BIZ IS FOR YOU. Otherwise, have fun living the dream working in TV. :)

[MN News]

Thanks for the responses so far. As many of you have stated, there are shaky shots. When I watch that racing story, I'm a bit torn. I realize the shooting isn't great. However, I like the story in that it's not your everyday PKG (ie: baseball player, Vikings training camp, etc). I wanted that in there to show something relatively unique. This begs the question; keep it there and risk judgment of shooting, or replace it with a PKG that was shot much better, despite being your everyday story.

Further, I do have a news/sports combo tape already made. It's not where I'd like for it to be yet, but I'm still working on some news stuff to add. I'm actually very open to news jobs as well, I'm just not in the process of applying yet due to lack of material.

I graduate in December, so I've sent this version of a sports tape out. I wanted to post here to see if there are glaring weaknesses I should change. As time progresses, I'll be looking into news jobs quite seriously.

[newsandwx]

Overall, good tape. You should be fine. Here are somethings to think about...

By reading your posts, I get the feeling you think the racing pkg is unique? It isn't. Sure it is a sport that isn't covered everday, but it is the same typical sports package...a star in the the local scene racing, loving his fans, yadda yadda.

You have a nice voice, but your track is sing songy...You fall into the same voice inflection in almost every track...listen, you will see the pattern. ex: waaah wah waaah wah...wah wah wah waaaaah.

Your montage is static...you don't even move in your standups. Show me something... Also, you have two peices of vid back to back vikings/twins same shot, different day...it's a bad jump cut. I know it's a montage, but still a little jarring.

Ok, so did these packages air? I did not see any cgs (fonts) in your first pkg? If this was done at your internship, did you write this all by yourself? I would just find a way to make sure it is known that you wrote your stuff...as an entry level sports guy you better know how to shoot, edit, and report in addition to sports.

Appearance is fine...accent is not bad at all...

Good luck!

[John M.]

You have decent camera presence for someone your age. The accent didn't bother me.

There was nothing on this tape that shows you can appeal to anyone outside the hard-core sports audience. There was also nothing on the tape that would tell me as a sports fan that I needed to watch you instead of someone on any of the other channels.

Why should I watch you instead of someone else? Your tape has to answer that question.

Don't think you have to include stories about pro sports thinking that they will impress anyone. Anyone can stick a mic into a gang-bang or tap into podium sound. Another problem with telling pro sports news is that it makes your tape look dated. It will be much more obvious to someone watching your tape that Tavarus Jackson is no longer a big part of the Vikings' offense than it would be to know that a feature about a high school player is five years old.

The yellow shorts do not go well with the suit jacket.

[MN News]

I get the feeling you think the racing pkg is unique? It isn't. Sure it is a sport that isn't covered everday, but it is the same typical sports package...

It isn't so much that I think it is unique, but I wanted to show I understand the need to cover sports outside of the norm, as will be the case in whatever small market I wind up in. I'm not sure how important this is. Could it be conveyed solely in a cover letter instead?

Believe me, I'd be the first to acknowledge that just about anyone can do that story.

Do you think I'd be better suited with a mainstream sport feature, ie; amateur baseball player...with better shooting?

Thanks for the comments guys!