Video Critique Number 1

http://vimeo.com/11480712

September 3, 2010

Title: Reservoir Dogs

This piece lasts for a good length of time, finishing at exactly 51 seconds. The subject matter centers on two men fighting over what color they want to be called at work and why some colors are more popular/better than others. Ultimately one of the guys is stuck with the name “Mr. Pink.” The concept is original and entertaining, the point is conveyed successfully, and overall there is a nice flow in pacing and transitions (not too choppy). The project is decently crafted without any typos (but there are small problems that ought to be addressed as mentioned below), and there are several dramatic zooms to keep the viewer’s interest.  The hierarchy is also successful because the typefaces and sizes chosen are legible and easy to follow (variety too). The pacing is slow enough for the viewer to be able to read all the text, but fast enough to make thoughts follow each other like in an actual conversation (good TSS). In fact, the pauses the artist has added into the presentation help create the casual, conversational tone. The artist didn’t resort to much see and say by utilizing a tie to represent different men rather than showing people in business suits. The typography is constructed and deconstructed in an appropriate manner also making the video fun to watch. Nevertheless, there are things to improve on including:

·       At 0:07 the narrator calls each tie by color name except for the yellow one, which he calls Mr. Blonde. There is a disconnect as to why the narrator doesn’t just say “Mr. Yellow” to keep things consistent.

·       At 0:18 seconds, the type between the big bold “A” is neither vertically centered or aligned with the A’s baseline (need some more attention to detail here).

·       At 0:23 there should be a change in type size, font, or color to separate the phrase “…Tried it once it doesn’t work” from “You got 4 guys…” because right now the two read together creating confusion.

·       At 0:26 – 0:29, when talking about “Mr. Black,” I think there are other visual ways to show the words interacting with each other that would be more visually compelling than simply circling around on screen.

·       Between 0:38 and 0:41 there is a very distracting and arbitrary brown dot scrolling across the screen. The dot appears to be a decorative element and doesn’t seem to fit in as part of the artist’s concept. The dot should just be removed.

·       At 0:40 there is an awkward space between the period after “Mr.” and the P in the word “Pink” as well as the period after “Mr.” and the P in the word “Pussy”. The extra white spaces should be tightened by tweaking the kerning.

·       At 0:51 “Mr. Purple” hangs off the left vertical axis of the “Y” instead of aligning to the right, which would look better (should take the spot the “is” is currently resting at). And once again there is an awkward space between “Mr.” and “Pink” that should be altered with tighter kerning.