After viewing two videos from the Toronto Star, all I can say is whew! Not to say that the paper’s videography isn’t good, but it’s definitely something I’m capable of doing, which, up until now, has been a slight concern of mine.
However, let’s take a peek at this videos. First, there’s “Clean, safe and sterile at Toronto General.” As a health reporter, I initially got excited about this video, but I’ve got mixed reviews after viewing it. On a positive note, I thought the video gave very clear, meaningful and educational shots about the plant at the hospital that sterilizes hospital equipment and surgical tools. The narrative matched the shots and informed the viewer of what they were viewing and what the purpose of what they were viewing was.
However, the video didn’t tell a story. It almost did, and it had the potential to, but it didn’t quite achieve the story telling element. I wanted them to get close to a human. The only human they interviewed was the director, and he didn’t really contribute to the story. There was also very little footage of a human working equipment through the process, so there was very little footage of the tools working through the process. I think that arc of story, from bloody surgical weapon to clean and sterile surgical weapon, would have helped the story-telling approach, but they didn’t take it.
I also watched “Storm hammers Toronto.” This little slice of life about what happens when the greater Toronto area is hit by a big snowstorm included a lot of people’s voices and faces, and I liked that. It gave a true feel of the what the city – made up of different kinds of people - was experiencing.
However, it, also, didn’t tell a story. It was a postman talking, a businessman talking, a pedestrian talking, etc. They used a narrative to transition between citizens and explain the snow storm, but the images and the voices didn’t flow through an arc of story. They hopped from voice to voice, stringing together video clips in no cohesive story pattern.
I, too, think there were some very fascinating story options that could have been pursued for this video. I was kind of fascinated by the surgical saw they showed and, when they were wrapping it all up in cloth, I thought, ooooh, that would have been a great ‘character’ for the video. It’s more interesting and complex than just a scalpel or something, and showing all the things they have to do to clean that saw without damaging it would have been quite interesting.
Comment by ammermle — February 14, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
Umm, the video I was referring to, obviously, would be the ‘Clean, safe and sterile at Toronto General’ video.
Comment by ammermle — February 14, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
[...] Brittany: 2 from the Toronto Star [...]
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