Anne provides us with this link to a multimedia feature produced by an honors student at the UM journalism school called "Empty Justice: Crime on Montana's Reservations."
In Anne's words:
I was immediately drawn in by the sounds and text in the first shot, and I thought the young father who spoke on camera next was really compelling. I also thought it was interesting how this piece mixes audio, video, still shots, and text. Ultimately, jumping back and forth between these different techniques was distracting to me personally, and I'm curious what others think. Would it have been better to choose just several formats and stick to them throughout the piece, or did this eclectic format work for others?
(To clarify, Anne's commenting on the video about the Blackfeet. There appear to be similar videos for all of the groups and tribes listed in the navigation bar at the top of the site.)
Michael Becker has been blogging about academia, digital culture and journalism since 2005. He is the Web editor of the
One Comment
I actually found quite a few things to say about this video. First of all, I liked the interview scenes, especially the one with the former policeman. I thought that in the second time we see him, the closeup of his face was really good.
I have to agree about the still photography. In the middle of a piece that’s been entirely video, the stills were jolting and out of place. I can understand that maybe they couldn’t shoot video that day or that perhaps the video wasn’t compelling enough, but I still think including the stills through off the rhythm of the piece.
Now for the titles, the onscreen text... Too many! I didn’t remember much of that information after watching. I remembered the stuff that the people on camera told me, but the text flew by, seeming unimportant. Plus, the way the filmmaker tried to punctuate using the text on a black background almost parodied the somber mood I think he was going for.
Any why is the drummer talking at the end? He doesn’t have much of a connection to the story, and if he does, it wasn’t fleshed out enough for me to want to hear him speak. Better, I think, would have been to just let him play and note him in the end credits.
In all, good length. Good subject matter but the onscreen titles were a crutch for the storyteller here.