The LXBD

[fuzzymuffin]

So, the LXD (The Legion of X-traordinary Dancers) is a web series you can buy on itunes. I'm on this course at the moment and was asked to critique the series.
Its all about real life superheroes... dancers.
The team of dancers fight some mean dancers and everything is told through dance and a narration at the beginning by a guy with a husky voice.

So, me and my fellow students decided to respond to this web series in the most appropriate manner, through the power of Dance.

So, crit our crit? :p

[Midnight Blue]

Not really like your usual work. I supose I would have to be interested enough to look at the Dancing heros stuff to really get the parody.

[fuzzymuffin]

Not really like your usual work. I supose I would have to be interested enough to look at the Dancing heros stuff to really get the parody.

As in better quality, crapper concept, same quality, different style of edit/shooting..?
Ultimately it was a collaboration so it will inevitable look and feel different, but for better or worse?

I admit though you do need some sort of insight into what it is we were trying to achieve with a parody, all I can do there though is to link it and hope, which I have.

[Midnight Blue]

I can only judge it on the filming as I don't understand the narrative. It's not as good as your usual quality. The lighting at the beginning was it deliberately poor. The framing of the shots seems to have no thought, ie centre someone in the frame and make sure the shot is wobbly. The exposure seems dark and the focus is off. It's just not up to the standard I've come to expect of you BUT like I said a lot of this may be due to the parody aspect so it's hard for me to tell.

[TimStannard]

If Midnight's crit comes across as harsh, it's only in comparison to the quite frankly much better work we've seen from you solo. Overall I didn't find the photography that bad - apart from the out of focus shots.

What I did find was it was one fo the most disappointing films I've ever seen. It started OK - the voice was good, it was amuusing as the guy looked so serious, then we had the punchline about bad dancing and the silly league name, then we got some rather predictable bad dancing and not even funny and then some more predicatble and not evebn funny bad dancing and then it just petered out.

What didn't you like about the lighting, Midnight? I thought the opening was good but perhaps lost it a bit when we went to a wider shot and could see the background.

[Midnight Blue]

Sorry if that was harsh. I sometimes don't realise when I'm doing it.

Tim. When the camera pulls out at 0:22. It just didn't look right to me.

[TimStannard]

Tim. When the camera pulls out at 0:22. It just didn't look right to me.

Thanks Midnight - that's exactly the point I meant when I said "we went to a wider shot and could see the background". Again i find myself in agreement with you.

[fuzzymuffin]

Awesome, thanks guys

Its a fair crit.
The footage at the top has a vignette over it which would be the focus you've mentioned, the dark lighting at the top was intentional.
A lot of your comments do ring true, this entire piece was shot in 30minutes for external and 15minutes for the intro and the edit was about 2hours, most of which was converting the footage. Nothing was rehearsed or planned out collectively and it was all a bit impromptu.

Its been shot with a very blinkered attitude, its entertaining for those 'in the know' and with personal attachments to the individuals.
Yet its always good to hear an outsiders view and be able to work with your comments in mind on the next video. The fact that it hasn't gone down as well here will give the group and myself a pause for thought and encourage more preparation and work on a story line before we go and shoot