Laura Kinney's Video Portrait

I'm reviewing Laura Kinney's video, which can be found here:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qftTMEtV0o0

Laura, one of the main things that struck me about your video portrait was the camera work.  There were a couple of spots that the camera was a little shaky, but it took me watching it several times to really notice for the most part.  I thought the clips looked great with some really nice shots that told a story.  She also had some nice effects in there that make me want to revisit my video and maybe do something similar.  All in all, I thought it looked pretty professional.

I wasn't sure what you were trying to highlight or get across with the shot of the birds on the wire.  It is a nice shot, although you might want to use the warp stabilizer on it, but it just didn't seem to fit with your story.  You might consider taking that out and replacing it with something a little more on point with your message.   

My biggest issue with the video is the music.  The music itself is great and I think it fits perfectly, but it's way too loud.  I had a hard time hearing what you had to say, which is a real shame, because I liked what you had to say.  I would suggest taking that music down to below your speaking.  I'm not sure which program you used, but if you used Adobe Premiere, watch Chapter 7 again on the Shapiro tutorial to find out how to bring the music up during the non-speaking parts and to bring it down during the speaking parts.  The credit panel is far too short, too.  If you blink you miss it.  Believe me, I understand having to try to edit something down to fit the allotted time frame, but there are some places you could either cut completely--like the birds--or just cut down a second or two that will give you some extra time to let us read your credits. As is, I'd have to pause it to be able to see who did the piece.  Actually, I'm not sure I could pause it fast enough.  It's a nice piece; you should be proud of it.  Let people know YOU did it!

I wonder if there is a way you could re-purpose this video as a video resume.  You would need to change it up a bit, take out the shots of the tattoos because many companies don't mind tattoos, but I don't think you would want to highlight them.  Take out the birds. I think it could make you stand out in a sea of other job hunters.  I like the idea so much, I may just try that myself. 

Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it, consider taking out the birds.  I really hate those birds because they pull me out of your story and that is not something you want to do.  Otherwise, Laura, I thought you did a really good job on your video portrait.