Hurricane Sandy is commonly found in the news as of late so what better story to critique than, On the Road: Sandy strengthens father-son bond for survivor. CBS is obviously a difficult station to be negative about because of their high level of professionalism. I did enjoy this story a lot though because of its emotional impact so I decided to critique it anyways.
I agree that doing a video for this Mike Iann’s story was the right choice because of the impact that can be shown through video. Iann’s house was destroyed and there were still high levels of water in the surrounding area. Also, showing the emotions between the father and son gave the story a lot more depth.
The video was shot very well. There were a variety of shots, some of the actual damage done to the house and others to portray the emotional aspects of the story. The cameraman often panned over the scene like we talked about in class, (November 8, 2012) to give the viewer an idea of the destruction. There was also a time where the cameraman was walking along side of the subject and he kept the camera very even, which is hard to do.
It was smart of reporter, Steve Hartman, to hold the interviews in a quiet, indoor area. Due to this, the audience is able to hear every word the men are saying. Also, the crew did a good job with the distance they put between the people they were interviewing and the camera or microphone, whichever they used. Their voices were very clear and audible.
The narration that is in the video is timed very well. Though the narrator tells the story behind the video, the men also have the chance to tell their version. The narration is broken up by pieces of interviews and is also complementary to the story.
If I had the equipment and the experience, I would not have done this story much differently myself. Overall, another fantastic video story done by CBS.
angelena59 
The shots in this video were most influential when they were describing his story along with the pictures of the house. I didn’t like that they filmed him sitting on the bed looking mopey; the story was sad enough already. Also, that was THE corniest ending to a news story I’ve ever heard (“Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could live like they almost died?” #terrible #nextplease).
Overall, it was a pretty good video. Companies like CBS normally do a good job with these kinds of stories.