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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Basketball player dies on court after scoring winning basket
Eric Seals, Photographer
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Detroit | MI | United States | Posted: 4:18 PM on 03.20.11 |
->> Hi,
During this month of March Madness I worked on a video about basketball, life and death that I wanted to share;
http://tinyurl.com/A-Death-in-Fennville
The story is about Wes Leonard from Fennville, Michigan, a small town, who died two weeks ago of a heart attack after scoring the winning basket in OT.
My newspaper, the Detroit Free Press sent me there recently and I spent 5 days shooting, going to the teams playoff games and interviewing various people on the team and in town about Wes, the community and the bond they all share.
It was an Intense, emotional and challenging story to shoot and edit. I hope you'll check it out :-) --> http://tinyurl.com/A-Death-in-Fennville
"The small town of Fennville, Michigan made national news in a tragic way. High school basketball star Wes Leonard died of a heart attack on the court after making the winning shot that sent the team to the playoffs.
The community has a strong bond which helped them get through his death. With the blessing of his parents, the team played in the playoffs & lost but still came out winners in dealing with an event like this."
ERIC SEALS/Detroit Free Press |
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Paul Hayes, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Littleton | NH | USA | Posted: 4:52 PM on 03.20.11 |
| ->> I thought that was pretty fantastic. Well done. |
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Paul Hayes, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Littleton | NH | USA | Posted: 4:56 PM on 03.20.11 |
| ->> btw what audio/video equipment and video editing software did you use? |
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Eric Seals, Photographer
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Detroit | MI | United States | Posted: 6:19 PM on 03.20.11 |
->> Hi Paul,
Thanks for checking it out.
I shooting with a Panasonic hvx200
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/696066-REG/Panasonic_AG_HVX200APS_AG_...
The Pano is a really good HD camera that has 2 xlr ports, easy to use which allows me to focus on the important thing, the story. I have two GoPro's and two Canon 5D's that I use in some of my pieces at times but just for b-roll and details. For me the 5D has more cons than pros and I much prefer my Pano.
I use Sennheiser lavs and shotguns and I edit with Final Cut 7
Take care
Eric |
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Mike Janes, Photographer
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Attica | NY | USA | Posted: 6:29 PM on 03.20.11 |
| ->> Very nicely put together Eric. |
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Eric Seals, Photographer
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Detroit | MI | United States | Posted: 12:14 AM on 03.21.11 |
| ->> Cool thanks Mike :-) |
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Mike Simons, Photographer
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Tulsa | Ok | | Posted: 9:24 AM on 03.21.11 |
->> Incredible!
I love that you just let it breathe. I wish more people would/could do that. |
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Richard Wolowicz, Photographer
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Montreal | QC | Canada | Posted: 10:32 AM on 03.21.11 |
| ->> Loved it ... great piece Eric. |
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Matt Strasen, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Plano | TX | USA | Posted: 1:07 PM on 03.21.11 |
| ->> Pretty awesome...thanks for sharing |
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James Gregg, Photographer
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San Diego | CA | USA | Posted: 1:31 PM on 03.21.11 |
| ->> Great work on this Eric. I'm impressed that you were able to pull off such a difficult story both emotionally and logistically and to do it all on your own. I'm sure that folks at your paper would have been thrilled with something much more basic, but you really added value by finding ways to get those voices, the coach, parents, other players, etc.. to give a very intimate look. Glad you did. How is the response so far? |
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Nick Turchiaro, Photographer
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Brampton | Ontario | Canada | Posted: 1:45 PM on 03.21.11 |
->> It brought tears to my eyes.
Very very touching!....my prayers to the family.
Thanks for sharing. |
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Eric Seals, Photographer
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Detroit | MI | United States | Posted: 2:07 PM on 03.21.11 |
->> Thanks for watching it :-)
The reaction James has been great. Thousands of views and looking at the metrics, the amount of time people spent watching the piece, it is cool to see that most people stuck with the video all the way through even if it is a 7 minute piece.
For the most part 1:30 to 2 minutes is about all most people can take in a video (if that) but with this, 74% were watching it half way through, 61% watched it 3/4th of the way through and 54% finished the whole 7 minutes. Not bad for the attention span of the average viewer of newspaper video online these days.
Hopefully that goes to show that with a compelling story line that grabs you with emotion, impact, strong visuals, good audio and a good edit viewers will watch and perhaps share it with others.
There are a lot of naysayers out there about newspaper video on the web with the "yeah, but how many people actually watch it?" kind of attitude but for me I find that video storytelling can be a powerful tool that we can have in our bag besides the still image that we still love to do. Each medium has its place and time.
It all depends on the story we want to tell and how much time we want to invest in shooting and editing it into something that with our best efforts, strikes a cord in people.
That's my 2 cents :-)
Thanks again
Eric |
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Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Colora | MD | USA | Posted: 4:06 PM on 03.21.11 |
->> As we discussed Eric, good storytelling is good storytelling. You did a great job getting people, not just close, but inside this situation to open up to you. If ever there is a testament to your ability as a photojournalist, it is getting people to do just that - be genuine.
Well done. |
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Scott Schupbach, Photographer
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Fenton | MI | U.S.A. | Posted: 9:09 PM on 03.21.11 |
| ->> Thanks for sharing Eric, nicely done ! |
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Andrew Knapik, Photographer, Assistant
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Lincoln Park | MI | USA | Posted: 10:20 PM on 03.21.11 |
| ->> Eric, a great piece of work there. Very nicely done. |
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Eric Seals, Photographer
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Detroit | MI | United States | Posted: 8:22 AM on 03.22.11 |
->> Thanks!
It's scary, Wes was in perfect health and it was just bizarre and sad with all the circumstances of him dying; on the court after making the winning basket in OT, keeping his team undefeated for the season and going into the playoffs.
I wonder if high school physicals need to go further in detecting enlarged hearts?? His younger brother in the piece, Mitchell was throughly checked out after Wes died and has a clean bill of health.
Eric |
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