A Year at War is a series of videos and pictures that document the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division, deployment Journey from March 2010 to March 2011.

What grabbed me the most in this video is the start: the lead is important, always important, because if you’re capable of grabbing your viewers’ attention from the beginning, then there is a strong chance they will keep watching or reading.

The video opens with still photographs of soldiers and the sound of their voices. There is no voiceover narration until 00:43. Another thing that I believe we all can learn from as we work on our personality story is the interview. Take the part at 1:02 for example, your eyes are immediately focusing on the subject, because there are no background distractions.

The series of photographs between 2:40 to 3:05 were impactful, simply because I was capable of seeing what was being said, also I was capable of noticing emotions, especially at 3:18.

A few videography shots that really stood out for me and I think we can all learn from were:

• 3:52 – I loved how the camera grasped the emotions of the two individuals while everything else was out of focus, it was also well framed.
• 5:33 Again, the framing was well done and the subjects walked into frame and out of frame, which created a smooth and natural transition.
• 6:09-6:16 shots reminded me of Wes’s examples on the blog of the different shooting techniques, over-the-shoulder and a creative shot!
• 7:08 to me seemed like an artistic and a creative shot simply by having one of the soldiers in focus while the other two out of focus.
• 7:24 a shot that made me tense and wonder what the soldier was thinking about at that moment. I’m not sure what the lighting technique was, but the little shadow and light against his face added a dramatic effect to the video.

All in all, as a viewer, you’re capable of witnessing emotions through the videos and the pictures, the narrative is also short and simple, the ambient sound is such great addition to the story, throughout the series and the lightning in both the video and the pictures seems to add an emotional and intense effect.

If you’d like to see more of this series click here.