Oriana, your report is dynamic, well paced, compelling and fun to watch. It features terrific use of natural sound, that pulls us right into the story.

And interviewing that guy while his head was being shaved – super! No do-over possible there! But that invites a question with the following section about female plebes. Do the women get to keep their hair?

That leads to my one over-arching question about your report. What exactly is the Merchant Marine? The Academy might be something our viewers could aspire to – if they knew what it was. Your report indicates the plebes are serving their country, and told us about how they could wind up on a ship or transition into the other services. But we never really hear what the Merchant Marine itself is. It doesn’t help that one of the plebes you interviewed says he has always liked flying. Whoa, aren’t we talking about a maritime service, here? That soundbite is like an iceberg floating in the water; it sorta sinks your otherwise beautiful report.

The camera work and editing are really super. So is your delivery and on camera presence. It’s not easy to deliver a standup as the action of your story is taking place behind you – so extra points for that! Part of your face was in shadow, though. When you’re doing outdoor standups on the fly, if it’s sunny out, try to feel the sunlight on both sides of your face – that way you help your camera operator help you look your best.

By the way, when submitting a story that might be used any time – an “evergreen” – avoid using words like “today,” as that’s not when we’re seeing it.

The mix of elements is very good. We hear from recruits, and the Commander. With one or two sentences about the history and purpose of the Merchant Marines – your report would be ship-shape! Your score reflects all the positives: we gave you 142 out of 160 points, for 89 percent.

Thanks for sending us a fascinating story!

You can read your evaluation form here.

Read the Student Evaluation Explanation for more information on how we score Training Reels.