Please be brutally honest.
Prefacing this with:
There is a lot of good in this, as well. I'm just going extra-heavy on what I perceive as the "bad", in light of Mr CootDog's desire to hear about (and improve on) the bits which may need some more work. (So don't have Carlos shoot me when he gets back from Iraq)
It's a fantastic improvement on the last one, btw, Mr CootDog. Now here we go!
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Cover up more of the cuts. I think you made them to make the audio move faster (which is good), but since the video doesn't change you can easily see the jumps in cut footage. If you only have one or two, you can cover them up with that "white flash" effect that you see on single-camera interviews... if there are many, keep that audio going but cover up those cuts with another video source to look at.
You need more stills or footage to overlay.. At least one of those pics you used was repeated. If that's all the pics that Carlos had to use (or if the rest were not suitable), hit up .gov websites. They will have a tonne of hi-res images that you can use, and since they are paid for by Uncle Sam they are free. (Mostly, that is. A few exceptions, but each .gov site will have a generic copyright page that explains it) There is a tonne of great imagery to be nicked from those. (The Navy has a bunch of neato submarine ones
)
That will be especially handy when rattling off all that equipment, as Carlos does. You should be able to find hi-res images of all of those easily.
Nice try with the lava. Gets the point across... just doesn't work. Get some pics/footage of hazy, shimmery, heat-waving hot places... that look more like the Middle-East than a South Pacific volcano at night. Make a montage of them, if you have to.
Keep things moving. Especially with the stills. You try it later in the flick, I see.... apply it more often. Even if it's a very slow pan from left to right, or a very slow zoom inwards. This is also why hi-res piccies are important source material... you have much less degradation when zooming in, or you can start zoomed in and pan. (Leaves lots of room off to the sides, for that)
At 0:02:11 you do a voiceover, explaining what you are about to ask Carlos. During this 5 secs or so of VO, Carlos is seen talking about something, with his audio switched off. That's just annoying, especially as he has an unexplained cut. Cover it up.
At 0:03:51 (and a few other spots, including 0:04:15) you have overlays covering up a layer beneath... but it doesn't match. Sometimes in size, sometimes in alignment. In this particular part of the timeline, you can plainly see, at the top and bottom of the screen, the video you have covered up. (On the other hand, it was a nice slow upwards zoom).
The last clip where Carlos does his "Am I scarred for life?" quote (and the followup answer) might be audio-only. It's just really odd seeing him for the very first time in the dark with the flashlight. It has no context to the rest of the flick, which is all exterior daytime with blue skies. Maybe super-impose something over that video.
Also, in the ending credits it's very clear to see that you have different size piccies being worked in. Go to 0:04:42. In the scene right before this, you have a full-sized image that covers the entire screen. At this point, the ratio has changed... and now the top and bottom of the screen has been lopped off as far as video is concerned, but the credits are still rolling on through into the black bars. Pick an aspect-ratio and stick with it. If that means resizing stills, then do it. (And if your original stills were at a suitable hi-res, then noone will notice anyway, if zooming in or cropping.)
Actually... you may have done that at other points in the flick, too... it just really caught my eye with the credits scrolling.
Music through the main part of the movie is pretty good. (Actually, the sound of the kids in the playground background was pretty good, too). A few wind issues with the mic, but that was sporadic. Try playing with the hi-lo pass audio filters on those bits. You may be able to reduce it a bit.
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So there we go.
