The Pilot:
http://www.varsitv.co.uk/episode/efq19s/Cooking_Matters_Episode_1/
Check out the new series for VarsiTV, a student-run video streaming service.
'Cooking Matters' is a new show written, directed and edited by Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen, taking a wry look at the proliferation of middle-class, pathetic cooking programs.
The two presenters are easy on the eye and on the ear. The locations are also attractive and the production quality is good for a film of this type made for its intended audience.
But where are the laughs? At 315 seconds and with only one or two funny lines and no funny visuals, this film has the lowest laughs-per-minute count of anything I've seen since Schindler's List.
There are many videos and scripts posted here in Showcase and in Critique. Some I find very funny and others I find very unfunny but while watching amd reading the 'unfunny' ones, I can spot several attempts-per-minute by the writers and/or performers to be funny or at least amusing.
When watching 'Cooking Matters', however, it was truly difficult to spot your intended funnies.
If you're going to produce comedy movies, you'll need a comedy writer.
Thank you so much for your feedback.
Again, nice production quality but, again, the funnies are thin on the ground and fairly weak.
Even worse, the two presenters' quiet, soothing, laid-back style which was pleasant for the 3-minute duration of Episode One, is now leading this series dangerously close to monotony.
Your parents, relatives and friends may tell you this series is great but, believe me, it isn't.
With a funny script and some pzazz, it could be very good.
Without either, it's in desperate need of both.
One technical gripe.
I think you overplay the 'looking off-camera' style a bit.
Normally in this kind of doc you get an 'off' camera (usually steady-cam) and an 'on' camera and perhaps a master long-shot.
Your presenters are always looking 'off' - so they're looking off to the left in one shot and off to the right in the next.
Now this isn't strictly crossing the line - but it makes for uncomfortable viewing.
Unless. of course, this is part of the 'spoof' - in which case it should go down a storm with lighting camera-men everywhere.
The rest of us will just feel a little queasy.
Echo the more jokes crit - but I think that's fixable.
Good performances throughout, though.
Good notes, good attitude, good stuff.
Thanks to both.
Here's a taste of the sort of thing I think VarsiTV viewers might like:
Thank you for your feedback, I enjoyed reading your script greatly. Fantastic.
Quote: Ben Ashenden @ November 1 2010, 10:45 PM BSTThank you for your feedback, I enjoyed reading your script greatly. Fantastic.
I cast a good Roodeye over Malfoy's addition 
Quote: Will Cam @ November 2 2010, 2:23 PM BSTI cast a good Roodeye over Malfoy's addition
He's not even trying anymore, is he?
Quote: David Bussell @ November 2 2010, 2:25 PM BSTHe's not even trying anymore, is he?
Not at all, but I actually like him for it.
He is a deatheater. Please be careful.
Quote: bigfella @ November 6 2010, 7:39 PM GMTHe is a death eater. Please be careful.
John 8:51
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man obey my teaching, he shall never die.