Attempt at my DP REEL.. Comments PLEASE!

[Justin Marx]

One of the hardest things I've done in awhile.. I'm not VERY happy with it.. But I'm close.. I need to get it done like yesterday.. A company wants me to shoot a commercial for them and they want to see my reel.. I told them my editor is ALMOST done..

Please take a look.. Every little comment counts.. The good.. The bad... and the FUGLY!! JUST COMMENT!

Thank you for your time everyone.. CLICK below..

http://www.marxthespotfilms.com

[Drew Ott]

Lovely.

I really liked it. My favorite shot was the slow motion environmental shot of the waves crashing on the beach.

What was the song? It helped the mood. I'd think it was too long if I just looked at the time, but it went by very quickly. Good work.

[Drew Ott]

BTW how did you get that aerial shot at the end?

[Justin Marx]

Lovely.

I really liked it. My favorite shot was the slow motion environmental shot of the waves crashing on the beach.

What was the song? It helped the mood. I'd think it was too long if I just looked at the time, but it went by very quickly. Good work.

Glad you liked it bballplaya... The song is "If I Fall" by Aqualung

The aerial shot is from a honda spot I did the aerials for.. My Avatar is actually me shooting it, as I hang out of the copter over I-95 (still waiting for the spot FLIP!!)

Thanks for the comment..

[JimiK]

Very nice.Just a bit long but very nice.

One question:Did you have any lights for the under the bridge shot?
'cause it looks awesome.I just wanna know how you achieved that look.

Good day.

[Justin Marx]

Very nice.Just a bit long but very nice.

One question:Did you have any lights for the under the bridge shot?
'cause it looks awesome.I just wanna know how you achieved that look.

Good day.


Any ideas on which shots would be useful to remove? Its SOO TOUGH to shorten it anymore! But I know it can be done..

The shot under the bridge was done with 2-1.2k HMI's.. I like that shot too..

Thanks for the comment..

[pdsage10]

Looks good. You have some really good footage in there. The only question I have is what happened to the footage of the little boy and the hospital scenes? They look like the gain had been cranked up in post or something (blacks were washed).

[JimiK]

If you ask me don't change it.Because if it is not boring to watch it is worthed and I liked it all the way to the end.Plus if I am hiring some body I would wanna see more stuff to judge.That's my opinion.
Good day.

[Justin Marx]

Looks good. You have some really good footage in there. The only question I have is what happened to the footage of the little boy and the hospital scenes? They look like the gain had been cranked up in post or something (blacks were washed).


Thanks pdsage... The quality of the hospital scenes is bad because it's a dupe using some crappy capture program, from a DVD.. I'm working on getting the original footage of it.. Thanks for the comment!!

[Mark Williams]

Justin,

I am pretty much a nobody on this forum but for what it is worth it looked really good. The car scene across the parking lot took me by surprise (damage?). Some scenes were a litte too dark for my taste but it was probably my monitor. Anyway, you have a good eye for detail and composition.

Regards,

[Justin Marx]

Justin,

I am pretty much a nobody on this forum but for what it is worth it looked really good. The car scene across the parking lot took me by surprise (damage?). Some scenes were a litte too dark for my taste but it was probably my monitor. Anyway, you have a good eye for detail and composition.

Regards,

Your not a nobody.. Thanks for the comment! The dark stuff is pretty dark because it's a dub of some footage using a crappy program.. I'm working to get the originals.. Thanks again.. and don't let anyone ever tell you that your a nobody! Cuz I say ur somebody! BUDDY!! :grin:

[someday]

Hi Justin,
did you shoot with the HVX200?
If yes, how the h... did you achieved so clean and noise free images?
May i ask you what settings did you use?
Thanks

[Justin Marx]

Hi Justin,
did you shoot with the HVX200?
If yes, how the h... did you achieved so clean and noise free images?
May i ask you what settings did you use?
Thanks

someday (if thats your REAL name...), 99.9% was HVX200, the stuff with the boy and the little girl, we're XL2..

Hmm.. Alot of the stuff was SCENE FILE 6, I'm pretty sure I just changed the detail to -1 and the chroma -1.. But to tell you the truth, its mostly stock settings.. Sorry if thats not the answer you were looking for.. :undecided

Have you been having problems with dirty images and noise??

[someday]

Yes i have very noisy images, mostly on dark blue areas.
But as i use the HVX with a 35mm adapter i set the detail to +7 and the color to +...something. The pedal is 0. I will try to set the detail an chroma as you did, and i will try to set the pedal to -5 and i suppose that it will be better.

[iancarleton]

Hey Justin,

Nice DP reel, there were some really good looking shots in there. Your images with the HVX are waay clean, thats awesome. I also like the cameos of the cannon cameras (GL2 and XL2?) :) Thats fun! If you feel you have to shorten it down, one thing that could be taken out might be the shots of the kid on the skateboard. Im sure you have noticed that it seems like everyone has shot skateboarding at one time or another, and these shots didnt have grab my attention that much. Same with the scene from 2:05 - 2:11. The shots after that looked fantastic tho, the dolly out that looks like it was shot with a 35mm adaptor was great, as well as the dialogue against the white wall. woo! good stuff there. If you still are scrounging for stuff to cut, there are two city shots, the one with the pan down at 1 :46 and at 2:49 that both are a little dull. The one at 2:49 looks cooler when you stop to analyse it, but for the short peroid of time it is there, you could cut it really. Great work on you reel!

[Justin Marx]

Yes i have very noisy images, mostly on dark blue areas.
But as i use the HVX with a 35mm adapter i set the detail to +7 and the color to +...something. The pedal is 0. I will try to set the detail an chroma as you did, and i will try to set the pedal to -5 and i suppose that it will be better.

Not sure why you have noisy images someday.. Why don't you post some of this so I can take a peek.. There is no reason to have to set it to +7 just because you use an adapter.. 90% of my reel is shot with the redrock M2 adapter, detail mostly set to -1 or maybe 0.. Easy? No, but once you get it looking sharp, it's a sweet thing! Post some footage and I'll try and give you some more help.. White Balance and Black balance could be doing it as well.. Make sure you Black Balance at least once a day or before each shot if you have the time.. (Hold down white balance button for 5-10 seconds till it says ABB..


Hey Justin,

Nice DP reel, there were some really good looking shots in there. Your images with the HVX are waay clean, thats awesome. I also like the cameos of the cannon cameras (GL2 and XL2?) :) Thats fun! If you feel you have to shorten it down, one thing that could be taken out might be the shots of the kid on the skateboard. Im sure you have noticed that it seems like everyone has shot skateboarding at one time or another, and these shots didnt have grab my attention that much. Same with the scene from 2:05 - 2:11. The shots after that looked fantastic tho, the dolly out that looks like it was shot with a 35mm adaptor was great, as well as the dialogue against the white wall. woo! good stuff there. If you still are scrounging for stuff to cut, there are two city shots, the one with the pan down at 1 :46 and at 2:49 that both are a little dull. The one at 2:49 looks cooler when you stop to analyse it, but for the short peroid of time it is there, you could cut it really. Great work on you reel!

This is the post I was waiting for! Thank you so much Ian! I feel the same way with all of those shots.. I had the skate one in there for mood rather than a great look.. Not sure why I put the ones your talking about in there anyway! Good eye man! I'll get cracking on it soon.. What did you think about the music? and also how it transitions into my reality stuff?? I also have a honda commercial I did that I'm getting a copy of, and also some more reality stuff from comcast, food network, and some other places..

Thanks again guys for your comments.. DVXuser is an amazing place!!

[Jazz Dog]

Very cool reel....working on one my self rigfht now. The only personal pet peeve I have with reels is when people are talking but I can't hear it. Always just throws me off to see mouths moving but no words. I know you are not trying to do a reel as an audio guy but just curious what people think of this. I was thing of mixing real audio with music in my reel....
Amazing job! Makes me want to see that film with the girl with the camera. Thanks for sharing....

[Justin Marx]

Very cool reel....working on one my self rigfht now. The only personal pet peeve I have with reels is when people are talking but I can't hear it. Always just throws me off to see mouths moving but no words. I know you are not trying to do a reel as an audio guy but just curious what people think of this. I was thing of mixing real audio with music in my reel....
Amazing job! Makes me want to see that film with the girl with the camera. Thanks for sharing....


Good point Jazz Dog.. I think the problem with adding the audio for the dialog is that it will take away from what people want to SEE in a DP's reel.. It can distract what people are looking at.. If the acting is good or BAD, it doesn't help me as a cinematographer.. It's also such a jumble of shots that start mid sentence... I just want the person watching it to say, wow, that looked nice, lets hire him.. Hope that helps ya..


Thanks again for checking it out!

[RyanKR]

I really enjoyed your reel man, great job.