Critique My Demo Reel
- Thread starter WhiteWood
- Start date
disjecta
Lucky Duck
Okay, I took a look at it and here are some thoughts. I'm going to be really honest with you because you said you want the bad too:
1. Aside from maybe the pool table shot, every other shot you have included in your reel is of less than average quality.
2. Your framing is totally random and seems shot by someone not familiar with basic photographic knowledge.
3. White balance is drastically off in a lot of shots.
4. There is no logic to the way you have strung the clips together.
5. The music is a complete mismatch for the imagery.
6. The dissolve superimposed effects you have going on are a distraction and, in my opinion unneccessary.
7. It is way too long. You could convey the same point in about 30 seconds based on the footage you chose.
I'm not sure who you are shopping this reel to but I would recommend that you do a little research and find out what others are submitting. There is a wealth of fine examples on this site of people's reels and, while I can understand you wanting to create something unique, your biggest priority needs to be that it looks professional. Your reel is coming off like it's put together by an amateur and, I believe, that is how it will be seen by potential clients.
I hope you don't take offense to these comments. It's my honest opinion and you can take it or leave it.
In summary, do some research and learn from what others are doing regarding reels and work on your camera technique a little more. Learn about good framing, composition, camera movement and lighting.
Good luck.
D.
1. Aside from maybe the pool table shot, every other shot you have included in your reel is of less than average quality.
2. Your framing is totally random and seems shot by someone not familiar with basic photographic knowledge.
3. White balance is drastically off in a lot of shots.
4. There is no logic to the way you have strung the clips together.
5. The music is a complete mismatch for the imagery.
6. The dissolve superimposed effects you have going on are a distraction and, in my opinion unneccessary.
7. It is way too long. You could convey the same point in about 30 seconds based on the footage you chose.
I'm not sure who you are shopping this reel to but I would recommend that you do a little research and find out what others are submitting. There is a wealth of fine examples on this site of people's reels and, while I can understand you wanting to create something unique, your biggest priority needs to be that it looks professional. Your reel is coming off like it's put together by an amateur and, I believe, that is how it will be seen by potential clients.
I hope you don't take offense to these comments. It's my honest opinion and you can take it or leave it.
In summary, do some research and learn from what others are doing regarding reels and work on your camera technique a little more. Learn about good framing, composition, camera movement and lighting.
Good luck.
D.
SomewhereinLA
Well-known member
I am really trying to find something positive to say about this reel, but I can't...
First of all, Youtube is the worst place to put your reel on, because of the very low video quality. You want you client to be impressed by your imagery. Find a professional editor, or a film school student, the editing is bad, to many fade to black, to many cheap transitions and the crop should be black, the colored crop bars are disrupting. The music editing makes no sense. Even with a reel you need to have a "Story", beggining-middle-end. Learn your craft, look at other work and technic and try to replicate it.
First of all, Youtube is the worst place to put your reel on, because of the very low video quality. You want you client to be impressed by your imagery. Find a professional editor, or a film school student, the editing is bad, to many fade to black, to many cheap transitions and the crop should be black, the colored crop bars are disrupting. The music editing makes no sense. Even with a reel you need to have a "Story", beggining-middle-end. Learn your craft, look at other work and technic and try to replicate it.
markcheng
Well-known member
i liked the stop motion. but sorry, you wanted bad- What type of reel is this? is it an editor's reel or a director's or a DP's?
If it's an editor's reel, than I kinda think the reel should simply be a sequential clip after clip of scenes you've edited- this seems like you're trying to showcase your editing skills by how your reel is edited.
If it's a director's reel and these are all samples of how you've directed different projects, i think it should also just be sequential. When you mix it up, it's hard to "see" your direction.
If it's a DP's reel than I agree with disjecta above about colors and framing.
I watched this with my speakers off, but I don't think it would change my opion after reading disjecta's comments. good luck!
mc
If it's an editor's reel, than I kinda think the reel should simply be a sequential clip after clip of scenes you've edited- this seems like you're trying to showcase your editing skills by how your reel is edited.
If it's a director's reel and these are all samples of how you've directed different projects, i think it should also just be sequential. When you mix it up, it's hard to "see" your direction.
If it's a DP's reel than I agree with disjecta above about colors and framing.
I watched this with my speakers off, but I don't think it would change my opion after reading disjecta's comments. good luck!
mc
WhiteWood
Carbonite Member
disjecta said:
Thank you very much...seriously
I just hope that you kept in mind that you were watching a compressed version on YouTube when drawing that conclusion. And I DO know that the White Balance was off in the scene with the cars, but that was intentional. I don't worry about the quality because the quality is GREAT, TRUST me. It's just on the internet that it looks like that. As for the music, you feel it doesn't match? How?
WhiteWood
Carbonite Member
markcheng said:
It's a Directors AND editors Reel.
markcheng said:
I was...
markcheng said:
How can you "show" direction in less than 1 minute. that's the same as showing your EDITING skills.
markcheng said:
I honestly think that you should watch it with your speakers on.. you didn't do it fair justice.
WhiteWood
Carbonite Member
Fine, I'm changing the format to view the Reel in to Vimeo, because it's the best player that I can find on the net.
Alos, I want you guys to look @ THIS Reel and tell me what you think about it in comparison to mines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAzLabo_fOc
Alos, I want you guys to look @ THIS Reel and tell me what you think about it in comparison to mines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAzLabo_fOc
As someone who has been art director and had the job of hiring all kinds of artists and animators for the game industry, my biggest piece of advice for anyone putting together a demo reel or a portfolio has been something along the following:
Don't make your reel too long, and make sure you put your absolute best stuff in the first 30 seconds. If you haven't gotten anyone's interest in the first 30 seconds they're going to move on to the next demo reel. Rather than try to show how many projects youve worked on show what kind of quality you can produce. I have hired people with only one thing on their reel, but that one thing blew me away. I've stopped watching almost every demo reel over a minute long unless it was amazing.
Quality over quantity. First Impressions matter.
When you have a row of refridgerator boxes full of demo reels to go through you really don't have time to watch all of every reel, unless its amazing. I'm not kidding, I actually had to hire someone to weed through the bad demo reels and give me just the ones that looked like they had potential. I would also let producers I know sit and go through them on the condition that they fill out a rating sheet on each one, and put all the horrible ones in one "box" and all the must see demos ones in one box so I had at least weeded out the unwatchable, and had a box full of the cream of the crop.
Don't make your reel too long, and make sure you put your absolute best stuff in the first 30 seconds. If you haven't gotten anyone's interest in the first 30 seconds they're going to move on to the next demo reel. Rather than try to show how many projects youve worked on show what kind of quality you can produce. I have hired people with only one thing on their reel, but that one thing blew me away. I've stopped watching almost every demo reel over a minute long unless it was amazing.
Quality over quantity. First Impressions matter.
When you have a row of refridgerator boxes full of demo reels to go through you really don't have time to watch all of every reel, unless its amazing. I'm not kidding, I actually had to hire someone to weed through the bad demo reels and give me just the ones that looked like they had potential. I would also let producers I know sit and go through them on the condition that they fill out a rating sheet on each one, and put all the horrible ones in one "box" and all the must see demos ones in one box so I had at least weeded out the unwatchable, and had a box full of the cream of the crop.
inspire84
Well-known member
I agree with what everyone's been saying. I hear it all the time, someone catches another's mistake, i refuse to believe a crap job of white-balacing ended up being "intentional" Anyway i agree quality over quantity. But you're lacking in quality. If you've got some really tight shots show those, dont show how much you've done. It doesnt mean anything.
DerrickTempleton
Well-known member
add in some slide whistles and stunt hamsters, submit it to america's funniest home videos, and tell me what kind of handshake Bob Saget has.
MalcolmOng
Veteran
DerrickTempleton said:
Thats a bit mean. Constructive criticism only, mate.
As for the reel, I don't have speakers where I am so I'll have to offer my critiques based on the visuals alone. I echo what they said about the using of alot of dissolves. You should cut down on dissolves alot, and instead of showing random clips your reel should instead consist of fully edited scenes. That clip you showed from some other guy might have been good for an editor's reel, but it really depends on the target audience. If you're looking for a DoP reel, i'd recommend checking out this reel: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=79654
It was shot with a HVX, but you should compare the editing and the compositions to that reel. That would be what I think is a good demo reel, as opposed to that other guy's youtube one.
WhiteWood
Carbonite Member
MalcolmOng said:
It does that because it goes with the score. You just said what everyone without speakers has said. And can you please watch this Demo Reel by David Lehre and tell me what you think of it? Because his has gotten so much praise and I'm not understanding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAzLabo_fOc
Also, I checked out your suggested Demo Reel....yes, the images are AMAZING, they look just like MY imgaes...uncompressed. If I were to try and get my pure images on the net in that quality, in that length, it's be like 4 GB's.
MalcolmOng
Veteran
Yes i saw david lehre's reel, but imo its only a good reel if he's an editor. The images didn't really strike me as being stunning, and even if they were before you get to appreciate them it's changed already. Of course i can see that he's a good editor, but footage-wise, i can't get a feel for it. If you're selling yourself as a director of photography then you'll have to show just that: direction of photography. Thats why i feel that the reel i showed you is a very strong one as far as a DoP reel. His scenes are long enough for you to know what exactly is going on. David Lehre's reel does nothing but bombard you with images.
So my ultimate advice would be to take complete scenes that you've done and edit them together, as opposed to randomly cutting together footage from stuff you've done.
So my ultimate advice would be to take complete scenes that you've done and edit them together, as opposed to randomly cutting together footage from stuff you've done.
MalcolmOng
Veteran
*damn double post*
WhiteWood
Carbonite Member
MalcolmOng said:
But what if I WANT people to see HOW MUCH work I've done in the past 6 months @ the same time? Because I'm trying to execute a DIRECTORS/EDITORS reel. Saying:
1-I direct alot of different things
2-I edit very well
3-I put together very exciting footage
Because as BRILLIANT as the reel was that you showed me, It was MAAAAD boring. It wasn't untill the guy walking in the cold that I was like 'wow, these images are GREAT', but that was after 30 seconds. The first 30 seconds, the only reason I kept it on was because I was trying to be open minded,