DOP reel, opinions please

Jason Miller

Jason Miller

Veteran
been putting this together, It's way to long I think 7 minutes, not sure where to trim it, and not sure what to remove.

here is the latest link, see below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCDhJR3sGlA

Youtube really darkened it up, its pretty annoying, it took me 3 hours to get it uploaded just for this. can anyone tell me a better upload place, that will allow me to upoad 700mb files?

thank you
Jason Miller
 
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Use Vimeo. It has to be 500mb or less. 7 minutes is twice as long as it should be.

Here are some notes (very quick notes) I jotted down while watching:

Intro - 12 seconds is WAY too long. 4 or 5 seconds should do the job. on SFX, show more with the matte in place to prove you can get good keys. there are lots of shots that either hold way too long (woman against dark greenscreen turning around) and then don't hold long enough (same woman with skyline matted in). Show half of your SFX shots, but include a matted version (or even do split screen, half matte, half greenscreen).

black gaps ~1:52

man watching TV at 1:55 is too long. The following shot of the man getting shot can go as well


black gap around 2:55

lose baby at 3:12


man standing in doorway around 3:50 can be cut sooner, some shots in the following sequence could go to save time, especially the shaking stuff

lose the DJ at 4:10 - not your most compelling stuff, as well as the following two shots

tying the AND 1 shoes at 4:30 = too long

treadmill from 4:45 to 5:10 too long. the live sports coverage stuff doesn't quite fit unless you're going for an ENG job.

drums from 5:40 to 5:55 is too long

girl at 6:29 is cute, but i can't tell why she's there? was that a narrative aspect of a music video?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All in all, you've got an good, extensive body of work. However, this is more of a showcase than a reel. I would do one of two things - make multiple reels - one for narrative, one for music video, one for live action stuff - OR cut out the redundant/unnecessary shots.

When making my reel, I had my professor critique it. I cut off a good :50 after he said "if you aren't showing anything new, then you shouldn't show it".

To polish this, you can:
1) cut out all the black frames between shots. If they aren't accidental, they seem to be
2) shorten your titles. We only need to see them for maybe 1/4 the time they are up
3) lose the live sports coverage stuff

Again, you've got some great stuff. Polish the presentation and you're good to go!
 
thanks for the advice I am working on a lot of what you said, I'm not dropping the sports stuff, thats Grayson, the Professor, just that project being on the reel brings it up a bit. but I should probably change the title

Here is another link, I took the last one down,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCDhJR3sGlA

This one compressed better, I'm also uploading it to Vimeo, I am making another change to it as well, that long moco shot with the baby, I'm speeding it up about 80% It's a shot I want to keep, but It speed works well for the film but not the reel I think

Thank You
Jason Miller
 
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At the beginning I understand that you want to show the before and after part of the VFX clip, but many of the "before" cuts were so abrupt that I didn't really connect what the "after" clip was. Doing a split screen or picture-in-picture type thing can cut down on time and make it more clear. And having those introduction shots with the models on the green screen stage is unnecessary and adds to the running time.

For the cinematography portion, too many repeated shots of the same thing (and you don't need to split it between film and music video either). This is where you really need to pick your absolute BEST shot to showcase. Instead of showing 3 or 4 different angles of the same scene, show ONE angle. And what you pick should be good enough to instantly grabs the audience and conveys a mood or at least a feeling of "wow, that was cool!" If the shot is only good in the context of some other okay shot, don't use it. I see some interesting camera moves that can be much more effective if they're cut to half the time. You're not telling a story here, so not everything has to be in context. Same comment applies to the live event portion. Pick only the most impacting shots.

Even at 4 and a half minutes it's still way too long. It needs to be half that long or less. People have very short attention span and you need to grab them right away.
 
Jason,
When I look at a reel I am looking for lighting and the first part of your reel shows flat non-dramatic lighting. It looks very basic. You need to grab the viewer's attention and grab it fast. It has to be powerful shooting, powerful lighting. Plus the scenes need to grab our attention as well. Find some actors and stage some scenes. Shoot scenes with movement to show your ability to track and use handheld techniques. SHoot more close-ups which are the money shots, etc. Add in some powerful music as well.

Here are a few examples. Google cinematographer's reels and you will find what you need to model. Go to www.reel-exchange.com Check out youtube as well.

http://reel-exchange.com/members/2e531da4/profile/cf4b88ccacca01ce48873c11af5d4634/video_player.html

http://reel-exchange.com/members/1fc8d13a/profile/b00ea32b9e16d7fc6febbfaef2a399b1/video_player.html

http://www.jedwardsfilms.com/2.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W6xxpKce7g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULbnBLlmMxM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO0wTravgZ0&feature=related
 
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