2013 Cinematography reel. Enjoy!

Nice. If I could piggyback a little on this, I always wondered how much to read into a DP reel. Obviously, the DP is responsible for the lighting scheme. But sometimes/often DPs can do a lot more - they might have been the ones who decided on the blocking/framing/angles. So when I watch a reel, I keep thinking "light", but also wonder "this angle - who chose it, director or this DP?"... as you can imagine one passes judgment on both, even if it may not be fair to blame/praise the DP for the blocking/framing/angles. How do you watch DP reels? /wondering/
 
OldCorpse said:
Nice. If I could piggyback a little on this, I always wondered how much to read into a DP reel. Obviously, the DP is responsible for the lighting scheme. But sometimes/often DPs can do a lot more - they might have been the ones who decided on the blocking/framing/angles. So when I watch a reel, I keep thinking "light", but also wonder "this angle - who chose it, director or this DP?"... as you can imagine one passes judgment on both, even if it may not be fair to blame/praise the DP for the blocking/framing/angles. How do you watch DP reels? /wondering/
Click to expand...

The DP is the person responsible for bringing the director's vision to life picture-wise, so when I watch DP reels I look at "How well was the vision brought to the screen". It doesn't matter whether the director, the gaffer or the producer came with all the creative ideas - The DP as the head of the camera department signs off on it with his/her signature and either speaks against or fully embraces the ideas from his superiors based on his experience (Which is, to the best of my knowledge, what all director's expect from their DP). Then ofc, the good thing about a reel is getting a broad view of the DP's work, so while the director might have done a lot of the great creative calls in one particular shoot, it's often safe to assume that's not the case for all of the productions.

OnT: I loved the bar sequences, looked spectacular.
 
GOOD stuff Timur, really love your lighting, beautifully cinematic. I have to be honest about the music bed though, I like the song, but it's used a lot for reels, with such great footage, I would have liked to hear something a little more dramatic and original. Aside from that, I would say this looks as good as anything I'm seeing coming out of HW.
 
Thanks, Tolin, I love hearing people's approaches - yours makes a ton of sense. Re: music - I didn't hear it, because I always watch DP reels on mute... in general, when I'm studying films for things like lighting and blocking, I always do so on mute, because I find sound strongly distracts from just a cool technical observation of those. Editing is different of course, and there it makes sense to watch with sound on, but not on a DP reel.
 
Thanks guys.

I'm very hands on when it comes to lighting. I call out diffusions, distances, color and sources. The director and I establish a feel, and usually they let me run with it. I tend to like simple camera movements, the more complex stuff comes from directors who push me to go beyond my comfort zone. (Laforet) which is good. Gives me a challenge.
 
I'm a little late to the party, but that's a fantastic reel, Timur. Those shots from 0:24-0:38... is that about the guy who got his arm stuck in his basement furnace and tried to cut it off a few years back?
 
Thanks man.

Lighting is my strongest component I think. Second is composition. I'm not a camera movement genius, like some people. Khalid Mohtaseb, Vincent Laforet etc... All the great movement came from collaborating with great directors. They push me to do better.
 
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