cinematography showreel draft one - critique it please

[jenningsp]

finished this at 4am.. there are a few tech issues...

there's pixelation, grain, just plain too dark shots, over crushed blacks etc....i need to source some original files to fix those. so ignore that for now..

also i have some awesome work that's not in there... it just didn't fit or i don't have the files yet.

enough foreplay here it is - http://vimeo.com/8400751

 

[Huy Vu]

Yea, a few shots are too dark. Overall though there's a ton of good stuff in there, although quite a few of them seemed to be soft even in SD res.

My main thing is that at 3 minutes it's too long, especially with the slow, dramatic song you have going there, you can easily just chop a minute off and not have it interrupt the flow. For example the shots of the band at :40 can go; it looks ok, but nothing really special; I've seen variations of that same shots dozens of times before. The supermarket shot at 1:05 can go, as can the scene right after that with the girl walking in to the room. Also the shot of the guy sitting at 1:45 and possibly the B&W stuff. All the shots I mentioned looked ok but when you do a reel you really only want to put out the very very best shots you have.

 

[HerzogisGod]

Really nice work. Your compositions are thoughtful. Seems you are interested in the "interior" world of your characters. I like that a lot. Definitely my kind of cinematography. I agree about shortening it down by a minute. Less is more with these types of things.

 

[jenningsp]

thanks guys!!!!!

herzog - do you say "interior" because 99% of the shots were inside a house?

Huy Vo - you've basically told me to cut all my moving shots... so all my frames will be static except for the rare pan up. you've got a point though. they aren't the best shots...

i thought the MV stuff would just ad a bit of variety. how different can you shoot a band anyway??? - i could cut it just to keep it all narrative drama work though.

as for the B/W stuff - is it just because it's b/w you don't like it?? i've got the original colour files, which look cool. it's just this is what the final piece looks like. so i could make it colour.

thanks again guys. i'll take everything into consideration!!!

 

[Huy Vu]

thanks guys!!!!!


i thought the MV stuff would just ad a bit of variety. how different can you shoot a band anyway??? - i could cut it just to keep it all narrative drama work though.

That's kind of the point: there's about a dozen reels out there with just that same shot, how does it make you stand out? Everything should be geared toward what makes you unique so keep only the most memorable shots.

as for the B/W stuff - is it just because it's b/w you don't like it?? i've got the original colour files, which look cool. it's just this is what the final piece looks like. so i could make it colour.

I don't know if it's my monitor but there's a odd color tint on those B&W footage, almost magenta. Personally I'm not a big fan of B&W unless it's in the Sin City vein, and I just feel that those shots aren't dramatic enough to be included as a show piece.

 

[NobleOne]

Very good work. A lot of the shots looked great but there were some but very few that were too dark like Huy said. Also about the B&W footage I see the sort of magenta tint that Huy was talking about but I still say keep that footage in as it's still very good and I'm a fan of B&W so that may be it. I still like the few opening shots the best and keep up the good work.