Muh reel

Get rid of the first shot. It looks blocky, low-rez, poor quality. The second shot drags on way too long, and features some prominent camera jerks. After that, there's some really, really good stuff... shots, pacing, etc. Starting on a weak foot guarantees that anyone whom you need to be watching will not make it to the good stuff.
 
Thanks for the critique, I threw in the first shot because it was my vary first thing i shot back in the day on a little palm camera. I know i probably should take it out. I was also thinking the second shot was too long, im gonna have to change that.
 
o and about the camera jerks. I didnt have a tripod and my girlfriend was on camera for me.
I wish they weren't there but I love the shot
 
So I watched again, after having slept a little. A couple more thoughts...

You have a lot of closeup/macro shots in there. A lot. And not many wide shots, scenic shots, non-shallow-DOF shots. Closeup/macro/shallow DOF is not going to get you far... how's your sense of the wider world? The couple of wider shots in there were good. Do you have any more?

And back to the second shot that really drags... well, you can edit around the camera jerks and pick a shorter snippet of it. But then, it's not really your cinematography there since you had your girlfriend shooting. Remember that a reel is supposed to be the best of your best, not just the shots that you really like for whatever reason. You aren't the one who is supposed to be impressed by your own reel. It takes some tough, creative decisions, and some times you simply have to toss out a shot that you may really love but that honestly does nothing to improve the overall reel.

And this comes up with the majority of reels posted around here: put your absolute best foot forward. Keeping the reel to 2:30 total is good, but if the first :15 or :20 aren't stunning enough, don't expect the rest of the reel to be seen. A lot of folks looking for cinematographers or DPs won't watch more than :30 of a reel anyway. And based on that, I'd have stopped the tape after the very first shot and moved to the next reel on my desk.
 
C2V Thanks for you input!

I do have some more wide shots I can check out to put in, good point.
Im gonna have to go back and revamp my reel a little bit.
I plan on taking out the first shot, and I plan on shortening the second shot too.
I was also thinking about changing up the first half with a little more of my wider shots, and keeping the second half almost the same, I like the tone of the song with the more close up shots at the end because it fits well with the music

I camera operate on all my stuff because im really particular of the camera movement but I was working with a one person crew(my girlfriend) and I was the "talent".

Again, thanks for the input, i will be sure to repost my revamped reel.
 
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