My first demo reel

PaPa

PaPa

Major Contributor
Well, i finally put together a demo reel. I'm very tired of doing university/small scale stuff and am interested in putting my work out in search of more work.

I have not done the scale of films many here have done and it will reflect in my demo, but i am ready for those opportunities and i venture to say that things can only get better from here.

That being said, i would love comments and criticisms, but please don't be too harsh. My team has been a one man show for the longest time and am ready to take the next step! I have been slightly shy of posting anything of the sort because what i generally see on these boards blow me away, and i felt that i will short live the dvxuser expectations of what demo reels on these boards look like, however i also know what i've been able to achieve by myself, will be exponentially greater once a great crew gets in to the picture.

here is a youtube version, i will host a higher quality version later on.

thanks.

- Most of the stuff was shot on a DVX, DVX w/ifocusHQ and some with the XH A1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-O8biBMKuU

higher quality version: ( Right - click and save as please )

http://www.tassweb.com/papa/demoreel2007LQ.wmv
 
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i loved the shot with the girl and her camera, near the beginning, it was such an artsy shot..loved it.....the very beginning with the girl,, wus that interlaced? it looked it a little, maybe its just my media player cuz when i paused it it was fine

nice song, perfect for a demo reel, kinda lke thievery corporation, or dj shadow
 
no there is something up with that footage, i think there was an error way back when it was initially captured.

becaues it is 24f, however every fourth or fifth frame is interlaced, i try removing, adding the pulldown, and nothing changes.

but i kept it in there because regardless i thought it still emulated a certain style and physicality to my work regardless of the rendering/video effect.

thank you for watching and i do appreciate your comments :)
 
I thought it looked real nice. My favorite shots were the girl in the beginning it had a green tint and she was silhouetted . Also the firs shot of the painter in his room. I liked that one a lot with the window blown out looked real nice. I loved the movements of your camera work what did you use? Some type of dolly? Steady cam? Wheeled tripod?

Only real critique is that usually a good time for a demo reel is about a minute and thirty seconds long.
 
shorter huh? cool, ill see what i can work out. thanks again!

i used a dolly on tracks, then i just pivoted/panned as i approached the end of the track. trying to keep the motion smooth like it is a circular end is difficult....
 
PaPa said:
shorter huh? cool, ill see what i can work out. thanks again!

i used a dolly on tracks, then i just pivoted/panned as i approached the end of the track. trying to keep the motion smooth like it is a circular end is difficult....
Click to expand...

Nice your school has a dolly with tracks! Looks good my school didn't :(.
 
lol no actually, i made it last year on my birthday. was bored, went to home depot and walmart, made it in a day. :) its just a tad on the noisy side if it moves quickly. re design is in the works. well,, it will be ,,, soon, i have no choice.
 
Good work. It's cool that I've seen all of your work before, and this is just a highlight of the shots I liked.

My favorite is the painter on the train tracks. I agree it should be a little shorter too.
 
FEEED - back.

FEEED - back.

I really liked your stuff, you’re managing to get a very cinematic “diffused” look that I think is enviable.

I would change the order of some of the shots. I think now you’re getting a feel for what people think are the better shots (from comments here) you should bring those shots to the start of your reel. Or at least look for some more engaging shots to begin with.

I think if this is a reel that says “I make good looking film” then you should re-cut the beginning to try and show that straight away. So my suggestion would be to take out the headshot and leave it for the end only, begin with some amazing shots – then again, I don’t know anything about show reels. I do know something about story telling though and I think you should open with some proper filmic film. Maybe even save the “director of Photography” credit till a few shots in?

I’d agree to cut it down too, not because it’s bad, just because making it shorter will make it even better.

I also question showing similar shots with different colour correction on them. I think colour correction should go unnoticed and when you show a tree with more yellow in it, and than a similar/same tree with more reds, it gives the trick away and highlights to the viewer “this is colour correction”.

Great work though. I hope my film looks more like yours in the future!
 
so blue, are you suggesting putting the strongest stuff first and the lesser stuff for the end, or just keep the good shots and get rid of the stuff that isnt part of the best just to shorten it.

i worry then that there is not enough content, or at least narrative work. because i haevnot shot that much stuff, but someone is welcome to reedit :) i would love to learn from examples of someone elses interpretation, if, of course, anyone is feeling bored and willing :)

interestingly enough, the shot of my girlfriend taking pictures was color graded in camera, which is why there are two veyr different looking shots, and they were taken i think at slightly different times. i could be wrong though, this was over a year ago. ill try ot match them more similarly to get rid of that color corrected feeling.
 
There’s a term used by stand up comedians where they say, “bank your audience” – in other words, get your audience safe early on. I think you can use the footage you have here to do just that. Win your audience over early, gain their trust and put them in the bank, then you can afford to use lesser material or more experimental stuff afterwards. How you go abut doing that is up to you... Ooooooooo

:2vrolijk_08:
 
lol cool, ill see what i can get rid of while retaining some of its flow. just dont want to cut too much out of the stuff that barely has anything cause.. well, i need to show that ive done a few projects and not like.. 3 of them haha

ill give that a shot soon. and repost it.
 
i was impressed mostly by your night shots... personally night shots are real troublesome for me. especially with minidv. you had light in all the right places... my favorite shot was in the "fox and crocs" segment (is that right??)where the guy blows out the candle and you color corrected wiith a blue tint right as the candle was extinguished... it really added to the effect of the candle actually lighting the room as well as the theatrics of the actor blowing it out... great job. was that guy you?? blowing out the candle?
 
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haha, c'est moi, acting in all my.... glory? haha no but theatre and acting is my bag. filmmaking i found once i started acting. but ill never leave my crazy routes :)
 
so i took most of hte suggestions into account. right now its still at 3 minutes, but ill make a shorter version once this one is tight :)

i color corrected the shot of my lady where it gets slightly more orange, and brought it to the more yellow of color, like the shot prior to and after, and i agree, definite improvement.

Someone suggested that the name shrinking while the headshot enlarges is confusing and makes this difficult to read, so i adjusted that slightly and that problem should now be gone.



export settings: in pp2

format = windows media
two passes @ consistent bitrate
720 x 480
frame rate = same as source
aspect ratio = square pixel 1.0 ( doesnt make my footage look fat in youtube )
maximum bitrate = 1000
image quality = 100

thats about it, otherwise, i always ALWAYS advance my video image 3 frames so that the sound syncs up properly after the youtube compression. facebook as well.
 
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Very good reel. Impressive! Brave of you to put it on the line as well.
Suggestions:
*Shorten it by a lot. People who watch demo reels all day long won't probably last all 3 minutes.
*Best stuff in front as was mentioned by other users.
*Music is good but it stays on the same feel the whole time. It needs some ups and downs and different instrumentation to give your footage texture, color and contrast.
*Shorter takes. This can be debated but in a reel you probable don't want to have too many long takes before switching to other things. Maybe try to shorten your clips as you approach the end with the less spectacular footage and leave the viewer wanting more.

I hope this helps! :thumbsup:

Jgastelb
 
k so generally im getting the comment of shortening it down.

but like i said, i want to keep this reel for the patient ones, and ill make a shorter one. What would you guys suggest i keep?

or probably a better way to put it is: what should i toss?
 
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