Need Critiques on my Demo Reel
- Thread starter P.S.T.
- Start date
Stephen Mick
Totally Usable
You requested brutal honestly, so…
Based on what you have here, I would not hire you for any of the positions you've stated. Why? Not because the work is sub-standard, but because I don't really get a sense of what you do, or where your professional focus lies. I mean, are you an editor? Are you a VFX guy? Do you want to be a DP? When I look to hire people for a project, I'm looking for people focused on a certain discipline: cinematography, editing, sound, VFX.
Figure out exactly what it is you want to be, and focus on developing your talents in that direction.
Based on what you have here, I would not hire you for any of the positions you've stated. Why? Not because the work is sub-standard, but because I don't really get a sense of what you do, or where your professional focus lies. I mean, are you an editor? Are you a VFX guy? Do you want to be a DP? When I look to hire people for a project, I'm looking for people focused on a certain discipline: cinematography, editing, sound, VFX.
Figure out exactly what it is you want to be, and focus on developing your talents in that direction.
It's difficult to judge editing when most of the shots are just single shots form different project pieced together. Only a few times were where there 3 or more shots from the same scene - they tended to all be action and cut on action. Editing is a lot more than that, and would be difficult to judge by this reel.
As far as camera/DP - there was really nothing in there that showed lighting - and I mean lighting to support a story, mood, or whatever. It was all rather point and shoot under available light. A few shots were heavily processed with color correction, so again, difficult to judge. Composition of shots was OK - not great, not horrible.
This seems to be more of a teaser reel rather than a reel. I would expand the pieces out a bit and look to focus the shots, reel on the craft you trying to sell.
Michael
As far as camera/DP - there was really nothing in there that showed lighting - and I mean lighting to support a story, mood, or whatever. It was all rather point and shoot under available light. A few shots were heavily processed with color correction, so again, difficult to judge. Composition of shots was OK - not great, not horrible.
This seems to be more of a teaser reel rather than a reel. I would expand the pieces out a bit and look to focus the shots, reel on the craft you trying to sell.
Michael
Marc Villafan
Well-known member
State what your demo reel is aimed for. What is your ultimate aim for this demo reel? It shouldn't be a "filmmaking reel," it should be more specific. If you really want to, you can make multiple reels with completely different focuses. Such as a motion graphics reel, a cinematography reel, an acting reel, or what not. But at this point, we have NO clue whatsoever what this reel is aiming for. It should be instantly recognizable what the reel is for.
right off the bat within the first 5 seconds i knew i probably wouldnt hire you as an editor when i noticed your opening credits were somehow being cropped off the screen a bit like you didn't use any type of title safe guides to center your text and keep it from being chopped off. it doesnt like it was done on purpose either, it looks like a mistake. a good editor will have an eagle eye for this type of stuff. like someone mentioned above, it's hard to tell from an editor's stand point any skills since its mostyl just point and shoot stuff and cut on action. there wasn't anything that gave a sense of a mood or a feel. today pretty much anybody can do basic editing, i've seen some pretty creative stuff from kids in junior high even that have loads of time on their hands and have no day job, kids, etc and have all day to play around and experiment. people dont want to hire someone to do something they feel they can get anybody to do.
to show the VFX, try showing clips of before and after, but try to put some stuff in there that's a little more than just muzzle flashes and stock imagery. it shows and anybody that has half a clue about editing knows all you have to do is drag and drop that stuff on the timeline. no rocket science to that.
to echo again what above said, it's not clear what your strong point is based on this demo reel. make it obvious so people considering hiring you can judge fairly.
good luck either way though man.
to show the VFX, try showing clips of before and after, but try to put some stuff in there that's a little more than just muzzle flashes and stock imagery. it shows and anybody that has half a clue about editing knows all you have to do is drag and drop that stuff on the timeline. no rocket science to that.
to echo again what above said, it's not clear what your strong point is based on this demo reel. make it obvious so people considering hiring you can judge fairly.
good luck either way though man.
Mickey Munday
Well-known member
honest truth, no BS or sugar coating, would be no i would not hire you for any of the above mentioned based on this reel for the following reasons:
1 - not sure what your focus is on, when i hire someone i dont want an all in one guru unless they are truly just that great in everything they're trying to sell me on, but i only want to know his/her strenghts so they can put all their focus on that for my production. if they have experience in other areas thats great, but 9 times out of 10 i'll have somebody who specializes in that area already on the crew
2 - editing not so great: text effects look dated, audio sounds like onboard mic was used instead of an external and properly boomed, no style, bad color correcting or no color correcting (some of the shots look washed out in short film section)
3 - VFX - the lighting bolt thing looked kind of amateurish, the kung fu scene looked like somebody was having a bad trip on acid (if that was the intent then i take it back and it was spot on)
4 - directing - couldnt really tell due to no audio to actually hear some scenes, but fight scene where the kid punches two other kids looked a little half baked almost like they were practicing how they were actually going to do it, hard shadows in some shots due to bad lighting, etc
this is just one man's opinion, take what is useful and disregard the rest.
1 - not sure what your focus is on, when i hire someone i dont want an all in one guru unless they are truly just that great in everything they're trying to sell me on, but i only want to know his/her strenghts so they can put all their focus on that for my production. if they have experience in other areas thats great, but 9 times out of 10 i'll have somebody who specializes in that area already on the crew
2 - editing not so great: text effects look dated, audio sounds like onboard mic was used instead of an external and properly boomed, no style, bad color correcting or no color correcting (some of the shots look washed out in short film section)
3 - VFX - the lighting bolt thing looked kind of amateurish, the kung fu scene looked like somebody was having a bad trip on acid (if that was the intent then i take it back and it was spot on)
4 - directing - couldnt really tell due to no audio to actually hear some scenes, but fight scene where the kid punches two other kids looked a little half baked almost like they were practicing how they were actually going to do it, hard shadows in some shots due to bad lighting, etc
this is just one man's opinion, take what is useful and disregard the rest.