Reel 2008

RyanT

RyanT

Veteran
Hey guys. Here's a reel I've sorta put together over the past few days, trying to get all of the footage I've shot into one place. A lot of the clips still need a bit of CC as they're still raw out of the camera, but I don't know, just general comments/critiques would be nice.

http://www.vimeo.com/2248264

A majority of it is shot on the HVX with the letus or redrock adapter. Some of it is straight HVX though.

Thanks!
 
have you posted any of this before? i seem to remember the shots with the drummer/band

my initial thoughts are that the music is horrible and doesn't seem to go with the images all that great, after muting it i liked the colors (even though you said it wasnt CC'd), dug the shot of the older woman molesting/rubbing the boy's head, there were one or two other shots that were okay (kids walking bke up mountain, rock band in mountains), but to be honest the rest of it just felt like a bunch of random footage with no real purpose

if you had some commercials in there maybe show the title cards/screens so we know what is was advertising

maybe use another shot for the opening

the shots of the kids jumping around at the party looked pointless

why include shots of the guy tossing and turning in the bed?

overall it didn't feel like a demo reel showcasing your best work, it felt like a demo reel showcasing all or a majority of your work. as i DP based on this reel i don't get a sense for what your strong areas are or what genre of filmmaking you specialize in

these are just my opinions, take what you feel is useful and disreard the rest...or all of it. good uck either way.
 
Man, that's rough. What would be a shot with a purpose in your minds eye? Do any of these shots have purpose and why do some have it and others don't?

I am thinking about including more coverage of actual scenes and possibly a different song. With the footage I have I think I could push a certain style that I'm into, but at the same time, I don't want to limit myself to just that. I just don't want to shoot blue ice cream for the rest of my life, if you know what I mean.

I'll keep these in mind though for the next cut. Anyone else?
 
well i wasn't trying to be rough, i look at tons of demo reels on a daily basis though so i get a little jaded sometimes, but to answer your question a shot with purpose would be something that you can look at it and instantly get an idea of what type of project it was or you get some type of vibe from it. some of your shots seem to have purpose over the others because those are the shots that are good.

your shots like the guy rolling around in bed, kids jumping around at party (that was part of the music video i think), a hand in the grass putting a rose down, etc...don't really seem to have any purpose against some of the stronger stuff in your reel. they just look like regular b-roll footage shots. if it wasn't a DP's reel i wouldn't be looking at it frame by frame like that though. as soon as i see it's a DP's reel i start looking for compelling composition, lighting, interesting angles, creative camera work in general, etc.

i've noticed some of the impressive DP reels i've watched, you can pause it at any point in the reel and it makes for a great screengrab or still shot. there's no fluff.

like i said, just my honest thoughts and opinion. thanks for not seeking an ego stroke :) this is a craft and you will only get better.
 
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most of them are at my job, but here's a few....

perfect example of a tight music video reel that was posted not too long ago: http://www.weareendeavor.com/

impressive DP reel focused on features, etc: http://www.kansascityindie.com/

i had more bookmarked but the links are down now, but you can look at most of the top films in the contest section of dvxuser and those have cool cinematography also

and of course the search function pulls up a ton of stuff
 
Then perhaps a reel that focuses on one specific thing such as music videos or narratives would be a good way to go.

What you're saying though has little to do to cinematography in my opinion. It's more about telling stories through your images, maybe I'm misunderstanding you though.
 
RyanT said:
Then perhaps a reel that focuses on one specific thing such as music videos or narratives would be a good way to go.
Click to expand...

maybe, especially if you're stronger in one area over another. if you have good projects then it may not even matter. there's no real rules to it, good work is good work. just seems like most of it usually focuses in on one area.

RyanT said:
What you're saying though has little to do to cinematography in my opinion. It's more about telling stories through your images, maybe I'm misunderstanding you though
Click to expand...

um, yea, both my posts basically say that, to reiterate the point - shots with no purpose = images that don't tell a story. semantics. all i'm saying is cut the fluff and only put in your strongest work.
 
I liked it; most of the shots were pretty nice. I agree with Mickey that the music should change.

My favorite shot was the one with the woman, kid, and TV. That one definitely "told a story." Though some of the shots didn't exactly tell a story, I don't think that's completely necessary for every single shot. The reels that Mickey linked to were amazing, but not every shot in that told a story.
 
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