Steve Laramie
Veteran
http://vimeo.com/5962905 Let me have it!
Reel critique
- Thread starter Steve Laramie
- Start date
j1clark@ucsd.edu
Veteran
Since I don't look at a lot of demo reels, what I was wondering is if this collection is a bit 'slow'. There were a lot of slow camera move shots, a few slow zoom in, that sort of thing, but I think perhaps that should be offset by snappier editing in the 'running man' sequences. A couple of shots I'd probably drop, like the second sequence of the little girl early on. You have one of her in the road, and you have other CU and ECU shots of others later on.
Another thought is, even though these clips probably come from different films, the idea would be to cut them together as if they formed one trailer for a film.
Steve,
Overall, I thought is was very good. To add to jclark's comments, I would probably drop the guy with the gun and the closeup that follows. Maybe it is just me, but the acting/shot just doesn't sell and for me, it took away from the rest of your product. After watching the 'suicide girl', I wondered how it would have looked with her face in focus initially, then pull the focus to her wrist. I really liked the 'running man'.
Nice Job!
Overall, I thought is was very good. To add to jclark's comments, I would probably drop the guy with the gun and the closeup that follows. Maybe it is just me, but the acting/shot just doesn't sell and for me, it took away from the rest of your product. After watching the 'suicide girl', I wondered how it would have looked with her face in focus initially, then pull the focus to her wrist. I really liked the 'running man'.
Nice Job!
Steve Laramie
Veteran
Funny you should say that I actually have a rack focus version of that shot. I will have to find a filler for the guy with the gun.
Steve Laramie
Veteran
Thanks. yeah I will take those out.
S
SeanEmer
Guest
Nice stuff 
My favorite was the second shot, the one with the girl in the road... really nice magic hour shot. As far as the whole reel goes, there's two things I can think of that havent already been mentioned here. First, most of your shots are of people standing, thinking, talking, sleeping, etc. Try throwing in more shots to show that you can capture things aside from people. Think landscapes, action shots, architectural, etc. Also, the entire reel seems to be in one aspect ratio. Some people like that, but I don't. Some of the shots towards the end were clearly stretched as well. I think you should show multiple aspect ratios not only to show variety in your work but also to demonstrate your ability to frame nicely with any aspect ratio.
Just out of curiousity, how many different projects are seen in this reel? Good job, again!
My favorite was the second shot, the one with the girl in the road... really nice magic hour shot. As far as the whole reel goes, there's two things I can think of that havent already been mentioned here. First, most of your shots are of people standing, thinking, talking, sleeping, etc. Try throwing in more shots to show that you can capture things aside from people. Think landscapes, action shots, architectural, etc. Also, the entire reel seems to be in one aspect ratio. Some people like that, but I don't. Some of the shots towards the end were clearly stretched as well. I think you should show multiple aspect ratios not only to show variety in your work but also to demonstrate your ability to frame nicely with any aspect ratio.
Just out of curiousity, how many different projects are seen in this reel? Good job, again!
Steve Laramie
Veteran
Believe it or not the shot you are talking about was shot at 12pm on a sunny day. I did some in camera white balance stuff to warm it up and played with reflectors. I do have allot of achritectual and landscape stuff I actually thought that would be frowned upon. I will add them in though. This is about 4 projects out of 6. Havent gotten the footage from the other 2 yet.