Seeking Feedback On My New Web Site

T

TheThe

Well-known member
I was originally going to commission a new site for myself, since I am not a programmer or designer by any stretch of the imagination. But after watching a few online CS3 tutorials, I decided to just do it myself. Now I would like to get some feedback from the DVXuser community.

EDIT

Website currently under revision. Thanks for all your comments!
 
Last edited:
EDIT

Website currently under revision. Thanks for all your comments!
 
Last edited:
I like the looks of the site. The home page is just how I like them: simple. My partner has the same inclination you have of listing all your gear. I don't like that. The average client doesn't know an HVX from an IUD. And it makes the page look like the classifieds. My main issue though is the tone of the writing. Someone once told me that when you apply for a job you should come across as "The humble greatest". Not the King's English but for my money, great advice. You don't come across as "Humble". You say,

"To this day it has the reputation of being one of the most thorough and best written contracts in the history of the legal department of the Department of Culture of the State Government of Michoacán."

For me that's a turn off, you sound full of yourself, not saying you are, I don't know you, but that's the impression I get. That sentence needs some work too. It's wordy and vague. Also, I spent a month in Michoacan, I like Michoacan and know it well. But the average American can't find Canada on a map of North America. I once had a supervisor ask me if Guam was near Jamaica. I do like the page though.
 
EDIT

Website currently under revision. Thanks for all your comments!
 
Last edited:
brianluce said:
My partner has the same inclination you have of listing all your gear. I don't like that. The average client doesn't know an HVX from an IUD. And it makes the page look like the classifieds.
Click to expand...
I have heard the same thing from others, and it is true- the average dipstick on the street hasn't got a clue what the difference between camera A and camera B is. However, somebody looking to hire a second camera very well might. If there is going to be a huge difference in footage, or even capture issues do to camera incapatabilities, they will obviously want to know. Same goes for lighting and audio. They want to hire somebody with lights and mics, it lets them know up front if you are a Pro with Arri Lights and Sennheiser equipment, or a novice with Home Deot work lights and an ATR55 mic that is going to make the audio sound funky.

Pretty clean site, and informative too. Nice job for a beginner.
 
Hi Manfred:

I like your web design overall, it's simple and clean, which is what I like best.

A couple of comments on your reel...

1. Dire Straits seems like a weird choice for a narrative reel but perhaps that's just me? That song is from the 80s but it was too popular to be ironic and it was too mainstream to be hip. I like Dire Straits but it just seems "off" for how you are using it. I believe that viewers would take the reel more seriously with a custom score. There are so many out of work mega-talented composers out there that would do an amazing job for a few hundred dollars. Since a lot of your work has a very Latin-tinged feel to it, I would think that music that is more appropriate to the visual feel of your shots would work better or do something completely opposite like Icelandic modern classical music. Dire Straits just seems out of place to me.

If you want to see how to best use score with a narrative reel, watch this http://vimeo.com/2404740 Excellent use of image fitting the music. Truly epic and thats what you want your reel to be.

2. Why did you leave the multiple slates in? Looks really kind of strange. I could see perhaps the first shot, just to give it a filmmaking feel but seeing more than one feels weird. Lose them.

3. Pick up the pace. You hold on the shot of the woman reacting as the camera zooms/dollies in on her. The end of the move looks really bad, like the camera operator stumbled or something. While I am not a fan of quick cuts all of the time, the visual pace and rhythm seems too slow and deliberate. Mix it up and have a few long shots followed by some really short shot sequences to build some drama and tension.

You have some nice work but you are not showcasing it to your best advantage.

Dan
 
my first impression was "man this dude didnt even care to shave for his picture."
lol
I agree with the comments above about your reel. It almost seemed like it was the oppiste of the edit.... like the shots to be used were on the cutting room floor and the shots to set aside were used. I saw glimpses of your shooting skills but had to apply creativity and patience to see them.
Don't make it a challenge for folks to see your talent. Lay that out there first.
 
I agree that Dire Straights didn't fit the reel. Also, you're using licensed music to promote a business. That's illegal. Major turn off. Corporate guys will think "He's gonna get us sued", artists will think "Pirate. No thanks."

With my comments about the tone, some of the statements aren't facts, they just idle boasts. For example saying "winner of audience award, LA Film Fest" is a fact, but saying "One of LA's most interesting and dynamic directors" (just an example) is mere opinion.

I sure like the look of the site though.
 
EDIT

Website currently under revision. Thanks for all your comments!
 
Last edited:
first impression of the poster is why no time was taken to fix the aspect ratio of the photo.
Also prints as a bad video still.
 
TheThe said:
I am sort of glad that so far only brianluce has found my tone to be objectionable. As far as using a preexisting song on one's reel, I don't know what to say... except that almost everyone does it. As a producer I have come across hundreds of reels from people from all over the place, especially NY and LA. And almost no one has original music specially commissioned just for their reel.

Santa-Web-Poster.jpg
Click to expand...

If English isn't a language you're comfortable with, have a friend write it.

If you think using copy protected music to promote your commercial interests is a good idea, then more power to you. That doesn't make it legal or ethical though. You could re edit some clips from "Godfather" to show your editing prowess too.

You don't have to commission original music -- there are other ways.

Anyway, I get the feeling you're more interested in a round of applause than constructive criticism. I'm done here. Good luck with you career.
 
hmmmm yeah people are really more likely to point out the negatives than the positives TheThe, i know it's hard not to get a little upset about it.. but they are just trying to help. ;)

i think that your demo reel could be better if shorter, and had original music as previously posted.

as for the poster, is it about a girl that has trouble sleeping? heh. honestly, it didnt really speak to me. all i noticed was the quality was kinda poor especially on the text...

this is a really good place to get feedback and improve things that you wouldnt have noticed on your own... best of luck to you. :)
 
In regards to the WIP poster, it doesn't grab my fancy. Something about that font screams "MS 3D Text." maybe it's because it is a low res pull or just how it's combined with the video still...kinda blocky in terms of design.

I don't know if anyone else got this first impression, but with the tan colors, grainy still, and blocky font, it sorta looks like an old western that takes place in bed. "Santa's adventures in bed," if you will.


I'm no graphics art expert, but I'd suggest going over to some place like http://www.movieposter.com and trying to see what similar techniques you could emulate for your movie poster. If you really want to use that picture, perhaps pull it out to the full poster (so no textured background).

Good luck!
 
Manfred:

I think you are taking all of this personally. This is, for the most part, a professional site with mostly indie filmmakers and working pros. I can tell you from experience that any time you post your creative output here or on any other site, you are going to get one of two things:

1. Brutal unfiltered honesty. Relax, this is what you need. You don't know any of us personally and none of us know you. Nobody reading this is probably going to hire you or finance your films, right? You should take it for what it is, solicited crtiticism from an audience that doesn't know you, not a personal attack on you or your work. All we do is compare your work against other work that we see out there and though most will not admit, perhaps our own work.

When I post work or a website or anything else for critique, I know I am going to get some possibly rude or harsh commentary but I also know that if more than two or three people are saying the same things, then it is probably true. I would MUCH rather have a bunch of strangers tell me my stuff needs work than to just delude myself into thinking my work is "that good", wouldn't you? In our business it is really hard to be objective about your own work. I looked at some docs I shot just a few years ago yesterday when I was cleaning out QTs out of my iTunes. Stuff I have not looked at for 3-4 years. Stuff that I used to be proud of. I was cringing on some it and some it held up well and I am still proud of it. That's a good thing, it shows growth as an artist. I am more talented and have better skills than I did 3 or 4 years ago, but I am still way at the bottom of the pile, relatively speaking. That's what gives me drive to keep on plugging away and keep on learning and improving my craft.

What would you rather have, a bunch of strangers you don't know and probably never will giving you the unvarnished truth OR your potential clients, investors, actors blowing you off because your work isn't up to par or it is up to par but you have not presented it in its best light? It is much worse when you meet someone, it looks promising for you to work with them, you give them your website, then they don't return your calls. It's happened to most of us whether it is from our reel, website, DVD, theatrical release. Few will admit it. I will, it has happened to me several times over the years.

2. Worse yet, would you rather go to a website where a bunch of people are just going to give you platitudes because they don't want to come across as "rude"? They look at your site and are thinking the same things that we are but are too wimpy to tell you their opinion? Bottom line, in your first post, you said, "Now I would like to get some feedback from the DVXuser community". I really don't think anyone in this thread has been mean sprited or vindictive, they are just telling you how your stuff appears, it is called feedback.

I have not posted the links to my website because frankly my website sucks, I haven't touched it since 2004. I haven't needed to because I have been so busy working since then. Now that it is slowing down, I will be going through the same thing you are with this, trying to get constructive criticism and changing it. A website, unlike your films, is not a work of art, it is an electronic business card and if people are telling you that your site and or poster are not working, you can either be an "artiste" and tell then to eff off or you can be a business person and take the feedback into consideration.

Do other people use copyrighted music for their reels? Yes, of course. So you would rather just be like everyone else? I am sure that is going to help you achieve all of your filmmaking goals.

You should be really taking some of this opnion to heart, nobody is saying you are untalented or a bad person, they are trying to give you pointers on how to best present what you have to work with, your talent and your work.

Good luck,

Dan

P.S. FWIW, I agree with all of the poster feedback. If it is a rough, rough and the image is temp, you shouldn't post it unless you say it is a rough, rough with a temp. Its like showing rough cuts, NEVER show rough cuts to anyone, other you and your editor because no matter what you tell them, people judge a rough cut like a finished cut. Besides the graphic advice, as a photographer, never shoot women bare legged from a low angle with them sitting down, it is very unflattering. The woman looks pretty and sultry but a better pose, shot from above would work much better.
 
puredrifting said:
NEVER show rough cuts to anyone, other you and your editor because no matter what you tell them, people judge a rough cut like a finished cut..
Click to expand...

This is a good point -- not matter how you preface a work sample of any kind, it's a rough, it's a first draft, it's test footage, no matter what, most likely you'll be scrutinized as if it were end product. Best just to get something as good as you can make it before throwing it out there.

Also, as far as I'm concerned, when you post something for comment, the last thing you'd ever want to do is come across as defensive -- as THETHE did by mistakenly concluding that opinions he didn't like were outliers. What's the point?
Then, as the thread sours, it discourages the next person from posting work and even others from commenting on it. Lose lose.
 
I'll throw my two cents in. The shots are nice overall, but it just lacks flow. The song just doesn't work for it. For a reel I think a purely instrumental piece tends to work better than a song with vocal, because instrumental piece allows you to change the mood on a dime (i.e tense, exciting to dramatic and sad) and therefore allows you to show a wider range of footage to demonstrate your versatility. As it is the whole thing feels pretty one note emotionally.

As to using a popular song in your reel, I don't agree with it and I've had long discussions with other people on this forum about it. Yes, an astonishing amount of people use copyright musics in their reel; doesn't make it right. It's so much easier to just pay a composer to write a great score that you can use again and again. I did it and it was the best $200 I've ever spent. My reel has gone through a dozen versions and the song still works. It sounds great and if anyone asks (a few people actually did) I don't have to tell them that I stole it from Lords of the Ring or whatever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top