Tell me what you think

Hickman, dude, you got big balls, posting your film school stuff on a board like this and asking for a critique. There is no way, I would post the stuff I did in school here. My hat is off to you. Ok, for some critique; one thing is, you have some serious talent with your motion graphics, but the live action/narrative video that follows the kick ass motion graphics is a let down. On your sample reel, you have a lot of shots of talking heads, but you cover it with your music. It just doesn't play. In my opinion, what you need to do is make several reels. The first one should be a kick ass, motion graphics heavy, action only reel, of about a minute, a minute and a half. In this reel, just use images that carry without sound; no CUs of people talking, with no dialogue. In this reel, I would just use all action and glamour shots (go out and shot some magic hour shots, preferably with some real good looking actors). Since you are very good with motion graphics, I would make a totally separate reel for that. Take a month and go out and get graphic elements (still images, video images, found video, ect) and make a killer motion graphics piece showing off your skills in this area. I would also drop the "Digital Restoration" services from your reel. That should be something that is an extra on your company website, when you set that up.
Now, as for your webisode comedy and other narrative videos, man, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they look like film school projects. My biggest critique of the your work is that it is first off, way over lit. Now, this is so common with low budget video, but you can over come this. What I have learned, to make video more cinematic, is that you want to set your camera to the gain setting desired, then to the widest aperture possible, and then to the lowest shutter speed possible, without blurring (around 1/30th a second), and then light to that. This is opposed to the usual technique of setting up what is thought to be the best lighting design, then setting the camera to that. This is wrong, and usually makes the video over lit. Set the camera first, then light to that. The next thing that I have to critique about you videos is that your blocking/framing sucks. Sorry about that, but it does. Your blocking and framing screams "Amateur". Don't be afraid to get in close to an actor to shot them. You shot your talent from too far away and from an obtuse angle. Almost every shot you have of your actors is in a medium shot and the angle you shoot them in is almost always 45% off their eye-line or more. Your actors are the most important element of your story. Get in close to them and shot them just a hair off their eye-line. You shoot your dialogue scenes about 45% off center of the actors' eye-lines and from too far away. Move in to about 10% off the eye-line or less, and frame them from about the nipple line to about the top of their heads, or closer. For most of the stuff I saw that you have done, this MCU framing should be sufficient, but there are places where closer shots would be appropriate. Don't be afraid to get closer and more in line with the eye-line of the actor.
There is another issue that I have with your videos, the blocking of some of your conversations. You have done what I call the, "Yeah let's stop here and talk about our story" blocking on a lot of your conversations, and framed them badly as noted above. Dude, you have a hand held digital video camera. It is capable of covering dialogue and action while moving. Block your scenes like real people move and talk and follow them with a moving camera.
What I would suggest it that you get a copy of your favorite movie; you know what the movie is, and watch it over and over. Watch your favorite movie frame by frame and study exactly how the filmmaker of your favorite movie frames his CUs, his dialogue scenes, his action scenes. Watch your favorite movie and see how each scene is blocked, and when, and why, the camera is moved and for what effect. Study your favorite movie until you can lay awake at night and watch it, in your mind, frame for frame. When you have done that, start watching other movies, and compare and contrast them to your favorite movie. Study film.
When you make your next film, use what you have learned from watching your favorite film for every shot.
My last piece of advice about fictional narrative films is, if you set up a shot and it does not make you say, "Wow", change the shot.
 
Much better then other student projects I've seen. When I was doing the technical stuff in school there was always that problem of being in sync with others in my group.... you did well in that regard. Time to fly away and do some real powerful stuff now..... you have the knowledge.
 
I really appreciate all your replies. In fact I am currently breaking appart each an every scene of many different films to see how and why the shot is framed that way to tell the story. There is so much more than just a good story. Telling is very difficult but its comming along. I break down each scene I shoot beat by beat trying to understand why I should frame up nd direct the scene a particular way. THANKS ALOT THE FEED BACK WAS EXTREMELY HELPFUL. I WILL SHOOT SOME OTHER STUFF, POST IT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK

THANKS AGIAN
 
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