Narrative reel for critique.

[Steve Milligan]

http://www.ghostmap.com/reel/reel.html

 

Steve Milligan

[Guest LondonFilmMan]

Very nice. Good lighting. Nice mood. Sensitive.

[Ram Shani]

hi

 

very good i like the way you place the camera very good lighting i like the way you use forgruond and back gruond

 

 

i would loos the two two shot in the car its not in the level of the real

 

is it most shot on video i think i see dvx work here???

[Steve Milligan]

very good i like the way you place the camera very good lighting i like the way you use forgruond and back gruond

Thank you.

i would loos the two two shot in the car its not in the level of the real

Interesting! Wouldn't argue with you myself, but I've had those shots singled out for praise by others.

is it most shot on video i think i see dvx work here???

Good eye, there's some DVX toward the end.

Steve

[andres victorero]

Great reel, awesome images.

Did you use the anamorphic adapter in the DVX?

[Bill Totolo]

That was beautiful lighting, Steve. Nice use of colors. But do you have anything that features blocking?

 

This probably sounds unusual, but most of your frames seem static, where limited information is transmitted. Everything is evident upon first glance. It would be nice if some kind of visual grammer was used to express your command of cinematic language.

 

Some might consider that the director's job, I feel a DP adds a lot to the visual storytelling of a picture.

I want to see more than just pretty pictures, not to slight your work because it is very beautiful.

 

Trying to be helpful, not nit-picky.

[Oliver Ojeil]

Dear Steve,

What was the scene where the camera tilts up revealing a man and woman kissing in a car shot on?

Also the scene where a woman comes down the stairs and walks toward the door, where exterior lighting illuminated the hallway, what was it shot on?

Regards

[Steve Milligan]

Sorry for the delayed response(s), busy all of a sudden.

 

Andres: I didn't use an anamorphic on the DVX for any of these shots, and though I've used it plenty in the past, I've pretty much retired it at this point.

 

Oliver: The woman in slippers going from the stairs down the hallway was done on a DVX100, just before sunset in January. It's hand-held, found light.

 

The couple in the convertible was shot with something from the the PD-170 family, can't remember which I'm afraid. It was on a porta-jib, at magic hour, in early summer, and on that one I did have the Century Optics anamorphic adapter. It's the only Sony, only interlaced, only jib, only anamorphic adapter shot, and by far the oldest, so it's interesting that you picked it out. I can't remember if we silked anything, probably not.

 

Bill T: On blocking...far from nit-picking, I think this is quite astute, and something I had overlooked. Probably a genuine weakness of mine, though I've attempted my share of three-minute moving shots. I used to want to be Urusevsky, now I'm studying a lot of Mark Lee Ping-Bin and Yutaka Yamasaki. But the point is valid, I'll go back and see if I can wedge in some longer shots which might show something different. Certainly the reel which encouraged me to post here--Jody Lee Lipes', which has at this point been watched by anyone who wants to be considered my friend--includes some great blocking.

 

Anyway, thanks for the input, this is exactly what one wants when posting something for critique, fresh eyes offering an insight one had missed (especially when it is tactfully cushioned with praise). So please, all opinions are welcome.

[James Steven Beverly]

It looked pretty good. I would have liked to have seen more vistas and a bit more variation in lighting conditions, although there were a few I think it would show off your talent a bit more if there were more variations, but over all It looks terrific. Just my opinion

[Ram Shani]

hi

 

just look at it again and the first two shots are so great

 

how did you do it. is it location ?

 

the mood the movement of the backgruond

 

i wish i had shot like this on my real :D

 

what you can tell me about it is it from music video or dramatic film

 

look like there is inspration from wkw and chris doyle work

[Kitao Sakurai]

Hey there!

 

Very nice work. I think what it does best, really, is showcase your very specific eye. I don't really love those "I can do every kind of shot/film/mood/genre" type of reel, because they don't really give me a sense of what the DP is thinking or what she is concerned with, visually. As a director (being that I work as a DP), I would want to work with somebody with very strongly defined notions of what they want to see up on screen, and I think that your reel appeals to (hopefully) others who want the work of a DP with "big ideas"....

 

Couple minor things. A couple shots bothered me not because they were badly lit or composed but simply because they screamed video - towards the beginning, we see a group of people at a table in front of a window, I'd consider losing that, and I can't remember where it comes but a very high-key shot of a black guy looking to the side, which seemed very "video hot" to me, and didn't really otherwise contribute to the reel. Minor things, though.. I think you should take them out only because the rest of the work is so strong...

 

 

Can you talk just a bit about your background? where do you live/work?

 

 

You mentioned the work of some very interesting DPs. Would you list some films that are close to you, or that you're enjoying/taking insparation from at this moment?

 

 

cheers,

 

 

kitao

[Steve Milligan]

hi

 

just look at it again and the first two shots are so great

 

how did you do it. is it location ?

 

the mood the movement of the backgruond

 

i wish i had shot like this on my real :D

 

what you can tell me about it is it from music video or dramatic film

 

look like there is inspration from wkw and chris doyle work

 

Wong Kar Wai/Chris Doyle/William Chang have spent a lot of time inside my DVD player. I wouldn't want to stand in comparison, but your comment does not displease me.

 

Everything here is from short narrative films. Music video will have to be another reel.

 

The shot you mention was fortuitous. I did little but notice it was there to be shot. The script called for a follow focus of a man sleeping on an ascending escalator, but on the morning we were to shoot, after months of negotiation we lost the escalator, which was in a train station, to homeland security concerns.

 

We called around and were offered a nightclub, where we shot the next night without scouting. On arriving we discovered they had a wheelchair lift, like a small freight lift with no enclosure, and we made the sleeping escalator shot a sleeping elevator shot. All I did was replace the bulb at the top of the shaft with a brighter one. The faux dof is caused by placement of the camera closer to the actor's knee than the lens's minimum focus distance, which could hardly be helped anyway. The light gets gradually brighter as he ascends, though you can't see it in these 2-second cuts. I also have an angle where I perched on the motor at the top of the shaft, but of course the lighting is flat.

 

It intriques me that a wheelchair lift would open directly onto a night club dance floor. I don't think we could have made that up. The silhouette with the blue background is from the same location. A couple of days later we stole the escalator shot in a hotel, but I don't have that tape.

 

Note that the dv35 short "Marla" by The Black Sheep contains a wonderful long freight elevator shot, no doubt I had it in mind when we improvised this one, and for all I know they might have been referencing an earlier precedent.