REEL - feedback

Felipe Perez-Burchard · October 8, 2004

Hello everybody,

I just got to LA a few days ago after graduating from film school. I finished cutting my reel yesterday and would love to get some feedback.

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~fperez20/

I know it's been discussed recently (Laura's post about being a trainee), but if anybody has any more ideas of what the next step would be, I'm all ears.

Thanks.

-felipe.

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · October 8, 2004

I have to say honestly felipe your reel was a bit pedestrian. Nothing really jumped out at me. It looks like a student reel, which is what you were. But it's the only thing you got so you have to go with it.

My thoughts would be to let some of those scenes play with the production sound. Can you do that? I think it might come off better that way in a less is more approach.

As far as getting a job, you should list yourself on Mandy.com and look through the available postitions. Read them carefully, after a while you'll be able to spot the jokers and the people who want a slave. Send resume's to all the production companies. Send your reel out too. I don't send my reel to a bunch of commercial companies because I'm interested in doccumentaries and features, probably also why my phone doesn't ring much. If you have a preference, you could concentrate on a particular area or take the shotgun approach.

After they get your resume or reel call them and introduce yourself and ask if they have anything going on and what they have coming up. Also, join every industry group you can and rub shoulders with directors and producers. That might actually be the best thing to do. That usually leads to the artistically fulfilling work. If you meet a director and make a connection on a friendship level.

Phil Rhodes · October 8, 2004

Hi,

Well, if that's pedestrian - and he's supposed to be five years less advanced than me! - I'm never going anywhere! I thought some of that was gorgeous, miles ahead of where I'll ever be.

Phil

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · October 8, 2004

Haha Phil, that's the problem with asking for an opinion from people you don't know. Who knows what people will like. It's competent work for sure, but I didn't find anything that I thought looked 'special', whatever that is. Felipe you have the basics wired for sure and the only place to go is up.

If Robert Richardson saw my reel and said it was good that would mean a lot more to me than if Richard Crudo said it was excellent.

Kevin Zanit · October 8, 2004

If Robert Richardson saw my reel and said it was good that would mean a lot more to me than if Richard Crudo said it was excellent.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I would take both complements. Richard knows what he is doing. His choice in projects may be a little ill advised (not that he has everything to do with that situation) but he does solid work, and is more than qualified to comment on someone else's work.

He would likely also be extremely helpful, and straightforward. Because that is his personality.

That said, I don?t know Richardson personally, but I do love his work. I would be more that happy if any of those two guys would sit down and look at your work.

Kevin Zanit

Jayson Crothers · October 8, 2004

Felipe~

Some very strong work - the puppet film looks fascinating (I'd like to see the actual film!).

Since it's clear that you're drawing footage from a handful of films, I might consider grouping them together - rather than a montage of random clips, perhaps montages of each film to different pieces of music? Or actual production scenes.......

The music isn't my cup of tea, but to each their own.

Keep it up and let us know.

Felipe Perez-Burchard · October 9, 2004

Thanks for all the replies,

I agree with you Mr. King, and I appreciate your honesty. And it IS all about opinions... and that's the great thing, because I don't know you guys personally, you can be totally objective. I know it's not great stuff, I kill myself with some choices I have made, but I can't get worse, and I can't keep it locked up in the cellar and not show it to anybody because that'll do no good... that's why I posted it. It's best to hear about the bad, because it forces one to improve.

I will cut a different version, allowing more of the production sound to come through and let it play more as scenes; slow the pace; in fact this version of a reel goes against some advice that was given in this forum, but I wanted to get one "quick cut / just images" version becasue a lot of other people whose opinions I respect as well suggested that this is what people want to see ("don't bore them"). I feel it doesn't tell anyone if I can shoot a scene, narratively speaking, or if the lighting can be consistent from setup to setup - extremely important things, but again, that might not be what people look at.

When I get the other version done, I'll post that.

Phil, thanks for the kind words. I'm sure your work is great, you've got to be confident (here I'm giving advice that I have heard over and over yet still haven't implemented :P

Thanks again.

-felipe.

PS - the hardest part now... getting a work visa :(

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · October 13, 2004

Where are you located Felipe? I too would like to see more of that puppet thing, it was creepy. Maybe you should emphasize that. Even though I said nothing jumped out at me, I have to say your reel was better than a few working professional reels I've seen. But that doesn't seem to matter as Phil has pointed out many times before and I'm starting to believe.

hmc4me · November 4, 2004

I can't speak much as a working cinematographer. All I've shot are commercials and sports for the tv statioin I worked for.

I can say I saw some of your work that I like but like others said it cuts away to fast to tell what is good or bad.

On the other hand the puppet thing looked cool. I would also love to see more of it. Can it be purchased somewhere?

Good luck

Anthony

Morgan Peline · November 6, 2004

Hi,

I just watched your reel and have to say the same - it looks obviously like a student reel and doesn't stand out or look special in any way.

I liked some of the shots you lit but felt that some of the first natural light day ext. shots didn't look that interesting to my eye. I also feel that it would be nice to actually see some sequences from the films. I also wasn't that interested in the shots of people running either.

For my own reel I include a minute and half montage of only my most beautiful or interesting shots and then after there are edited minute to 2 minute sequences from some of the shorts I've shot to showcase some of the different lighting styles I have used. Some are cut to music, some have the original sound. I like it but many people say that the structure doesn't look professional. Many people don't seem to like montages in a reel.

However, after having said that, a friend of mine who shoots low to medium budget features uses the same structure. What he did do though, as he shot more and more professional footage, was get rid of his student work bit by bit. When you look at his reel every shot looks like it could have come from a tv series or a feature. Even the shots he kept from the lowest budget rubbish that he worked on looks really good just by the way it is edited and what is shown. Of course, he is very talented...

What I noticed from your reel is that the films look obviously like student films. Especially the puppet sequences, regardless of the fact they look interesting. I would re-edit your reel to make the shots look less like they were from student films - to make them look like they come from bigger productions. One example is the focus-pull to the c.u. of the girl with flames in the foreground - I would cut out the gloved hand because it looks so low-budget and kitschy - I think the shot of the girl with just flames in front of her would look more impressive. Maybe you should get a decent editor who can be a bit more detached from your footage - he might see editing opportunities that you have missed.

Of course, as I am at about the same level as you, I don't actully know if 'student shots' bother people or not when they are looking for a DP so I might be offering completely the wrong advice.

Morgan

p.s. Which film school did you graduate from? What was it like?

Annie Wengenroth · November 16, 2004

Hi Felipe, it's really weird that I ran into you on here because I work at the Hamilton Hall cage and I probably packed a lot of your kits. :-) Hope you're doing well out in LA. I watched your reel and I thought a lot of the imagery was beautiful but that you could have used longer clips (I found it sort of distracting). I think if you slow down the pacing of the whole reel or mix up the pacing a little bit more, it will pull together better as a continuous piece and hold people's interest longer (and maybe have less of that "student" feel that some people on here were talking about, although I don't necessarily agree with that in the first place; I think it is better than a lot of the stuff that comes out of SCAD). Oh in case you're wondering, I don't know when you left the school, but Hamilton has the long-awaited computer checkout system now and in my humble opinion it totally sucks. There is more paperwork but the boss loves it, so there ya go. Anyway, good luck with everything.

December 11, 2004

Well it's certainly not the worst thing I've ever seen, and I've seen some crap.

I can't be as enthusiastic as Phil, nor as down as J. Lamar King.

So I'd say not bad for a recent film school grad.

The trick now is what will you do with it? There are a thousand roads up the mountain, I hope you find the right one.

DC

DavidSloan · December 12, 2004

I like your framing, a lot. I think some of the exterior stuff is framed very well and has some soul to it. Perhaps the lighting is not so strong, but for a film student your reel is just fine. Obviously it's an advanced student's work not some shlock. Good luck to you.