Daniel Carruthers Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Hey, I thought maybe I'll have better luck in this forum, sorry for the double posting I just want to hear some feed back on my new website and demo reel. The website still needs lots of work, but the demo reel is on it. And I mainly want to hear your opinions about the reel. Just let me hear it! :o thanksVisit My Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Dempsey Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Daniel, I only had time to look at your reel and I have a few comments: 1. The opening shot of the smoking bullet held a lot of promise but none of the following shots came close to it in style or potential. 2. It did not play like a reel. The scenes were too long and the music contributed to dragging the whole thing. It felt like you have shot three or four shorts and that's it. Variety is key in a reel and it all felt about the same to me. 3. The shots you chose did not highlight any personality or technique in your shooting style and were about as plain jane as I have seen. 4. You could do with some creative lighting in your shots, most are pretty flat and many are underexposed. 5. In one of the shots (the crane down to the approaching car), you and the camera are visible in the car's reflection. 6. The whole thing is really washed out and seems to be in dire need of some decent color correction. 7. It's way too long. My overall impression is that it does not look very professional and needs a lot of work. I'm sorry to be so harsh but this was my reaction to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Carruthers Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 :o ouch well I appreciate your comments. I agree on the length. I was never happy with the middle half. Also Im pissed to hear about that car shot cause every monitor Ive seen that shot on I couldnt see the camera, and I looked really hard, but you saw it, so that shot is history!! Also I purpsoly kept some scenes dark,like the guy on the phone or the guy in the wheelchair behind the fire. anything else that was too dark and your right its 4 projects, 1 feature, 1 music video, and 2 short films. It was the only stuff I worked on that I got a hold of the master tapes, Ive done 2 more features since and I really want the footage. Also the whole reel was shot on minidv the panasonic dvx100a, just used the standard lens. I really want some more variety, I got a 16mm short on the go, and a music video in HD, so hopfully those turn out good. And nope I didnt do any color correction. I was quite happy with the color.so thats the only thing I disagree on. back to the editing room <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Carruthers Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 any more comments, before I get the hack saw to my reel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Dempsey Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 What I meant by creative lighting was not necessarily that the shots were too dark but there wasn't enough definition in the character's face or in the architecture of the scenes. A little lighting would add some depth and dimension to the shots. Also, regarding color correction, I'm really talking about bringing your black levels up somewhat. As it is, blacks that should be rich are milky. A slight adjustment will make everything pop better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Carruthers Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 What I meant by creative lighting was not necessarily that the shots were too dark but there wasn't enough definition in the character's face or in the architecture of the scenes. A little lighting would add some depth and dimension to the shots. Also, regarding color correction, I'm really talking about bringing your black levels up somewhat. As it is, blacks that should be rich are milky. A slight adjustment will make everything pop better. I see your point, I think when I tend to light dark, every thing is really one tone than underexpsed. I think I need to try to have more contrst by overexposing slightly and leaving the shadows to fall off underexposed. Also about the blacks would I just adjust the contrast, Im a little embarresed to admitt that I really dont know much or care much about post colour correction. which probly doesnt come as a big surprise. So if I add more contrst will that make the blacks richer? is that what you mean? thanks dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Dempsey Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 You can start by adding some contrast but you will have a lot more control using an actual levels adjustment. This will allow you to preserve your mid and bright tones while only adjusting black. I'm not sure what NLE you are using but they all have that particular adjustment available. I can't emphasize enough how important color correction is. It can make the difference between flat and ho-hum shots to showing the true potential of the original colors plus will make your shadow and light difference more obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Dempsey Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 One more thing, if you haven't already read this, do it now...it's very useful info on what a reel should and shouldn't be: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...st&p=217257 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Carruthers Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 One more thing, if you haven't already read this, do it now...it's very useful info on what a reel should and shouldn't be: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...st&p=217257 Read it thanks, also I have magic bullit for color correction, whats NLE mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Hall Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Read it thanks, also I have magic bullit for color correction, whats NLE mean? Non Linear Editing, Whatever software you are using to edit the reel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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