New reel version, please view and comment!

Chris Keth · May 21, 2008

Hi, everyone. I know this gets tiresome but I really do appreciate the feedback I get here on the various incarnations of my demo reel. I generally get the most useful, unbiased opinions here.

It can be viewed or downloaded here.

Best,

Chris

Matthew W. Phillips · May 21, 2008

Hello Chris,

I watched the large version of this reel after updating my archaic version of Quicktime.

I think that you totally nailed the right time length of a demo reel. It didn't wear out it's welcome and it displayed a good mix of the different things you can do. Also, the music was pretty good for the shots you incorporated.

I could be wrong on this, so correct me if I am, but it didn't seem like you had an equal proportion of items shot on film and those shot digitally. This may have been intentional if you prefer one medium over the other, but I noticed from your resume that you have experience in S16 as well as HD/DV cam. I always felt that "hybrid" Cinematographers as yourself would benefit from not intercutting digital and film together in reels but actually having seperate reels for digital and film works and submit your reel to the Producer/Director based on their origination preference. This will avoid film enthusiasts from wrongfully putting down your work when it's more an issue of the difference of film and digital as opposed to your cinematography and vise versa for digital.

I'm sorry for rambling.

Chris Keth · May 21, 2008

I hadn't thought about that, actually. Upon checking, my reel is entirely film right now. I had some shots from HD but replaced them recently, not because they were digital but because there were better shots to include.

Edited May 21, 2008 by Chris Keth

Greg Johnson · May 21, 2008

Hey Chris,

On first glance I noticed lot of tight shots, I was left wanting to see more wide shots, like your opening shot.

It seems to me like a lot of the shots need to be color corrected.

The shots with cigarettes are too long! The one where the guy gets shot from behind is SUPER jarring. Every time I see it, on your last reel too, I think the actor bumps into the camera and it takes me out of the shot. Then the shot of the guy lighting up in the alley is too long and too contrived I think. It reminds me of the smoking man be revealed on every other episode of the x-files.

The shot with the man looking at the gun while that lamp is in the foreground bugs me, I don't know what it means or what the relevance is. But that's my opinion, I might just be stupid.

All in all though it's really good. I just focused on critiques, sorry. I think the reel is the perfect length, I know it's really hard to whiddle it down to a short runtime. The music still works, it's the perfect song for a reel.

Good luck with the new reel!

- G

Chris Keth · May 26, 2008

Anyone else feel as Greg does about the smoking guy getting shot? It works rather well on a larger screen, combined with sound the jarring effect (which is intentional and caused by me, not the actor bumping it, BTW) is quite effective.

I'd like to know what other people think.

Satsuki Murashige · May 26, 2008

Hey Chris, looks pretty good. :)

I would suggest putting your newest and most impressive footage up front, ie. the low-key hallway shot at the end and the wide of the dark nightclub. Also group footage from the same project together. I'd like to see more of the hallway stuff, I remember reading your thread about that shoot and thought the screen grabs showed your most impressive work so far.

One problem that I noticed, the black levels on footage from different projects tend to jump around quite a bit. I'd check them on the waveform in FCP or whatever NLE you're using and anchor them all at 0 IRE or thereabouts. Another benefit of grouping the footage by project is that it makes it pretty easy to color correct them in batches.

Jamie Lewis · June 23, 2008

Anyone else feel as Greg does about the smoking guy getting shot? It works rather well on a larger screen, combined with sound the jarring effect (which is intentional and caused by me, not the actor bumping it, BTW) is quite effective.

I'd like to know what other people think.

Chris, good reel!

I just watched it and I have to agree with Greg. Since it's intentional it doesn't come across like that in the reel. It comes out just as Greg explained, like he hits the camera. I'd ditch it or use a different clip of it.

Edited June 23, 2008 by Jamie Lewis