Demo Reel Advice

JJ Labritakis · March 7, 2011

I haven't posted on this forum, but I do spend a good amount of time reading around here and soaking in the pro advice. It's time to actually get involved and ask questions of my own. I'll start with asking advice about my demo reel. I'll take any criticism, advice, or anything you can help a noob student cinematography. Tear it apart if you'd like.

My Demo Reel

Thank you!

Nathan Blair · March 11, 2011

Welcome to the world of posting!

I like your stuff! I'm pretty new myself, but here's my opinion: You have really great stuff, and then some stuff you should just take out. None of it is terrible, but you should get rid of less impressive shots.

Your best stuff:

Slow-mo Skateboarder (beginning) - Very nice, subtle colors and textures. Good light modeling in background, and on subject.

sad guy on couch (00:31) - Lighting is decent, almost high-key, and soft. Colors look nice.

Punks with cars (00:38) - This is a decent shot. What's great about it is you effectively lit a group of people at night, amongst reflective surfaces. This is the material that will sell you as a DP.

Fisheye rockers (00:43) - Shows that you're knowledgeable about lenses.

Stuff you should take out:

Woman dropping shovel (00:10) - The first 3 times I watched your reel, I didn't understand why the frame was being obstructed and why she dropped her shovel, then I realized she was being held at gunpoint, but the exposure is way blown out on the arm, and it just screams amateur digital.

Drunk stumbling guy (00:23) - The overall exposure is a little flat, then the composition goes a little weird when he leans on a wall that's out of frame, and lit by some unknown source on the left? The worst part is all the cables coming out of the outlet in the background... that's a big time compositional no-no. I would just take out that whole sequence.

Denzel Washington (00:48) - If it weren't for the weird blur effects, it might be a good shot... but with all those effects it looks amateur to me.

Eminem (00:54) - This composition needs more contrast. Not much tonal separation between him and the wall... everything looks like it's exposed at mid-tone level.

Nervous man (1:04) - Skin tones look orange, and lighting is pretty flat on his face. He's out of focus pretty much the entire shot.