showreel, candour appreciated

[Andrew Lynch]

Hey guys,

this is my first shot at putting a reel together. i'd love some educated feedback, in regards grading or any other more technical aspects.

appreciate it.

 

Reel

[Adrian Sierkowski]

It's not bad. I think the shots @ 48-51 and 56 really detract. I also am torn on whether you should break it up between docu style and narrative style. Also, I think you need to focus on one of the 3 thigns for the reel, either Camera/Edit/or Director. As someone looking to hire you, I have no idea what you did for each shot and as such have no basis of information to make a choice, you see what I mean?

[Andrew Lynch]

It's not bad. I think the shots @ 48-51 and 56 really detract. I also am torn on whether you should break it up between docu style and narrative style. Also, I think you need to focus on one of the 3 thigns for the reel, either Camera/Edit/or Director. As someone looking to hire you, I have no idea what you did for each shot and as such have no basis of information to make a choice, you see what I mean?

 

thanks adrian!

you mean, the shot of the 2 girls with the car, the overexposed talking head, and the other talking head with lights in background, right?

what is it, for you, that makes em detract? is it the lack of interesting angle/subject in the first and last, and the bad exposure in the middle one? or other problem?

 

i was torn myself as well about splitting it up. i think because i don't have enough of a variety of stuff yet on the doc/promo side, i didn't want to split it up.

would u split it up in the same reel? like first half doc, second half narrative? or make seperate reels?

 

good point about focusing on camera/edit/directing. i guess that would essentially be my camera reel, tho i directed one or two of my favourite shots from my short films. though i wasn't operating the camera, i can still leave it on a camera reel, right?

i probably haven't directed enough stuff for a directing reel, and lack the FX skills for a decent editing reel. probably best to concentrate just on DP reel for now? could i call what i have that, cos i did the lighting for most of it.

 

cheers,

andy

[Adrian Sierkowski]

The interview itself is just that, an interview outside (2 girls @48). without what they're saying it doesn't show anything more than pointing and shooting. It would be different if there was very interesting lighting happening, or in an amazing location, but it isn't.

Talking head is boring, and unless it looks really good, which this one doesn't, i'd nix it. For that you'd want to have the walls under exposed, him moved away from the walls, back light, and maybe closer in with a nice eye light.

 

You want to show your BEST work in your reel. If you haven't got enough work then you make a shorter reel! Don't add in stuff just to pad out time. It's quality much more than quantity.

 

 

as for talking head with light in BG. The light is too white to really feel in place, and it's at a bad angle, too hard, and aside from the lights in the BG we don't really get a good idea of place. It just sticks out to me for some reason. It feels very lit, almost "news like," and that's fine for a documentary reel, but in a narrative/montage reel it just kills and flow your other shots have made. I don't like to toot my own horn, but if you look @ my reel, the first 2 shots are a doco, as is 20 sec, 49sec-1:03 and 1:19, but they're also interesting shots (so I'm told by other people, though honestly I want to nix one of them and will eventually.)

 

As for the split. If you don't have enough on the doc-promo side, you needn't make a doc-promo reel yet. For the moment, let your narrative montage speak for you, or, have select sequences from docs/promos. I think those work better any way in that sense, as with Doc/Promo it's often a lot about what's said and the cinematography not getting in the way of the subjects, if you know what I mean.

You don't need to be camera Op to have it on your Camera reel if you were the one directing/lighting the shots. It's odd on the my own film things, as you often wear many hats. I don't see a problem with it so long as you can do it again without being the director ;) if you know what I mean.

For a directing reel, if you wanted one, segments of larger projects work. Though honestly, Try to specialize in one thing. Know about other jobs, but pick what you want to do and specialize in that and REALLY know it. I, as a DoP, am always wary of hiring, say a gaffer, who 1) has a reel, 2) has a "directors reel," or something similar to that as it just puts me off and makes me worry about the dynamics on set.

 

Good luck.

[Andrew Lynch]

The interview itself is just that, an interview outside (2 girls @48). without what they're saying it doesn't show anything more than pointing and shooting. It would be different if there was very interesting lighting happening, or in an amazing location, but it isn't.

Talking head is boring, and unless it looks really good, which this one doesn't, i'd nix it. For that you'd want to have the walls under exposed, him moved away from the walls, back light, and maybe closer in with a nice eye light.

 

You want to show your BEST work in your reel. If you haven't got enough work then you make a shorter reel! Don't add in stuff just to pad out time. It's quality much more than quantity.

 

 

as for talking head with light in BG. The light is too white to really feel in place, and it's at a bad angle, too hard, and aside from the lights in the BG we don't really get a good idea of place. It just sticks out to me for some reason. It feels very lit, almost "news like," and that's fine for a documentary reel, but in a narrative/montage reel it just kills and flow your other shots have made. I don't like to toot my own horn, but if you look @ my reel, the first 2 shots are a doco, as is 20 sec, 49sec-1:03 and 1:19, but they're also interesting shots (so I'm told by other people, though honestly I want to nix one of them and will eventually.)

 

As for the split. If you don't have enough on the doc-promo side, you needn't make a doc-promo reel yet. For the moment, let your narrative montage speak for you, or, have select sequences from docs/promos. I think those work better any way in that sense, as with Doc/Promo it's often a lot about what's said and the cinematography not getting in the way of the subjects, if you know what I mean.

You don't need to be camera Op to have it on your Camera reel if you were the one directing/lighting the shots. It's odd on the my own film things, as you often wear many hats. I don't see a problem with it so long as you can do it again without being the director ;) if you know what I mean.

For a directing reel, if you wanted one, segments of larger projects work. Though honestly, Try to specialize in one thing. Know about other jobs, but pick what you want to do and specialize in that and REALLY know it. I, as a DoP, am always wary of hiring, say a gaffer, who 1) has a reel, 2) has a "directors reel," or something similar to that as it just puts me off and makes me worry about the dynamics on set.

 

Good luck.

 

toot away, dude! checked out your reel, and I see what you mean.

thanks so much for your honest and useful advice. it's what i love about forums like this, people who can really help ya out.