watch Director's Reel 2011

Hi, I'd like some opinions and feedback on my Director's Reel. I'd like to attach it to resumes, but I'm not sure if it's good enough quality yet. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goiMcCdx5n0

Mind you, this is only my personal opinion....

I think the music is a little too heavy/hardcore for what video you have. It's also a little loud, can make it difficult to watch.

You have a really nice cinematography eye, btw. Really liked a lot of your camera blocking.

The editing could be a lot tighter. Do your best to make the cuts on the beats of the background music. Right now it looks like you simply cut to the next clip whenever you felt like it, which is pretty distracting.

Also, if I were you I'd try to make each clip match the "mood" of the song at that point. This type of a reel (by its nature) comes a step short of telling a cohesive story, so the next best thing is to make the audio and video "fit." Obviously that's a subjective goal, so you and I may completely disagree on the specifics, but if the shots and music seem to fit to you, chances are it will for someone else as well. For instance (this will change if you change the music), in the sweeps (is that what they're called?) at the front of most of the measures in the song, I imagine a slow-moving wide shot, followed by a few quick close-up shots after the sweep is over.

Things like that, while they can't tell a complete story (as it's a bunch of unrelated shots mashed together), help to get a feeling/theme/pace/tempo to the video. That makes the actual reel entertaining, which in turn makes me want to check out more of your work.

Good start!

Thank you for the feedback! After watching the video several times, I think you're right that the music might be a little too much, so I'll probably end up changing it. And I appreciate the compliment on my cinematic eye. It's been a dream of mine to be a Director some day, so the more videos I make, the more I learn and gain experience. I'm hoping to find some projects in the near future to get even more experience under my belt. Would you know of any forums that I might send this Reel to?

So, editing for the Reel aside, what are your opinions of the shots I chose? Do you think that they do a good enough job of presenting my skills as a cinematographer? As for lining up with the music, there are several parts where I can see it going hand in hand with the song, but as I stated above, I will more than likely change the song to something slower, or softer. When I originally cut the Reel, I didn't even think about the music's role in the film, I just thought of it as a good backdrop to the Reel. But if it's proving distracting, I will have to consider that.

It depends... what is the point of the presentation? To get a job?

zwgrad09 said:

So, editing for the Reel aside, what are your opinions of the shots I chose? Do you think that they do a good enough job of presenting my skills as a cinematographer? As for lining up with the music, there are several parts where I can see it going hand in hand with the song, but as I stated above, I will more than likely change the song to something slower, or softer. When I originally cut the Reel, I didn't even think about the music's role in the film, I just thought of it as a good backdrop to the Reel. But if it's proving distracting, I will have to consider that.

Click to expand...

This might just be my own issue, but the way I view a reel -- if you're going to add music then make it fit. Otherwise it may as well be a silent reel or include the actual audio from the shots.

As for what shots you chose... I can't give you a definitive answer because I haven't seen all of your works in their entirety, so I don't know what you cut out. Many of the shots looked very amateur (don't take this the wrong way -- you're much more experienced than I am, this is just trying to be an objective opinion) compared to many more professional reels that I've seen. I'm not saying you need an expensive camera for gratuitous depth-of-field (excessive depth-of-field videos are the action scenes of vimeo), but the shot composition and lighting could be improved. In my opinion (again, not necessarily yours), I like shots to be either dramatically wide or very close-up, and for each one to have a purpose. Medium shots only designed to get all the coverage necessary are very dull to me.

The one "creative" shot I saw was the first one where the camera went upside down. When you're getting creative like this, opinions will be all over the place. My personal one is that it was interesting, but I would have liked it better if it had "flipped" while looking straight up so it ended up right-side-up again. However, you may like it the way you have it and that's perfectly fine.

If something wasn't clear or you disagree, let me know!

1. Yes, the purpose is to try and market my skills to anybody who could offer me a position directing, assisting, producing, etc, an Indie film, music video, anything that would give me more experience. Of course, I can make my own films, and I plan to, it's just a resume idea.

2. I agree with you on the music. As for the amateur nature of the shots, I agree again 100%. Most of the shots I've cut are from a comedy group I created in college last year with a couple of friends with no acting experience. We made movies and the kids in my college loved them. After that, I decided that directing felt awesome, and continued learning more about the trade. My next few short films will be profoundly different than the reel you see before you, but I'm hoping that someone will like what I'm presenting, and offer me a job. As for the shots you thought could've been different, you are right to say that it's opinion related. I loved them . As my camera skills increase, the quality of my shots will increase as well, and I can't wait to see what the future brings.