Cinematography Reel 2018-2019 - ID# 242

Downers Grove North

Cinematography

Entry Description

Music provided by Audiomachine permission given by Audiomachine.

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/25 2:10 pm - Great subtle score backing images. Some shots do not scream DP Reel. Tracking shot is wobbly. Good diversity of shots. Solid use of lighting overall.
• 4/23 2:48 pm - Pros - Very nice work overall. Good variety shown in different styles and shooting situations. Your use of low key, high contrast lighting is the strongest part of this piece. Compositions are compelling and lighting works well to help create mood and support on-screen performances. The flashlight flares are very Janusz Kaminski and I dig it. This is a strong piece and shows that you have talent behind the lens. Cons - All of the stadium shots of the cheerleaders and football team are very contrasty. While it enhances the drama of the game, it also makes it hard to see detail and doesn't fit very well with the mood of the cheer team. Shot at :37 is out of focus - always check focus right before rolling, even if you are sure that the shot is sharp. Shot at :39 is very shaky and disorienting - anything you can do to stabilize/smooth out the movement would improve it. The shot at 1:11 have a nice focus shift to the guy walking away and then back to the kid facing the camera. The only issue with this is the actor facing the camera upstages the actor who exits through the door, blocking his entire movement, leaving the viewer looking at an out of focus MCU of the actor facing the camera. Try sliding the camera over on the horizontal of have the actor facing the camera stagger sideways after he gets bumped, allowing us to see the entire exit. This would better motivate follow focus and eventual shift back to first actor.

Judge 1

Positives: Nice work with stylizing your shots. Good use of movement with blocking characters and camera. All of your footage had a nice "cinematic" quality to it. Good use of different colors in lighting. Good diversity in your shots, you have some action, some faces, some depth of field use, movement, and subjects. These are all good things that a producer/director/employer will want see in a reel, diversity.

Improvements: I think overall your color grade and shooting is a tad too dark. Many of your shots could benefit from stronger lighting and/or not crushing your blacks and shadows as much. The cinematic look is nice but you don't want go overboard with it and make everything too dark. Although it is good to showcase the band footage for diversity purposes, the slow nature of the footage breaks up the pace as the video goes on.

Judge 2

Positives: Overall your control of exposure is solid. Your darks clean and not noisy. This means you nailed exposure in production so well done for that. I like your mix of both documentary footage and more narrative footage in this real. It shows your versatility as a cinematographer. I also like that the work overall has a consistent color to it. This helps to create a look for you as a cinematographer..

Improvements: Some of the shots were “soft” or out of focus in the cinematic shots. For that Type of work you want to make sure you are using manual focus. For more documentary Run and Gun production stick with autofocus. When you use autofocus you run the risk of the computer inside of the camera focusing on something you don't want to focus on. The color grade on most of the shots is nice, but you may be pushing some of the footage too far. Depending on what you shoot with and decompression you will only be able to push your color grade so far before it starts to deteriorate the image. Continue to work on Creative lighting. I like the flashlight, but after a while it turns into a one-trick Pony!

Judge 3

Positives: The composition of each shot seems well thought out and executed. Your coloring looks great, it doesn't look like you forgot to white balance.

Improvements: I would have liked to have seen more movement in the shots and playing with depth of field would help too. With such a strong piece of music in the background with heavy beats in the end you could have edited to the beat better and that would have improved the video.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: