Demo Reel - ID# 234

New Trier

Cinematography

Entry Description

A look into the mind and through the eyes of an incredible, up-in-coming cinematographer: Matt Booden.

Copyright Info

The royalty-free song, "In Faith" by Emorie was purchased by Matt Booden and proof was sent to Mark Ciesielski.

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/22 11:25 am - Pros - very solid work here overall. Lots of variety in composition, movement, and environment. Your closeup work is very strong (0:36, 1:20), especially on inanimate objects; good depth and texture to those shots. The slow-mo was mixed in nicely and amplified the emotion of certain moments, like the helmet raise and the bowling ball. Cons - Exposure was a bit all over the place at times, causing blow out and detail loss in the highlights (:54) and muddiness and flatness in the underexposed shots (:47). Watch your white balance in mixed lighting or tricky situations (:23). The ongoing interview in this piece has a nice contrast ration on the face, but we lose his shoulders into the background. Try pulling him away from the wall to add depth, use an edge light to draw him out, or using contrasting colors to create depth between the subject and the background, especially if space on the set is tight.
• 4/14 12:11 pm - +Great shot variety! +Good job capturing emotion in your shots. -White balance is off on outside track shot

Judge 1

Positives: Good shot composition throughout, you frame your subjects in interesting and cinematic ways. You have a great variety in your lighting situations. Its great you see that you can work with subjects and situations with both natural light and controlled or manipulated light.

Improvements: I appreciate the thematic wraparound to your reel with the interview about living life but within a DP reel it feels a bit distracting A few shots and situations could have used a bit more control over the lighting. For example the restaurant robbery with Michael Myers and the tunnel shot at 1:49 could have used some adjustments. For example on the restaurant, diffusing the exterior light and adding some more daylight balance light from the front would even the color a bit more maybe even create some more depth. Unfortunately as early DPs its also up to us to determine the appropriate backgrounds and environments for shots so that the lighting look flattering.

Judge 2

Positives: I appreciate that you tried to do something different with your reel. That's important because it'll help you stand out from everyone else. 0:12 beautiful drone shot. 1:02 nice shot.

Improvements: 0:29 I would have either chosen a different background or pulled him at least a foot away from the background and thrown a small LED key on him tfor separation. 1:26 watch your headroom. i feel the subject should be full body. Best wishes in all future endeavors. #makemovieshappen

Judge 3

Positives: Love the shot in the stairwell with the kid walking down, really really nice. Also, for a reel, I found yours very interesting. With the narrator, and periodically coming back to the bowling ball riding that rail down to a strike, it was almost telling a story, at least a start and finish, pretty cool

Improvements: Opening your reel with something cute, or graphics, or something that’s memorable can seem like a really cool idea. And in some cases it might get you noticed, but what you should really do is let your work speak for itself. Start your reel with your favorite shot, something epic and beautiful that will stay on their minds Lighting, lighting, lighting, take your time, especially when you’re interviewing somebody, do you want to get them lit as well as you possibly can. Also, I can’t stress this enough, when I was your age, I didn’t have 2% of the talent you have, keep at it

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: