Ellie Compton Cinematography Reel 2021 - ID# 149

Metea Valley

Cinematography

Entry Description

Collection of work shot 2020-2021 by Ellie Compton. Music: Lilac Skies, Courtesy of YouTube Audio Library

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/29 9:32 am - Pros - Very strong overall work. Lots of variety in different lighting situations, both natural and artificial, interior and exterior, day, night, and dusk. All pulled off very well, while maintaining contrast and exposure control. Movement was strong and help enhance the emotion in some of the shots, like the ones on stage at :19 and 1:30, the spinning at :51, the subtle bump in at :47, and the briefcase follow at 1:18. Nice rack focus at 0:01 and 1:06. Focus is strong throughout and overall tonality shows good control and command of the image. Cons - Not a whole lot to say here. Would have like to see more artificial lighting situations that didn't involve a stage performance. Dusk shoot at 0:13 is nice but appears a bit underexposed or past the "magic moment". The trees at 0:16 and the painting at 0:35 are two of your weaker shots in terms of movement, composition, and lighting and could probably stand to be excluded from the reel.
• 4/6 12:59 pm - Great range of shots, perspectives and work- clearly a diverse reel that reflects you overcoming a variety of artificial and natural lighting conditions. I like the different angles, especially towards the beginning, that signaled the viewer to a defined part of the frame which kept the viewer engaged.

Judge 1

Positives: You have one of the best controls of lighting that I have seen in this competition this year. Not sure if all of it was you but take note that it looks good. Its fantastic to see a student dive into something as difficult as lighting in this way. Nice editing technique to put it all together.

Improvements: Some of the compositions just look a little flat. I would have like to see a bit more style to some of the footage included. I understand its difficult in certain situations in order to tell the story but I just would like to see a bit more of a unique style in your reel. There are a lot of guitar shots and I think you could cut back a bit on the amount of those.

Judge 2

Positives: The sonorous nature of the score, coupled with the visual rhythm of the reel was highly effective. This reviewer really appreciated the dynamic interaction with the action scenes and the upbeat nature of the clips even without the score. Its tempo, established by cinematics alone were very successful, only to be augmented fully, and completely, with the addition of the music; this shows the strength of the reel. The almost static nature of some of the scenes at the beginning were a good introduction to the more active scenes later on. The reviewer appreciated the scene of the young girl on the rotating merry-go-round; keeping attention focused on the subject while the background shows a moving, active scene.

Improvements: Where a scene needs further consideration, is in that of the bicycle scene. It could have been more in step (faster movement) with the pacing of the music. Another scene that could have used a faster pace is in the card playing scene (1:04:30-1:06 sec mark). A really terrific scene was when the briefcase was being switched (1:18-1:21 sec mark). The rhythm of the walking with exchange was felt to be a smoother transition, contrary to the scene (1:24-1:27 sec mark) where the sunset seems too slow and languishing in its pace (could have used a few frames less).

Judge 3

Positives: Overall there was a wide variety of shots with a range of subjects featured which kept the piece interesting. I liked the use of different shots with different lighting inside and outside. The editing and overall pace of the piece was good.

Improvements: Although most of the subjects in the shots moved, the camera movements were minimal so I would have liked to have seen more creative movement with the camera work. As a whole, I think this piece could have used more creativity when it came to shot composition.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: