Cinematography Composite - ID# 56

Hillcrest

Cinematography

Entry Description

Permission to use music from "Gate" (Song - Kei by Gate). During a mini trip in 2020, my family and I went to California and Dubai. The footage from California was primarily in Los Angeles and Venice beach. I used a Sony A7III and made a relaxing video with all of the footage that I compiled during my trip.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/29 9:34 pm - Pros - Very strong compositional skill on display in this piece. Exposure, focal, and contrast control were all excellent and consistent; which all paved the way for your strong color work in post. Movement and tracking was incredibly smooth and maintained effective framing. The slow motion choices were effective in adding grace and drawing attention to the elegance of the shot's subject, particularly in the waterfall and the water feature shots. Cons - this piece was very strong and everything on display was executed at a high level. The shots on display demonstrated an exceptional skill of a narrow focus. Lack of artificial lighting scenarios and human subjects made the piece feel incomplete. And this is subjective, but the drone at the end did not fit; it left this viewer with the feeling of visiting the meat factory and seeing how the sausage is made.
• 4/6 1:09 pm - Great job incorporating a through-line throughout to stitch your reel together. You did a great job showing a diversity of natural lighting environments to not only show the mood but the manual engagement with light. The focus on unique elements of the different locations brought another level to the work and matched the vibe created by the music.

Judge 1

Positives: What you have here looks fantastic. Great composition, exposure, and a clean polished slick look to all of it. Your color grading looks professional and very impressive

Improvements: There is very little variety here. All exterior, and all natural light. You aren't demonstrating any mastery over lighting technique or composition for human subjects. Need to see more variety in a reel

Judge 2

Positives: The cinematographic elements are well done and give a sense of completeness in terms of a visual and evocative journey. The cinematographer's style has chose to use clips from various locations showing a 'send of now' compiled in a dynamic and well stitched series of images. The opening 15 seconds dramatically pulls the viewer into a fascinating world of images. They compel the viewer to stay with the visual tapestry that is woven and shown with incredible drama. Nicely visualized with an interesting dichotomy set up in the charming 'nature' of the forest vs. 'man-made' of Dubai in steel and glass.

Improvements: The pacing of the film could have been more in line with the images that were being shown. While some clips could have been slowed down for the emotional drama, other images could have been dialed up according to the speed of the action within the scenes. I think the most successful elements of the film were: 1) (7-10 sec mark) pulling the viewer in to Yosemite National Park (?), with the music score perfectly timed to announce the beginning of the journey; 2) (15-19 sec mark) the opening shots of Dubai - actually could have linger on just a tad longer and 3) (29-42 sec mark) the segue from the skate park to the dramatic waterfall image with the divers... quite nice. However, I think the direction of the waterfall and divers could have been in the opposite direction, showing a close-up of a diver and then show the larger image in a wider shot... with the direction of the camera going against the fall of the water. In this way, the divers would really look like they're diving. Speaking of direction, the of the clip (42.5 - 46 sec mark) of the pine needles could have been swapped with the next segment of the vertical tree (47-52 sec mark) to show the direction of the camera blending in with the 'nature' vs. 'man-made' aspects. Similar color tones, too. Please lose the the charming clip of the drone... it's cute but the last nine seconds (58 - 1:07 sec mark) could have been used to show 'what,' rather than 'how.' The music, in and of itself, is a good choice, but a little less convincing when compared to the visuals. The cinematography shows a more active engagement whereas the music is of a more sonorous and relaxing quality - nothing wrong in that - but could have been more up-paced.

Judge 3

Positives: This piece flowed well with the help of music and unique transitions. As a whole, this piece was edited at a great pace. The footage was artistic and visually pleasing. You can tell each shot was strategically planned.

Improvements: Most of the shots in this video were slow-motion or timelapse and, although these added to the piece, the repetitive effect made the piece predictable. For the most part, most of the shots were wide-shots and landscape. I would have liked to see more of a variety of shots including people for example. Although the piece flowed, each shot was similar in style so there was not a ton of variety in lighting or mood.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: