2021 Cinematography Reel - ID# 57

Hillcrest

Cinematography

Entry Description

A cinematic montage highlighting the ways a plethora of memories influence ones life. These memories are portrayed through the lens of a girl surrounded by all of her thoughts and pictures from her past which come to a close as she leaves the memories behind to start her new journey. Written permission to use the song "Show Me" by Big Wild.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/29 3:18 pm - Pros - Very strong work overall. Strong compositions, use of color, and evoking imagery throughout. Manipulation of both natural and artificial lighting sources helped created diversity in your work and demonstrate your range. Your strongest compositions are in your closeups; they mostly work in your favor and convey message in a meaningful way. The tie in with the photo montage was a nice touch to make all the different work feel connected. Cons - This work was very strong and only a few tweaks would bring it to the next level. Abrupt focus shifts at times (0:14, 0:27, 1:23) and stabilizer/warp jitter (0:05, 0:22, 1:29) are a bit distracting to the viewer. A couple of your CUs tend to wander and, without context, lack a clear intention; this happens most notably at 0:17. Low angle at 0:54 struggles with contrast because your subject has insufficient light relative to the sky; a bounce card will work wonders in this scenario. All in all very strong work.
• 4/6 1:01 pm - Great job incorporating a through-line to stitch your reel together. You did a great job showing a diversity of natural and artificial lighting environments to not only show the mood but the manual engagement with light. The focus on human moments, little smiles, and interactions with the camera, brought another level to the work and matched the vibe created by the music.

Judge 1

Positives: Footage looks good, well exposed and nicely composed. Some great aerial shots that add production value overall.

Improvements: Could use a few more examples of nicely lit interior shots that demonstrate your mastery of lighting techniques, although what you have looks great I just would like to see a bit more.

Judge 2

Positives: The sonorous nature of the film's core, coupled with the relaxed pace of the film's visual tapestry is well done and quite effective. Very satisfying in its delivery. A nice, rhythmic pacing of the images are shown throughout; not a whole lot of reliance on the 'mechanics' of the camera use and show a great deal of strength in an observational style; sometimes this is effective in 'showing,' rather than 'conveying camera technique.' A very successful bookend in the opening/closing of the reel; not too emotional but with just enough of the cinematographer's personality to show through and to the point with great aplomb. This cinematographer shows a great potential for a documentary style approach to filming scenes (which does not preclude one from shooting narrative stories). The most effective scenes are of the dancers (in a mask); dynamic and fluid movements complement the camera in a nice arrangement of action vs. observation. Another good example is when the two people are walking away from the camera, against the setting sun (with just enough of a camera flare shown).

Improvements: Some of scenes could have been swapped out for variety; while the scenes are, in and of themselves, very nicely done, there was a feeling of some repetitiveness. The use of the camera gear (1:34-1:39 sec mark) is not necessary; this reviewer would rather be shown 'what' was shot by the cinematographer than 'how' (not that it isn't interesting, but in a cinematographer's reel it seems redundant). It's difficult to film a scene at sunset and this is evident in the young boy playing catch with his father figure. Remember, one can shoot at dusk with proper staging and a low sun, but make sure it's by choice and not as a default (perhaps the boy could have been shot with the fading sunset lighting him up?). As mentioned previously, camera flares should be considered and embraced fully, or not at all; in this case there was one good example (mentioned above), and one not so successful example (where the young boy is shown against the sun (37-39 sec mark), where the camera appears to move in anticipation of the sun (sometimes it's just as important to keep the camera still, rather than being dynamic).

Judge 3

Positives: The piece as a whole flowed really well and the pace of the piece kept the content moving. The natural lens flares and use of color and lighting during the dancing shots were unique and really added to the piece as a whole. The variety of shots from daytime to nighttime and indoor and outdoor really shows your skillset on how to adapt to different locations which is great.

Improvements: I would like to have seen more of a variety of shots instead of seeing repeated shots that were similar. The piece could have used more creative angles along with the use of different lighting techniques. Although the piece flowed well, the editing could have been taken to a higher level. I enjoyed the overlapping of shots at 1:21 and felt this level of creativity could have been used throughout the piece.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: