Charlie Leiman Cinematography Reel - ID# 205

York
Cinematography
Entry Description

My Cinematography reel for the 33rd annual MMEA Film Festival. Featuring footage from various events across the last year, including York football, Butler University Swimming, The Chicago Auto Show media day, White Sox Elite baseball at Rate field, and more.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/29 1:36 pm - This reel has some incredibly beautiful football filming that catches the eye right away. As it proceeds, many later shots are a bit eclipsed strength of that and the solid quality of the earlier shots. Also there are no fictional scenes here which would mean that you're not focusing more on in-depth cinematography skills, and you are being limited by event driven filming. You are on your way - keep at it!
  • 4/28 3:06 pm - You’ve done some great work with shallow depth-of-field follows in your sports coverage—it really helps isolate the action and shows you know how to guide the viewer’s eye. To reach the top tier of this category, I’d love to see you apply that same skill to a wider variety of spaces and subjects. While the car show footage looks good, that environment provides a lot of 'pre-set' artificial lighting that does the heavy lifting for you. The goal for an 'Excellent' rating is to show the judges you can create that same professional look in challenging, less-than-ideal locations where you have to build the light and composition from scratch.
  • 4/6 2:35 pm - PROS This reel is a masterclass in sports cinematography, demonstrating a high level of technical skill and artistic intent. The opening shot of the football player (0:01) uses dramatic, low-key lighting to create an intense, heroic atmosphere that immediately grabs attention. The transition to hockey (0:05) and baseball (0:07) showcases a consistent ability to capture high-speed action while maintaining a shallow depth of field, which beautifully isolates the athletes from their backgrounds. The color grading is particularly impressive, giving the entire reel a cohesive, professional broadcast look that feels both modern and cinematic. IMPROVEMENTS While the sports footage is exceptional, the reel could benefit from showing a bit more thematic variety to prove versatility for non-athletic projects. Some of the commercial-style shots, such as the car show sequence (0:15), are slightly heavy on the blacks, potentially crushing detail in the shadows. Balancing these high-contrast scenes with a few more naturalist or lifestyle setups would demonstrate a broader range. OVERALL This reel is incredibly strong and stands out as one of the most polished examples in the group. It successfully combines technical precision with a clear understanding of mood and brand-style storytelling. With just a slight expansion of subject matter and more attention to shadow detail in high-contrast scenes, this filmmaker is clearly ready for professional-level commercial or narrative work
Judge 1

Positives: You have demonstrated good control and smoothness in some of your panning shots, which is a key fundamental.

Improvements: As you build your next reel, challenge yourself to add more scenes that rely on different techniques (e.g., lighting contrast, depth of field, or handheld) to show your versatility. let’s see you master the variety—more dramatic lighting, different shot sizes, and diverse camera movements.

Judge 2

Positives: The opening sports clips are the strongest in the bunch; telling a clear story with composition and lighting. You've positioned yourself well to capture the important details without losing the important background context. Nice and smooth operating and solid gimbal work as well.

Improvements: I'd like to see a bit more variety in composition and subject material. Many of the shots feel similar and are focused on capturing an event rather than telling a story.

Judge 3

Positives: I really enjoyed the shot @00:02 with the lighting, just make sure to bring the light more forward so the players/actors eye aren't in shadow if you do this type of overhead lighting again.

Improvements: @00:02 the shutter angle is off. Unless you are making an artistic choice with going away from what people are us to seeing don't do it. Unless its in slow-mo, 23.98fps, 180 degree or double fps for shutter speed. I would focus on adding more variety to your work, as a great cinematographer you want to show the range of capability you have. many of your shots were chest up or waist up. In the edit we didn't pull out to a wide or paced to tell a story.

Judge 4

Positives: Strong opening shot. Clean sharp photography. 0:08 good composition. 0:12 good camera movement. 0:37 0:42 love the sound mix. effective. 0:52 good camera movement.

Improvements: 1:08 would be a stronger medium shot. our eyes are drawn to the moon, so it should be bigger in the frame. 0:17 somehow this shot doesn't work for me. probably because the subject is out of focus. Who should we be looking at?

Judge 5

Positives:

Improvements: