Simon Finkel - Cinematography Reel '24 - ID# 352
Highland Park
Cinematography
Entry Description
Includes Simon Finkel's favorite shots from 2023-2024 that take viewers on a trip to fantasy worlds, musical performances, the public spaces of Tokyo, and more.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/23 6:33 pm - Quite a mix of visuals, hard to tell what was done in camera vs extreme color saturation as the category judges on the use of light, but a great job with your composition, detail, and diversity of perspectives.
- 4/23 3:23 pm - Keepers: Your image quality is exquisite throughout. The contrast ratio and exposure ranges are all very well controlled, especially in the fictional work. Your compositional and framing ability is incredibly strong; you create a lot of compelling frames, especially in your character close-up work. Improvements: Not much to comment on here as the reel is very very strong! The intermixing of narrative, travel, and live event work shows a wide range of different skills, but does not flow well when jumping back and forth. The heavily color-corrected narrative work is strong- how composited is it? The blue music footage is very blue. It's definitely a stylistic choice. Colored light scenes can benefit from white light mixed in to serve as a reference and help with contrast. Luckily, your scene is blue, which is the sharpest color channel. Overall very well done!
- 4/17 10:54 am - POSITIVES: You've got an interesting group of locations, with some shot variety and a bit of camera movement that's smooth. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: You've chosen interesting locations, but could use a deeper exploration of shot variety and composition within a location to add to your "story". Otherwise it's like looking at vacation pictures. Many frames include a subject who stands center of frame and looks amazed by their surroundings. If your footage isn't part of a planned full-length story, imagine a story that could be happening there, and provide your lone subject with motivation (you're lost, sad, you're thinking of a happy memory from the past, you miss someone, this is your dream come true, etc), to make the shot become part of a potential "story".
Judge 1
Positives: Nice depth and variety of project clips seem to be represented here.
Improvements: Large amount of shots resemble still shot material. Shots are quite static with little camera movement that would create greater interest.
Judge 2
Positives: Love the compositional and colorful style, DP's taste is innovatively creative and shows skill
Improvements: Editing/assembly could be cleaner for a more cohesive narrative; would love to see more movement in shots
Judge 3
Positives: Excellent reel! Wow, it's hard to only pick 2. Your footage of your actor at the desk in front of the computer was fantastic. The lighting was nice and soft, the composition was great, and your color correction worked really well. Reminded me of some shots from the movie 'Her.' Your shots on your travels abroad were wonderfully composed. I really love all the center framing stuff you leaned into for those.
Improvements: Your live band footage could use a little camera movement to make the shots a bit more dynamic. I may be wrong, but is there some post 'blur" going on in some of the shots? (i.e. 00:23) If so, I think your shot and composition is strong enough without it! It almost makes it seem more artificial in a way?
Judge 4
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Judge 5
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