archived-videos Demo Reel: Improvement Suggestions

CJInzana

CJInzana

Hi everyone

I'm a cinamatographer and I'm trying to push my work away from typical "videography freelance" work into exclusively narrative work over the next few years.

This is my 2014 demo reel; I'm always looking to improve so I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you think I should really focus on improving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=Aj7tdO-yBfQ

Thanks!
 
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Here's what I'd change:
- Typography at the start, its a bit bland, you could show more effort for a better designed opening "page".
- I'd add "C. Inzana - Cinematographer" in the bottom corner of the letterbox during the entire reel (except intro/outro), in case people make screenshots, they have your name.
- Rearrange and shorten the edit. In my opinion you closed with one of your strongest shots, and had some lesser shots in the beginning. Note though that I'm not a cinematographer so you might not want to take all my advice, but personally I wasn't charmed by your second shot (0;10-0;14), it has a bit of a video-y look. The other bar scene (0;36-0;39) is a lot nicer imo, so move that earlier into the reel. You always want to start out with your strongest stuff. Same goes for the shot at 1;23, I like it. move it forward (although that shot doesn't seem entirely level, maybe punch in a little and rotate it to make it level?).
- Closing typography could use with more design work.

Coming from a vfx background, the rule I often see on recruitment pages is: reels max 2 minutes. Considering that you'll want to take some time for your intro and outro (and in vfx your breakdowns) that brings the pure footage back to 1 to 1.5 minutes.

I'll refrain from commenting on the cinematography itself, but it does look like some shots could use some more stabilization, especially the one at 0;26
 
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Your reel is fine – it's the sort of reel I'd look at and think, 'I can work with this', rather than being blown away.

I don't have many tips other than: a better, sans-serif font; shave 30 seconds off and have faster cutting; try and avoid too much shot repetition; avoid any shots that could use stabilising. Obviously, the reel will get stronger if there's more diversity of material in there. Sometimes it's worth taking a camera and a model out to a visually interesting landscape and just shooting footage with the sole purpose of improving your reel.
 
At 0:20, 'the line' is broken.
Click to expand...

I don't think it was. The timing of the edit could be better, but I don't believe he broke the line.

It's decent for your first showreel. Something to work from. I also agree with Nick, it does bring a "I can work with this" feel.
 
trueindie said:
At 0:20, 'the line' is broken.
Click to expand...



Thanks for all the advice guys. I totally didn't even see this until now, but I'll take that all into consideration when I make my next reel. For now, it's been getting me gigs so I'm pretty happy with it.

About the line being broken in that scene: You're correct. There was a reason for that in the scene that is from, but I usually try harder to avoid that these days than I did back then. Good look!
 
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