Reel feedback and operating notes, please.

[Mikhail Howell]

Been lurking for a while here, soaking up all the valuable information. Threw a new reel together and wanted to get some feedback. Most is from student shorts a couple music videos. Been operating for about 3 years while in school - mostly on the Merlin but I've now the opportunity to fly a full size rig. Feels a bit long for a reel but figured I should show longer shots since I don't have much in the way of production value or familiar talent to show off.

 

Thanks!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn5v4UXg7MI

[Colin Donahue]

Mikhail,

I see this post has been sitting here a week without a response, so I will chime in.

You have some nice shots here, and some shots with problems. Since you have been operating for three years,

you probably already know you have headroom and framing issues. Do you really need other ops to tell you this?

You might get better feedback if you point out the problems you see you have and how to minimize them to improve your reel. Using longer clips does not help you at :50 in with the woman at the bathroom door because you have too much head room. You should cut that shot earlier. Your first shot in the reel is nice but you are cutting the guys feet off. Start a half second later and you have a better frame. I see you are using a lot of slow mo. I know from personal experience that this can be used to hide a lot of operating flaws. Don't use if you don't need it or to drag out a take. I am not sure why the shot in the strip club is sped up but it seems like it might be a nice shot in real time.

Obviously if you had a bunch of perfect shots, those would be in your reel. You have to use what you have. The question is are they making the reel better or worse? I think if you are more specific in the feeback you want, you will get more responses.

 

Good luck

Colin Donahue

 

 

[Mikhail Howell]

Thanks Colin.

 

In terms of the feedback that I'm looking for, basically flaws in my work that I haven't noticed. If it's in this reel, then I think it's good but you've pointed out issues that didn't occur to me when cutting this together, and in the case of the shot at :50, while operating.

When operating, I'm mostly conscious about making sure that I don't transfer my footsteps. Wondering if that stands out as a major issue to other operators based on the shots from the reel.

 

As far as the fast and slow motion, directorial choices and I don't have access to all the dailies. I'll consider cutting them short if they are problematic.

 

Could you be more specific about the framing issues?

[Sanjay Sami]

Mikhail, by and large you will find DoP's and Directors will be far more bothered about framing issues than about footsteps. A lot of directors will not notice footsteps, but will certainly notice a vague meandering shot that has no mission.

Headroom and how you position actors and objects in frame is very important. This is not easily explained on the internet.

Usually it comes fom years of working on set and observing how its done - apprenticeship - as a camera assistant, dolly grip etc.

Now a lot of people without that background buy rigs and start operating, so the delivery method of that knowledge gets bypassed.

I would recommend watching movies with the sound off, so you can look specifically for the subtleties in framing.

Hope that helps

Good luck

Sanjay

[Mikhail Howell]

A bit late but thanks again for the feedback, guys. Very good stuff. I've taken to account what you've have pointed out and have been incorporating it into my operating on recent projects and I definitely see my work improving.

 

Thanks Again!

[Kevin Andrews SOC]

1:50 : )