Demo Reel From Yap

Hey all,

just posted a new demo reel of corals of Yap. I would love to hear any feedback.

http://www.HDunderH2O.com/demo.html

Aloha,

Craig

Hey Craig ...

Nice footage and lovely colours... IMHO the music didn't fit but then its hard (In my eyes) to get this right ...

Thanks for posting

Dive safe

DeanB

Craig

Nice colors but I think it's a little too long for a demo reel with only one subject matter. When the reel is too long, it detracts from showcasing your skills as a shooter.

Also using post work for some of the shots was a good idea but I think because of the length, it showed up too much. The anemone fish scenes worked ok but the fish was unnaturally slow. There is also vignetting in a few of sequences. You may wish to remove that.

There was one CU shot of corals at 1.16 which I think you should just throw out. It's badly focused plus at the end, there was artifacting from your post work, possibly your image stabilization software not able to keep up with the swaying corals? Using post to mask your bad shots is ok, but I think you should just toss those shots out unless they are money shots.

You have some nice camera work there, so just keep the reel shorter and showcase your skills.

Hey thanks for watching guys. I appreciate the feedback.

I agree that it feels long, but I constantly get requests from clients for extended screeners so I have to keep it longer than it should go. I'm sure a lot of people don't watch it through till the end.

As for the post processing comments - there is no post done on any of these shots. No stabilization, no slo-mo, and no color correction. When people buy stock footage they don't want processed images. All of those changes degrade the footage and every production has their own needs in terms of color grading etc. The slo-mo you mention on the anenomefishes was overcrank done in camera. The fluttering in the soft coral at 1:16 is terrible, I agree, but it is actually the camera autofocus stuttering and not a stabilization issue. That clip should be removed.

Thanks again,

Craig

Looks good but I agree with Drew, way to long also it felt a little one dimensional for a demo reel, meaning that that isn't that much diversity in your shots. What I did like though was your actual camera movement some really nice smooth pans etc.