New demo reel
 

Hi all

First I must say I got the idea for my demo reel from this forum and I must apologise to the guy with the original idea, for steeling his format very bad of me I know. I must also apologise for my bad memory, I cant remember the guys name or even spot it on the forum oh hum :(

Anyway for the captions I used phrases that I had on my last wedding fare stand, the footage was recorded on a Panasonic GS200 3 chip SD handycam for a wedding I did for a friends daughter, before I decided to return to the fold.

Its on the downloads page of my website www.idbvideo.co.uk if anyone is interested. Critiques obviously accepted. Its also on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hwq8wxGsC4

I have however moved on to a JVC GY110 HD and have my first wedding with that camera in May, single camera job too! I intend to use this first HD wedding for my demo reel as its in a nice setting also the bride and groom are reasonably good looking. As I am returning to the business (its taken 6 months to get my first paying job) I am doing this one as a loss leader, its actually a colleague from my day job!

Anyway, comments good or bad are gratefully appreciated.

Cheers n beers

Ian

Hi Ian

That JVC HD110 is going to look amazing. The form factor of that cam really makes a lot of sense (less fatigue for wedding videographers). I have a question. Do couples in your region ask for HD? I know here in South Africa they don't even know what HD is. But in a bigger market like yours, what's the demand like?

Thanks
Louis

Louis

Sorry for the delay. I have been away on holiday, better take it before the season hehe. Nice thing is the demo got me a booking - impressed lol.

Anyway to answer your question - I have not yet been asked to provide a HD version, the market is probably not ready yet as we are really only just moving towards HD inthe UK. Plenty of HD ready TVs are available, but few recorder/players are reaching these shores.

Personally I dont see a revolution in SD/HD for a year or two, but as I was buying new equipment, one of my criteria was shoulder mounted and the JVC 110 fit the bill perfectly.

I took the plunge for HD purely because it kind of "future proofed" my investment , well probably for a couple of years maybe.

Definitely hooked on HD though because it looks so good!

Cheers

Ian

My only critique would be that you need more than one wedding for your demo reel. I guess only time will solve that issue.

One small thing that probably only I would notice is that it is nice to get down at the same level as the kids when shooting the little critters. It's not necessary, but it has less of that looking-down-on-them feel.

Marcus

Thanks, Yes it would be better to have more than one wedding, later on this year I will be able to fix that one.

I have no excuses for not getting down to the childs level, except for bad back ... no ... errr what else could I use as an excuse.... lol oh yes lazyness and I forgot. But you are right.

As my portfolio increases I will update and expand on the demo reel.

Thanks for the input :)

Cheers n beers

Ian

Thanks Ian

That's very interesting about your UK market. Pretty much the same story here in my part of the world. One cool thing about sub $10000 hd cam are that one can produce the most amazingly detailed SD DVDs. No SD cam in that price range can create such good SD. You are right about the format though - Blue-ray OR HD-DVD? Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Hi Ian

Cool video but next time use more close ups. TV is a close up media. Other than the commend Marcus mentioned (about the kids) its a good video.

Stelios

Although I'm not quite sure, could you be referring to my demo reel?

www.eventdvp.com/theater.htm


Anyways, here are some suggestions. Use better fonts. The font you used was the standard arial the program automatically uses. Different music? Your music was too calm, had no emotion. Use something that people are going to notice or feel something from hearing it. The advice about the shot selection is sound, just try to mix it up a bit.

Good luck with it.

Louis

Yes its a wait and see game now.


Stelios,

Thanks, I know what you mean, just unfortunate that I had no suitable shots to work with. Hopefully version 2 will be done in three weeks or so, after my first wedding :)

Darrel,

I think it was yours, not sure though, sorry. I vaugley remember "live the...." as captions running through the video, not much else. Of course it could have been "video lives.."I watched it - had one of those Eureaka moments and set about my version. I probably got fixated on mine and forgot the source of the idea hehe - conveniently. If it was your demo that gave me the idea for mine, then thanks. I hope you dont mind my version.

Thanks for the advice on the music, I have had some similar comments from work too. I will look for some more dramatic music and a different font maybe for version 2.

Many thanks to you all for the advice


Cheers

Ian