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Will Start 2011 Show Reel

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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
Just finished up my show reel. I know they should be under 90 seconds, but to be honest that length doesn't do it for me, I always wish reels that short were longer. And considering I'm still in school I doubt this reel will be getting used a ton.


Hope you guys like it, let me know what you think!

Feb 8 2012 11:39PM
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S.C
Posts: 3068 - Karma: 2,285
bravo, bravo

I just saw your Suicide in C Sharp piece, very moving!
You are basically my role model when it comes to filmmaking!
Feb 8 2012 11:44PM
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hardig1234
Posts: 291 - Karma: 206
that last shot was sick what kind of slider do you use
Feb 8 2012 11:46PM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
i actually use a 10' long pvc track for the dolly shots
Feb 8 2012 11:54PM
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Tanner-D
Posts: 2061 - Karma: 4,116
SO good. Everything was top notch. Hats off to you Will.
Feb 9 2012 1:03AM
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Mkvackay
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 5,465
once again will you did a great job, would really like to see the violin piece.
Feb 9 2012 1:03AM
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NJurkiewicz
Posts: 1597 - Karma: 697
http://vimeo.com/33648127 here is a link to Suicide in C Sharp and I agree with everyone above Will I loved every shot in this especially the introductory shot of the wheat haha you continue to be my role model in film keep up the good work!
Feb 9 2012 1:12AM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
haha oh man. i'm actually not a fan of the final film, but oh well, i had no part in writing or directing it (aside from some blocking). but it was definitely fun to shoot, so i'm glad you guys are stoked on it!


thanks guys!
Feb 9 2012 2:01AM
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CrotchKiller
Posts: 9037 - Karma: 6,943
Amazing!


P.S. You have an extremely hipster looking bicycle riding friend! haha
Feb 9 2012 3:42AM
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cwillygood
Posts: 6831 - Karma: 1,829
wow that was amazing! the filming and colors were top notch, its just my personal opinion but i felt as if it would have gone better if there was less slow mo, still awesome video!
Feb 9 2012 6:42AM
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lukewalnuts
Posts: 2730 - Karma: 152
.
Feb 9 2012 7:23AM
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STAUSS
Posts: 8232 - Karma: 3,311
rad dude!
Feb 9 2012 11:00AM
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screamin_seamen
Posts: 619 - Karma: 551
that was dope!
Colors, flow, music. Everything was spot on!

Feb 9 2012 11:04AM
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[J_Gasper]
Posts: 2983 - Karma: 1,594

loved it will. also liked seeing some of those shots from urban with PBP that we didnt see in that short edit you made.

I know someone said something about a dolly, do you only use that or do you use a  slider in there as well?

Feb 9 2012 11:09AM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
Thanks guys! And thank you *cgski* for the bit of critique.

I did only use the actual PVC track for the dolly shots, no slider. Hopefully I'll be able to pick one up at some point in the future.


And yes, that kid is ridiculously hipster.
Feb 9 2012 2:02PM
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DIX~
Posts: 4695 - Karma: 6,502
So good, in every way. I really enjoyed that
Feb 9 2012 2:55PM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
bump?
Feb 9 2012 10:17PM
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steep
Posts: 6063 - Karma: 298
Amazing I loved that, putting out awesome stuff as usual, Will!
Feb 9 2012 10:20PM
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@ScubaSteve
Posts: 378 - Karma: 822
This gets me to stoked to go out and film.
Sick stuff dude!

Feb 10 2012 12:42AM
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Phil-X-
Posts: 7205 - Karma: 14,399
wow amazing.. great job
Feb 10 2012 1:04AM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
Love that brick wall skate shot. And that second wedding shot. Nice work man.

How does the Glidecam fit into your overall wedding shoots? I haven't used mine for weddings yet and I was wondering if it's a hassle fumbling with it or if running around with it has worked well for you. Do you switch back and forth between that and sticks a lot, or do you stick to the glidecam?
Feb 10 2012 4:52PM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
Thanks man!


Basically I only used the Glidecam for some establishing shots before the ceremony started. After that, I was on the tripod the whole time. It was also just a wedding for a friend's dad so it was a very low key production and I wasn't too busy with the filming since they only wanted me to catch the important parts.
Feb 10 2012 5:03PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
Gotcha. Do you use a quick release with it? I got a manfrotto QR for mine, but the base of it isn't flush, so I can only mount it on the side holes of the Glidecam plate, and even then it rotates.
Feb 10 2012 5:16PM
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eheath
Posts: 61601 - Karma: 123,029
My QR is rock solid on my glide cam... use a screw driver?
Feb 10 2012 8:04PM
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Frosty
Posts: 1738 - Karma: 797
Awesome reel, but I have to say that I disliked the plot/story of the Suicide in C Sharp piece. Being a violin/viola player myself it's unbearable when you see people who can't play the instrument, try to look like they're playing it. But the cinematography in it was excellent.
Feb 10 2012 9:24PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
Tightened it as much as I could with a flathead...comes loose in 10 seconds.
Feb 12 2012 2:30PM
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Sklar
Posts: 8864 - Karma: 31,612
this just started happening to me,too
Feb 12 2012 5:49PM
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Mkvackay
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 5,465
as janky is it may look, i've been using this setup on and off the hill for over a year now. hasn't moved an inch. quick release plate is different then my manfrotto tripod plate, but works really well.

and yes i used way too much gorilla glue, but that plate is not moving, ever.

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Feb 12 2012 5:54PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
Which plate is that? It looks nice and low profile, unlike the weird slider one everyone uses. I thought about using glue, but since I'll likely sell my Glidecam when I upgrade from a DSLR, I figured there would be a better way.

Here's the plate I'm using. Since the base isn't flush, I have no choice but to mount it right off the edge, and sideways (stupid). I cut a small square of exercise band, folded it over, and threaded the screw through that. It works better if the rubber is in between the Glidecam plate and the QR plate than underneath it. It works fairly well; the screw doesn't come loose anymore, though there is just a hair of rotation if rotational force is applied. However, there's enough friction so that it won't rotate unless you intentionally do it, or you bump it.

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Feb 12 2012 6:37PM
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Mkvackay
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 5,465
damn that looks nuts. it just seems like too much work for a quick release system.

the qr plate is a manfrotto 394. i think it was around $40.

it mounted flush to the plate, but did move with any jerky movement. so that was why i used the gorilla glue. defintely understandable if you want to sell your glidecam in the future, but im sure its not too expensive to replace the black plate a year or two down the road

i'd recommend it. low profile and clips in
Feb 12 2012 6:45PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
That plate looks really nice, especially with the leveling bubbles. How big is the camera plate? My main concern is that it will be too big and get in the way of my lens collar.
Feb 12 2012 6:50PM
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Mkvackay
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 5,465
its about 2 inches by 3 inches - ish

i've never used a lens collar though, but what lens would you be using the collar for?
Feb 12 2012 6:57PM
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JStrathern
Posts: 8747 - Karma: 1,536
Thought I would chime in on the QR problems.. Here is my setup and it works pretty well, the QR plate is exactly the same size as the one on my tripod so I can easily click the camera into either one. Some people had a problem with the tightening knob on the QR not being able to turn because it hit the Glidecams black plate, so I drilled a hole through an old UV filter case and put that under it and it doesn't budge. Not sure if any of that is helpful but I figured I'd give it a shot.
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Feb 12 2012 7:02PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
I use it on my 70-200, as it greatly increases the stability of telephoto shots. It also lifts my camera body off the tripod head, giving me room to mount a QR plate to the body itself. This allows me to just pop my camera off the lens while it's mounted to the tripod. That way the lens stays mounted to the tripod (wether or not the camera is attached to it) and I don't have to rebalance every time I want to shoot telephoto (not that it's difficult anyway, but still).

The Manfrotto sliding plate is useless because I don't use a Manfrotto head, making most of that material unnecessary. It also doesn't fit behind my lens collar, which goes against the entire point of a QR plate in the first place.

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Feb 12 2012 7:49PM
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Mkvackay
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 5,465
ah that looks like a nice setup. but im guessing there might be a bit of overlap with the plate and collar, although i couldn't be sure.
Feb 12 2012 8:11PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
Yup, which is why I need the QR plate to be s-so small.

My solution seems to work for now. If it doesn't end up working, I'll just make an 1/8" riser out of wood.
Feb 12 2012 8:38PM
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Mkvackay
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 5,465
woulda been my next suggestion. good luck man
Feb 12 2012 8:58PM
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MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
I only feel comfortable saying this to someone as good at this as yourself because everything youve done in the past has blown me away and you've had a lot of influnence on what I'm trying to do when I film, but to be honest I didn't really like it that much.

I think I probably had a lot to do with the song, which I didn't like very much. No doubt that all the shots in it were amazing, your cinematography, as usual, was perfect, but, all together, it just didn't quite do it for me. It felt a little weird to me from the intro.

Cinematography, color grading, that sort of stuff was amazing, the edit just didnt really click with my taste.
Feb 12 2012 10:06PM
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MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
Just watched it again, figured I should try to target a little better exactly what I didn't like. I didn't really like all the half shots, like you see the skier 270 on to a rail, see it from another angle, and that's it. Personally I would have liked to see the endings to the shots you cut off.
Feb 12 2012 10:10PM
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rareison
Posts: 10263 - Karma: 219
amazing! absolutely loved it! but I agree with what MADDECENT said, it would be better if you had shown the full shot. But everything else was great.
Feb 12 2012 11:55PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
The way I see it, the quality of skiing has absolutely nothing to do with the reel, and showing entire tricks are mostly distracting and beside the point. Potential clients are looking to see if the person landed the trick, and it only makes sense to sacrifice that sanctity for the sake of keeping the editing in pace to collectively make a good impression.
Feb 13 2012 12:17AM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
*are not
Feb 13 2012 12:17AM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
Ah fuck. Well thanks for the honesty man, I definitely appreciate it. It's kind of hard to just straight up say you didn't really like something.

I've been pretty bummed on the general response so far. Aside from a few people being real stoked, it's pretty underwhelming compared to what I was expecting considering I thought they were some of my most clean shots, and some of my best coloring. Not sure what happened there, but oh well.

As for the cutting the shot off thing, to be honest I disagree. It's obviously very subjective, but I hate when filmmakers feel like they have to show every action sports shot until the end of the trick. I feel like you should show what is in your opinion the best part of the shot, and move on. Keeps it concise and moving along. Entire tricks in a reel of otherwise quick shots (or a reel of entirely complete tricks) seem to drag quite a bit. Part of me thinks that it just seems strange to kids on here because we're all so used to seeing the whole trick, as that's a (debatably) crucial part of ski edits. But I could be wrong. I just have a hard time believing professional clients who don't know much about action sports are really going to wish they had been able to see the skiers (who were Matt Walker on the 2 on and swingset blind swap, and Alexi Godbout on the 8 kink, by the way) slide the entire rest of the rail. But once again, I could be wrong.


Everybody seems to have become quite a bit more blunt and straightforward in their critiques lately, I like it. Seems like we're all learning to be a lot less defensive of our own work.
Feb 13 2012 12:22AM
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Jacuse
Posts: 1792 - Karma: 1,549
Loved it! Colors and composition were spot on. I know it's hard to do while in school, but I was kind of hoping for a little more non skiing material. My favorite reels are always the ones that have diverse content, shows that you can handle anything that's thrown at you. But again, your reel was fantastic
Feb 13 2012 12:23AM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
Thank you, and I fully agree with what you said. Unfortunately, it was just a relatively small project that we only had two days to shoot, and the director was definitely the type of guy who is ok with settling for good enough, not great.
Feb 13 2012 12:27AM
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[~_~]
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I think Evan's assholery is starting to work.
Feb 13 2012 10:25AM
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eheath
Posts: 61601 - Karma: 123,029
The master plan is unfolding.
Feb 13 2012 1:33PM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
I'm glad. Criticism is only healthy.
Feb 13 2012 1:40PM
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