The Independent Filmmaker - Reel Views

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, the most important decisions I make concern who I chose to work with so I am very critical when I’m deciding who my partners will be.  Once I’ve made my decision I stick with it but during the decision-making process itself I am highly skeptical.  I’ve been watching some DP reels this week and I thought I’d share my process. 

First of all, lots of people have reels online which is great for quick reference and sharing with people but sometimes they’re low quality or just small on the screen so I like to get dvds I can watch on my tv.

The first thing I do when I get a reel is to turn off the sound.  I know people spend lots of time picking out the perfect music for their reels, but I want to watch pictures and don’t want to be tricked into liking a fancy but inappropriate camera move just because it times nicely with music that it never paired with in the first place.  But also a DP shouldn’t suffer a harsh judgment because I hate jazz.

I also keep in mind that a reel usually represents the DP’s best work, not his/her consistent level of play.  You’ll usually notice this towards the end of a reel where some of the lower end films are cut into montage because there’s one particular shot the DP loves that s/he wants to include.  That stuff is really interesting too because usually the DP thought long and hard about which of those clips to incorporate so I like to think about why they chose a particular shot.

Once I’ve got a good feeling for the top handful of people I like, and in this pass I also keep anyone I’m iffy about, I then jump on to imdb and look up their credits.  I’ll search for one or two films from each DP that I want to watch.  I’ll choose one of the person’s most recent works and then one other.  I don’t personally watch for my film’s look within their work because if they can light and shoot I want to create a look with them that’s unique to my film.  But sometimes you will need to find something close in order to sell your producers on the choice so I do keep an eye out.

When I’m watching the films I’m looking for shot structure that tells a story, camera moves that feel true to the particular film and individual moments, exciting framing, beautiful lighting and consistent throughout.  If there’s something I don’t like I think to myself, “Yes, but would I let that happen on my set?”  If it’s something I think I wouldn’t notice, that’s bad because clearly the DP didn’t notice either.  If it’s something I know I would pick up on then I don’t worry so much about it.

I read their bios, and find out what other directors they’ve worked with. I also like to find out what commercials they’ve done because spots are environments where the DP generally gets to play with whatever toys they want so they are a good gauge as to what they can do when they have very few financial restrictions.  Not so with music videos which usually tends to be really down and dirty production.

Once I’ve narrowed my choices down to five or so people I’ll send my list to my producer and we’ll begin the process of meeting with everyone.  In those meetings I get to ask them about everything I’ve seen and also get a feel for how we would work together.  But that is for another day!