Hi Ian - apologies for missing this the first time around!
A couple of pointers; just revise your shot compositions in places; for example, in the police head quarters with all the desks, you've often got a lot of wasted empty space either at the top of the frame, to one side of the desk, or the desk isn't centralised. Just really look at the framing of each scene and ask yourself if the composition looks 'designed' and purposeful. There is a tendency with Maya cameras to keep things a bit spongy - so really tighten up all your compositions; each shot should be as well determined as if you were taking a photograph.
You've got a 'fade to black' at the end of many of your shots. Try dispensing with this technique; have the confidence to hard edit your film together (i.e. no transitions between separate shots). A quick tip when it comes to hard editing is don't leave the audience looking at an empty set; don't wait for characters to complete leave a shot before cutting away from it, and cut to shots just as your characters are entering it. In other words, take out the 'waiting for something to happen' frames.
@46 sec - consider adding a slight 'push' to this scene, so that the audience feels drawn into the scene, as opposed to right now, where it feels as if we're being kept at a distance from the action.
I'd just say that the 'driving scene' could be a little more dynamic - it seems to go on a little longer than is completely necessary.
Another observation is that you often keep the audience (camera) at a real distance from your characters; we often view them from some distance away. This has the effect of keeping us from engaging with them as immediately as perhaps you'd like. Just consider use of mid-shots and close-ups for your characters when to do so would enrich our experience of the team.
Hi Ian - apologies for missing this the first time around!
ReplyDeleteA couple of pointers; just revise your shot compositions in places; for example, in the police head quarters with all the desks, you've often got a lot of wasted empty space either at the top of the frame, to one side of the desk, or the desk isn't centralised. Just really look at the framing of each scene and ask yourself if the composition looks 'designed' and purposeful. There is a tendency with Maya cameras to keep things a bit spongy - so really tighten up all your compositions; each shot should be as well determined as if you were taking a photograph.
You've got a 'fade to black' at the end of many of your shots. Try dispensing with this technique; have the confidence to hard edit your film together (i.e. no transitions between separate shots). A quick tip when it comes to hard editing is don't leave the audience looking at an empty set; don't wait for characters to complete leave a shot before cutting away from it, and cut to shots just as your characters are entering it. In other words, take out the 'waiting for something to happen' frames.
@46 sec - consider adding a slight 'push' to this scene, so that the audience feels drawn into the scene, as opposed to right now, where it feels as if we're being kept at a distance from the action.
I'd just say that the 'driving scene' could be a little more dynamic - it seems to go on a little longer than is completely necessary.
Another observation is that you often keep the audience (camera) at a real distance from your characters; we often view them from some distance away. This has the effect of keeping us from engaging with them as immediately as perhaps you'd like. Just consider use of mid-shots and close-ups for your characters when to do so would enrich our experience of the team.