Director of Photography Demo Reels?

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
Is there anywhere online to see some good D.O.P Demo reels? I need to get an idea what to include and what not to include in my reel. I am also interested in seeing some good reels from "editors" too. I did see some on YouTube.
 
I just clicked teh ScottDuncan link, ****ING AMAZING, to say the least. Talk about films that make you want to go out and shoot..seriously inspiring.
 
Should the reel be a montage of clips over a bed of music or should I mix it up and blend music with audio from some of the clips throughout or does it matter. How long should the reel be. I have heard no longer than 10 minutes does that still hold true?

There is some nice work being posted on here..Thank you all for sharing your reels/work.
 
o.k. I think that a DP reel should be just that... Like Scott Duncan's... he doesn't neccesarily have a "reel" his work samples simply speak for themselves and they speak strongly. Whereas Chase seems as though it is his view of "directing" which may or may not be distracting... so what are we trying to sell? Our cinematography skills? or our ability to edit with music? I think that a reel should be about a minute with one music track... anymore I think you are pounding into their heads and it gets boring. More than one music track seems off message. Also, start and end with strong shots.
 
DVX100Shoorter said:
I have heard no longer than 10 minutes...
Click to expand...

A 10 minute reel is really long. Most are in the 3 to 5 minute range. Better to keep it short and very interesting than to have the viewer get bored.

Leave em wanting more.
 
Hmm, I guess film school is good for something after all. We had a fairly long lecture on the subject of reels just recently in my cinematography class. My teacher stated that if you have a straight montage over music, then you want to keep it around 1-2 minutes. If you have some semblence of a story, a progression of tone as it were, then you can maybe make 4-5 minutes work. That's kind of a matter of opinion, but the part of the lecture that really got me was that clients will always look for a reel that has the subject matter of their project in it. You're not going to get hired to DP a romantic comedy with a reel full of gore and gunshots.
 
happygobo is right. i've auditioned a couple dozen dp reels in the last few months and I was consistantly trying to see "my film" in the presented footage. that piece of information is worth considering when deciding how to represent yourself.
 
I agree with Happy too (or his teachers), and Zak. My experience is that submitting what you want to do and feel is your strength. I would also make my reel succinct. Just put your best shots in there, and be ruthless in cutting out what isn't the best. I'd rather see 1 minute of something great, the 2 minutes of something great, with 30 seconds of iffy work in the middle of it.

My director reel (online one of these days) is a 1:45 montage over music; then one two-minute scene of what I think is my strength, and main interest in style.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top