Opinions about reels on YouTube

T

tumbleweed

Well-known member
I'm curious to hear what people think about posting a reel on YouTube. More and more I find people expect you to have an online reel available. What do you think about YouTube as an option? Is this considered a "good" place to post a reel for those who are not interested in getting a DVD version. Also, I always think a reel should be short. any other suggestions about posting elsewhere?? Thanks for your thoughts in advance.
 
The compression on youtube is not very good...you want your reel to look as good as possible on the web.

Find a place to host a clean looking version of your reel.
 
YouTube is a great place to be found, but a terrible place [possibly the worst] to watch an artistic demonstration piece.

The streaming compression might not be enough to lose you a job, but it certainly doesn't do justice to most DPs reels.

Darn you Rich! Darn you to heck!

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I kind of thought that myself. I think the footage will not really look its best and I wanted to hear what others thought for just that reason.
Any suggestions for other sites that host higher quality video?
 
Honestly, I see a website today as an extended business card type thing. If you have $70 and know Microsoft word (frontpage is just like it) you can host your own video. It will be more professional and you will have final say over the end result.

If you have no other means, YouTube is better then nothing, but that said I would never put my really on YouTube... ever.
 
I agree with "hosting your own". It is much more professional and you choose how your footage is framed. On YouTube, the framing is terrible... white background, messy layout, links to other peoples footage (usually ridiculous stunts, pets, etc.)... very distracting.

No sir, I don't like it...... (unless of course I am posting something ridiculous).
 
And hosting your own is cheap (not counting the design part if you can't do it yourself). I pay $5.99/month from 1and1.com and have plenty of storage and bandwidth to have my (copywriting) reel on there.
 
It doesnt look professional would be my number 1 reason not to put it there. If you are telling people you are a pro in a profession like this one where an online reel is essential, there should be a decent site with your work and contact info.
 
where do you start when it comes to hosting your own site? Can you just buy the domain name? I'm computer savy but have never done any website work. What will I need to create a simple site for viewing a reel (or a few varieties) and contact info?
 
1and1.com would be a great place to start. I pay $7.49 a month for 3 domain names, and my hosting. 250 GB of space with 2.5TB of transfer. It is great for me and I love their package. never had any trouble with them either. Now if I only had time to get my site designed by something other than iWeb, I would be in much better shape.

edit:
I almost forgot to mention that if you use a PC I remember them offering something like adobe Go Live for 30 bucks with a 1 year contract. Im not sure if they still offer it, but if they do it would be worth investigating. You may want to also ask someone to do the design for you initially and update it yourself after that.
 
Its less about video quality and compression and more about just looking like you care about your own work and getting a gig. Because if your video is hosted on youtube and sending people youtube.com/dheuekjkjg/dfadfd links just doesnt look professional, or like you care. So why should they?

though ive seen some reels of people on here on their own sites that are TINY, and id rather have a youtube link.
 
1) Register a domain name
2) Buy a web hosting package
3) Create your reel web page
4) Search engines is another concept
 
While I wholeheartedly agree that a professional looking website is 20x better than anything on youtube, blip.tv seems to not have the compression issues that youtube has and is still free. But also not something I would want to put a reel on just because of all the reasons previously stated.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Greatly appreciated. I've checked out 1and1 and they seem pretty good. If anyone else has recommendations (good or bad) please add them to the list. I'm trying to get this website up ASAP to avoid the YouTube world.
 
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