Cheating On The Demoreel

serrialthrilla

serrialthrilla

New member
Hey everyone. It's my first post, but I've been browsing this site for couple of months and learned quite a bit .
Now I am thinking about putting together a demoreel. The problem is that I don't have enough material for it. Getting even freebie gigs and shooting
stuff that is worth showing to people, is hard without a demoreel. In order to break this vicious cycle I am thinking to come up with few visually interesting scenes and shot them for my demoreel. There are certainly many advantages in doing it that way.
-It would be a good learning experience.
-I'll have something worthy of showing to people in relatively short time.
-I'll be able to get the shots/looks that I want without compromising
the purpose.
-Most likely the whole think won't cost me anything, since I have access
to the equipment.

The problem is that I don't know if that's a common practice in the industry. Has any of you guys done that?
 
fake it till you make it. I don't see anything wrong with it. Get some friends together, light some scenes, shoot some scenes etc. Better yet, write a few 30 second shorts that you know will give you the freedom to do what you want. Then cut a demo.
 
i did that. it took me a year, but now everything on there is legit. fake it till you make it, amen.
 
i even borrowed some AE clips from a friend in a pinch, and recreated them later so i could sleep at night.
 
I don't see any problem with it as long as the stuff on your reel was created by you.
I've had freebie work and 'spec' work on my reel before - as well as some stuff I just shot for fun on my own.

Whatever it takes to show off your ability is perfectly acceptable, I think.
Just remember, it's showing off YOUR ability.... be careful how far you take the "fake it till you make it" mantra.

:thumbsup:
 
true dat barry. a company i work for just spent 50k making a spec commercial, and it will probably land them many a job.
 
Put it this way -> Your demo reel is a showcase of your talent as a photographer
-> If you shot it, even if it was not for a complete gig, does that make it any less of an example of how good of a photographer you are?

I don't believe that this is in any way "faking" anything, unless you are tricking someone into believing you can run a production crew when you cannot. If you cannot, than why would you even want to fake it? When you get on set and screw the whole thing up, they're not going to hire you again anyway.

I would, however, agree with the above statement relating to writing some short films, and then editing those films together. Otherwise, when your prospective employer asks you, what film was that from? And you answer is, err..... or *insert lie here* you're not going to either a - get the job, or b - be able to comfortably sleep at night.

Just a thought.
 
I would just say some things I shot for a test.

There is nothing wrong with that.

I highly respect DPs who take the time to shoot tests on their own. I have some test shots of time lapse, in-camera wierdness, and unusual movements on my reel that have never been used in any narrative peices, yet have inspired many producers and directors of commercials and music videos that say "Whoh, what was that? I love that, can we do something like that..."

As long as you composed the shot and set the f-stop, I say go for it.

-j
 
j said:
I would just say some things I shot for a test.

There is nothing wrong with that.

I highly respect DPs who take the time to shoot tests on their own. I have some test shots of time lapse, in-camera wierdness, and unusual movements on my reel that have never been used in any narrative peices, yet have inspired many producers and directors of commercials and music videos that say "Whoh, what was that? I love that, can we do something like that..."

As long as you composed the shot and set the f-stop, I say go for it.

-j
Click to expand...

Also be sure that what you show them is representative of what you can deliver. I fired someone for exactly that. Now I make everyone that gets a 2nd interview set up a camera. Seriously.

Spec stuff is fine; it shows initiative. Just realize that the level of work that you demonstrate will be the level of work that your clients expect.

David Kuznicki
Production Manager, WGTE-TV30
 
david_kuznicki said:
Spec stuff is fine; it shows initiative. Just realize that the level of work that you demonstrate will be the level of work that your clients expect.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Spec stuff is intended to show what you're capable of. If you're showing something that someone else did, especially if it's something that you're not capable of, then that would be cheating and, as David points out, a fire-able offense.

You should not "cheat" on your demo reel, ever. It should be representative of your best work. But there's nothing cheating about a spec spot, it's a very, very common practice. Just don't try and pass it off as a paid spot if someone asks you about the actual client; tell them it was spec, everyone understands spec.
 
I want to thank everybody for their input , it's really encouraging. As soon as I recover from the new year parties I'm gonna get right into it. At the same time I'll try to get some gigs and mix those in with the spec shots. All the best in the new year guys.
 
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