Demo Reel Questions...

Dub-Machine

Dub-Machine

Member
Question for all of you concerning Demo Reel do's and don'ts. I'm in the process of putting together my DP reel with my editor. I'm gonna keep it to no more than 2-2:30 minutes long, and understand my strongest work needs to come first. My question though is: can demo reels be put together shot by shot (meaning: interview shot followed by a live band shoot, followed by a dolly shot from a movie etc etc) or should the demo be structered in blocks, ie : a block of shots from everything I've shot for Live Tv, followed by a block of all shots I've done for Corporate clients, etc etc. My thoughts were you could make more of an impression with back to back to back killer shots accompanied by a killer song. Basically, I'm thinking of a "glorified music video" that follows the feel and momentum of the song choice for the reel, and then include a seperate menu option on the dvd for a more in depth view of the different types of shooting, ie if you want to see what my sit down interview stuff looks like go to this menu option, want to see what my reality tv stuff looks like, go to this menu option etc etc. LMK what you think.
 
don't worry about the structure. If you want that, it's totally cool, but if you just want a montage of cool shots in an order you think comes off as effective, go for it.

All I'll say is KEEP IT SHORT! Anything longer than 2:30 and your doing something wrong, IMO. Don't feel bad about keeping it under 2:00 as well, all it's doing is kicking out the lesser material and making your body of work appear stronger. Edit a song shorter if you have to. :)

Here, let me post my old reel. Unfortunately Youtube muted the audio since i used copywrited music, a$$holes... This is all stuff I shot about 5 years ago. I'm actually about to put together a new reel in the next few weeks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHU4kO48f6o&fmt=18

1min44sec :)
 
I'll second Cheesesailor77 in the "under 2:30" vote. Put your strongest stuff first, or at least most of it. Truth is, producers and directors don't watch much more than :30 of the reel before they know if they're interested in an individual.
 
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