Demo Reel

Loki

Loki

Veteran
Hopefully this will inspire some constructive feedback unlike last time.. but I digress..


I have put together a demo reel. I am not liking it much and would really like opinions and thoughts on how to give it an impact.. right now it just limps along I think.

It is one part a montage of my work, and another part a directors demo reel.

http://www.dreamsoftfilms.com/films/media/Reel.mov

I haven't found my examples of directors demo reels online. I am re-working as I type this, but wanted to know if it is as bad as I think it is.

I wonder if there is even a point to a directors reel, since my films are all short films anyways.

but we shall see.

peas.
 
Okay, let me start off by saying I have never seen a directors reel, so I don't know how they are "supposed" to look, but here's my .02

The opening montage is way too long. I would cut it down to a minute (or less) of your most interesting stuff, and cut it quicker. Since it's a directors reel as opposed to a DP reel, I wouldn't just pick the prettiest shots (although a few are good), but the ones that are the most emotional.

The scenes were good, but the first one was too long, and there were some audio issues when you cut from one guy to the next. You may not have been the sound guy, but that reflects poorly on your professionalism.

The second scene looked interesting visually and there were some interesting choices of shots.

The third scene was my favorite, but I had no audio. Was that just me? My only gripe with that was the color (it seemed a bit blue) but that might be a stylistic choice, and while I liked your final shot, the fact that you have such an obvious horizon line out of whack is distracting.

To me a reel should show 3 things:
1) Competence
2) Range
3) Your style. Meaning simply if your competitors are all competent and have a range of experience, why would your individual POV make the project better.

Hope that helps. But take it with a grain of NaCl
 
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I think it might be a tad long, but you have some very nice looking shots in there. I really like the look of Absolution. I think if it is cut down a bit you will have very nice reel.
 
Queens of the Stoneage, nice. Good song. :)

Yeah, I guess the opening sequence could be trimmed a little bit. It did begin to feel like it was dragging. But you did have some nice shots thrown in there.

The Absolution stuff is good. I enjoyed that.

well, they were all pretty good, really. This showed a pretty good variety of your work. Sound on the "Vivian" scene would have been really nice though (unless there was some reason for the absence of it that was established prior to this particular scene).
 
Very helpful so far, thanks.

The sound is missing on my copy too at the end for some reason.. need to fix that. As for the sound in the first scene, that is cause I am currently re-doing the audio for that film with a new sound person... my previous guy f**ked me over pretty good.

I am trying trim down the opening at the moment.. I should have a newer one posted relatively soon. Thanks for the feedback so far.
 
Show the full version of the Robot Video, or al least put it online! I want it!

I loved when you posted the first time around, in fact, I might be the only person in the world who want to have it in my computer... :P

If someone sees that video and doesn't hire you, well, they don't deserve you! :grin:
 
Well as far as I know demo reels and such are to be no longer then 5 minutes with snappy cuts to keep the one you want to hire you interested, that said I think you need to do some major cutting on this demo, for me i had a hard time staying interested in the reel, and thats not good when your looking for a job. The scenes where nice the look was right on but the music not for me and not for many exc types that work in film. just my thoughts .
 
taubkin said:
Show the full version of the Robot Video, or al least put it online! I want it!

I loved when you posted the first time around, in fact, I might be the only person in the world who want to have it in my computer... :P

If someone sees that video and doesn't hire you, well, they don't deserve you! :grin:
Click to expand...

It is online right now on my website.. just look under the films section for it. It is the only music vid ;)

http://www.dreamsoftfilms.com
 
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