I'm not sure if this is right section or not but oh well.
As production has gone from large crews and massive budgets to many people playing all roles, I'm having some trouble deciding what I should have
included in my demo reel.
I know what most peoples first reaction would be: "You need to decide if you are a director, dp, editor, etc and go from there."
A little background. I've been working in Atlanta in production for the past 5 years. I began working with a small publication, filming, producing and editing online
content for them. Getting paid $10/hr wasn't working out and with all the opportunities I had outside of this job, I quit and went full-on freelance. Working freelance,
I completed small jobs shooting and editing (i.e. BTS for music videos, etc) and some jobs just editing. I have now started my own LLC and have moved more into
directing my own videos, yet I still take editing gigs when I need the work.
Obviously, I need a reel. I want the reel to represent my company...which is basically only me at this point. After pulling footage left and right and placing shots in
a timeline, I have more than enough footage but have some questions/concerns about what to use.
As I stated, I want this to represent my production company. So as a production company, I have completed jobs that I DP'd, produced and edited and jobs that I've
directed and hired DP's to shoot.
On to my questions:
*Can I use anything I've edited but not shot in the reel? If so, would I need a footnote under the video stating that I only worked as an editor on certain shots?
*Along the same lines, can I use footage shot by a DP that I've hired for a documentary that I directed and edited?
* Say I shot BTS for a music video. Would it be unethical to use footage from that, as I really had nothing to do with the actual lighting or production itself?
*Can I use footage I shot for the publication I worked for before?
As I see it, there are a few different routes I could take, none of which sound very appealing to me.
A) Create separate reels for editing, directing, and cinematography.
B) Create a single reel with different chapters (i.e. :30 seconds of director then text transition to "Documentary" then "Editing" and so on) I've not been fond of the reels I've seen in this format.
Lastly, I have an aesthetic question about the reel. I have a decent amount of talking heads. The main reason I would be using these is for a potential client to have the "damn
he's worked with a lot of A-list clients, we should hire this guy." I know it may not be a mind-blowing shot by any means but I don't feel that its unreasonable for potential clients to have
that mindset.
I know all the guidelines, wow them in the first :15, keep it short, etc so I'm not looking for those kind of responses, more of what I should/can use as a small production company.
Any help and assistance is greatly appreciated. Please chime in if you have similar issues or ideas.
Thanks
As production has gone from large crews and massive budgets to many people playing all roles, I'm having some trouble deciding what I should have
included in my demo reel.
I know what most peoples first reaction would be: "You need to decide if you are a director, dp, editor, etc and go from there."
A little background. I've been working in Atlanta in production for the past 5 years. I began working with a small publication, filming, producing and editing online
content for them. Getting paid $10/hr wasn't working out and with all the opportunities I had outside of this job, I quit and went full-on freelance. Working freelance,
I completed small jobs shooting and editing (i.e. BTS for music videos, etc) and some jobs just editing. I have now started my own LLC and have moved more into
directing my own videos, yet I still take editing gigs when I need the work.
Obviously, I need a reel. I want the reel to represent my company...which is basically only me at this point. After pulling footage left and right and placing shots in
a timeline, I have more than enough footage but have some questions/concerns about what to use.
As I stated, I want this to represent my production company. So as a production company, I have completed jobs that I DP'd, produced and edited and jobs that I've
directed and hired DP's to shoot.
On to my questions:
*Can I use anything I've edited but not shot in the reel? If so, would I need a footnote under the video stating that I only worked as an editor on certain shots?
*Along the same lines, can I use footage shot by a DP that I've hired for a documentary that I directed and edited?
* Say I shot BTS for a music video. Would it be unethical to use footage from that, as I really had nothing to do with the actual lighting or production itself?
*Can I use footage I shot for the publication I worked for before?
As I see it, there are a few different routes I could take, none of which sound very appealing to me.
A) Create separate reels for editing, directing, and cinematography.
B) Create a single reel with different chapters (i.e. :30 seconds of director then text transition to "Documentary" then "Editing" and so on) I've not been fond of the reels I've seen in this format.
Lastly, I have an aesthetic question about the reel. I have a decent amount of talking heads. The main reason I would be using these is for a potential client to have the "damn
he's worked with a lot of A-list clients, we should hire this guy." I know it may not be a mind-blowing shot by any means but I don't feel that its unreasonable for potential clients to have
that mindset.
I know all the guidelines, wow them in the first :15, keep it short, etc so I'm not looking for those kind of responses, more of what I should/can use as a small production company.
Any help and assistance is greatly appreciated. Please chime in if you have similar issues or ideas.
Thanks
