Documentary Reel

[Eastside Parkway]

Hey all, I'm putting together a reel of my documentary work and I'm wondering if anyone has an example or maybe some tips that I could work with. Usually when I think of a reel, I think of a collection of beautiful shots and stuff like that, but with docs, showing off talent does not necessarily mean showing the most beautiful shots. So I'm just not sure how to go about doing it since it doesn't really seem to follow the reel formula. I hope this makes sense. Any help is appreciated.

- Josh

 

[Bus No. 8]

I'm working on the same thing. I'm finding that I'm assembling different reels depending on the focus of a particular company or grant I'm applying to.

Right now I'm pitching a series of interviews with doctors in the hospital where I work for the website, so I'm working on an interview reel. Another employer wanted to see how I could tell a story with visuals, nat sound and graphics, so I put together a reel of that type of work.

By now I've assembled a pretty good collection of different types of examples of my work, and is makes sense for me to continue putting together more short examples so that I have a library of work to draw on. That way I can pull together a custom demo reel in a short amount of time.

Don't know if this helps with your situation. In general I would say for a documentary reel; look for short scenes or portions of interviews (1 minute if possible) that tell a complete story (even if it is only one element of the larger story from the section where your clip comes from). Clips that show good use of cover footage, natural sound, use of various elements that come together to support the narrative of the clip. I think more than 2 minutes of any clip is too long for a demo reel. 4-5 one minute (give or take) clips showing the different aspects and the diversity of your work would make a good reel.

Good luck,

Robert