Help with demo tape (reposted here)

[Brett Walters]

I am a nineteen year old videographer that is trying to find a job with a production/advertising company. I've been trying to put together a nice little demo tape that I can show to potential employers. However, I'm not exactly sure what type of material these companies will be looking for. I have a fewwell shot and edited brief shorts from varying from rollerblading competition to nature montages. I feel that these projects may seem amateur to potential employers just because the subject matter is not of a professional nature. Would it be wise to create some mock advertisements to be included? What type of material have some of you included? Thank you for any help I may recieve

 

[MsManhattan]

Hi, Brett, Hope you are still checking this thread. One great way to get ideas for your reel is to look at a lot of the reels available online. If you go to Yahoo or Google and do a search for "Director's Reel" (in quotes), you'll get a lot of hits. I recommend just watching as many as you can. Here's one site I found that has a number of sample reels on it: http://www.squeakstreet.com/reels_showreels.html. Additionally, you could make a list of the production companies, post houses or ad agencies that you're interested in working for, and then check out their Web sites -- they will usually have their own reels posted online. And, naturally, putting together a reel that matches your target employer's in style/tone/flow/etc. would be one way to go...