My Director Demo Reel [Finally got around to cutting one]

A lot of those scenes look good and intense, but perhaps you should let some of the dialogue and maybe some of the foley filter through the music a little bit as to better appreciate your directing the actors as this is your directing reel and not a DoP reel.

Also I think it can be cut more tighter. But otherwise most scenes are good.
 
teddybear said:
A lot of those scenes look good and intense, but perhaps you should let some of the dialogue and maybe some of the foley filter through the music a little bit as to better appreciate your directing the actors as this is your directing reel and not a DoP reel.

Also I think it can be cut more tighter. But otherwise most scenes are good.
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Thanks Ted for the feedback. I was thinking of maybe cutting a 2nd one that is more dialogue oriented. I noticed some directors have reels like this with no dialogue and some have them with full scenes and dialogue. I figured maybe I'll have one of each...dunno yet.
 
This is supposed to be a director's reel and not a cinematography reel, right? The problem is that it doesn't really showcase any of your directing ability. You would have to show us scenes including dialog to get a sense of your ability to direct. You need to show that you can direct actor's and tell a story, which this reel clearly doesn't.... Also, to be honest, I hardly think reel's are very useful for directors. Nobody is going to hire anybody just because of a reel. It's all about connections, and once somebody recommended you and then considers hiring you, they probably want to see previous work from you (the whole piece)... So I just don't really see where a reel really helps to get jobs....
 
cordvision said:
This is supposed to be a director's reel and not a cinematography reel, right? The problem is that it doesn't really showcase any of your directing ability. You would have to show us scenes including dialog to get a sense of your ability to direct. You need to show that you can direct actor's and tell a story, which this reel clearly doesn't.... Also, to be honest, I hardly think reel's are very useful for directors. Nobody is going to hire anybody just because of a reel. It's all about connections, and once somebody recommended you and then considers hiring you, they probably want to see previous work from you (the whole piece)... So I just don't really see where a reel really helps to get jobs....
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Hmm, those are good points and I agree that watching the full shorts would be a better way to tell. Well my idea behind creating a reel is that I think people in general don't like sitting through shorts anymore...but they'll watch a best of highlight reel sort of thing with snippets of stuff pieced together. I still put all I can online for people to check out, but it seems increasingly hard to get people to watch a short. So I figured this was just a quick way for people to get a preview of stuff I've done.
 
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Hi Goodluck!

I think you definitely got the talent. I assume you also do your camerawork, which is impressive in the opening short. The split screen, Brian de Palma style edit is very effective on your narrative.
I have to agree with the other commenters to add a bit of foley or dialogue audio on the shots. However, if the audio was bad, leave it as it is now.

I agree with cordvision when he says to be hired as a director is mostly about connections, but I also think you're going on the right path by posting a reel online. Some of us have gotten jobs by having our work showcased online. By doing a nice, compelling edit of the best thing you feel you've done can be a good calling card to be noticed.

What I would suggest to do is to do a tighter edit, like teddybear suggested. Make this showreel the best you can in terms of looks, pace, rythm. The most professional and impressive footage only. If this impresses people will enquire you and ask you for more. Then they will have the "patience" of watching a full short.

So, basically, keep the best shots, cut it faster, leave out the least impressive shots, create a small "narrative" with the music and your shots in order to make this entertaining untill the end. If you don't have enough material, cut it shorter. Better to keep the audience or client wanting more, than to feel saturated.

Anyway, good work, you're talented!
 
I just don't know a single person who got any work as a director just from a reel that is pieced together with "highlights". That only seems to work if your work is very recognizable and the viewer goes like: Oh, I've seen this one before, and wow, I've also seen this one on TV etc. If you post finished pieces, you might have the chance to actually impress somebody. It's a chance to proof that you are able to deliver a "product" that works. If people don't care to watch it, or only watch part of it, that means you already failed. It's probably too boring. Quite a few people, even from this message board started their career by posting "awesome" shorts etc. that were able to draw and impress an audience, which lead to jobs...

As a director, you are responsible to orchestrate all the little parts and bring them together in a final product. Therefore, to judge a director's ability to direct, you need to see the final product. The parts on it's own might be good, even if the director was bad. So you don't get much info about the director from just seeing bits and pieces....
 
I definitely liked it , but I agree a short scene with clever cuts and dialogue in the middle would help it in my humble opinion... nice shots...very atmospheric
 
SPZ said:
Hi Goodluck!

I think you definitely got the talent. I assume you also do your camerawork, which is impressive in the opening short. The split screen, Brian de Palma style edit is very effective on your narrative.
I have to agree with the other commenters to add a bit of foley or dialogue audio on the shots. However, if the audio was bad, leave it as it is now.

I agree with cordvision when he says to be hired as a director is mostly about connections, but I also think you're going on the right path by posting a reel online. Some of us have gotten jobs by having our work showcased online. By doing a nice, compelling edit of the best thing you feel you've done can be a good calling card to be noticed.

What I would suggest to do is to do a tighter edit, like teddybear suggested. Make this showreel the best you can in terms of looks, pace, rythm. The most professional and impressive footage only. If this impresses people will enquire you and ask you for more. Then they will have the "patience" of watching a full short.

So, basically, keep the best shots, cut it faster, leave out the least impressive shots, create a small "narrative" with the music and your shots in order to make this entertaining untill the end. If you don't have enough material, cut it shorter. Better to keep the audience or client wanting more, than to feel saturated.

Anyway, good work, you're talented!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. I think I'm going to look at cutting it shorter some. I do feel like it could use one additional sequence in there but I got some other footage from a feature but it just doesn't match in tone or style. And I got other stuff but I read not to put just anything in there that anyone can do like over the shoulder conversation stuff. I know people say that this is more towards a DoP reel but I've seen a few directors do reels like this with no dialogue. And then when you see reels with heavy dialogue sequences it almost feels more like an actors reel...or that you're showing off that these people can act. Or maybe if it's cut well, then maybe then it's the editor. So the director really is sort of always the odd man out unless you're looking at the whole piece or have a heavy involvement in it with multiple things. So I figure screw it, I'll have one without dialogue, and one with a few scenes with dialogue. Because the best performance scenes with dialogue you get aren't always the best shot ones. I feel like a lot of the best shot ones really have very little dialogue/sound/or were shot more silently with a mixture of music over them. So it would be choppy if I pulled it in like that with various songs playing back to back, versus keeping it silent and with one uniform song.

My main goal with it isn't necessarily to attract commercial clients but is to attract talented actors and crew to the stuff I do. And maybe even use it in a fundraising pitch down the line on kickstarter or elsewhere. It's really just a start to build on.
 
cordvision said:
I just don't know a single person who got any work as a director just from a reel that is pieced together with "highlights". That only seems to work if your work is very recognizable and the viewer goes like: Oh, I've seen this one before, and wow, I've also seen this one on TV etc. If you post finished pieces, you might have the chance to actually impress somebody. It's a chance to proof that you are able to deliver a "product" that works. If people don't care to watch it, or only watch part of it, that means you already failed. It's probably too boring. Quite a few people, even from this message board started their career by posting "awesome" shorts etc. that were able to draw and impress an audience, which lead to jobs...

As a director, you are responsible to orchestrate all the little parts and bring them together in a final product. Therefore, to judge a director's ability to direct, you need to see the final product. The parts on it's own might be good, even if the director was bad. So you don't get much info about the director from just seeing bits and pieces....
Click to expand...

Sorry, I probably should have made my intentions more clear, I'm not really interested in using it to book director work on commercials or anything like that. It's more towards attracting more talent and crew to stuff I do and possibly even using it down the line with fundraising if need be. I completely agree with what you're saying. If they really want to see what I can do as a director, they should watch the entire thing. I put a lot of my stuff online for that as well.
 
Interesting, but too long I'd say, I started flipping through the vid after about a minute to see how much longer it goes on.

I also can't see how this is a "directors reel", nothing really stands out about "director" in it.
 
I too think this is more of a cinematography reel. It is good, some interesting shots, you got talent. Keeping with the current theme you have, I would cut it down considerably. You start with an establishing shot that has nothing interesting to see, the coverage shots that follow are far more interesting. And I would not hang too long on shots from the same production, it gets long in the tooth especially since we don't know the story. Chop it down to about 1/3rd the size keeping only the most tasty stuff and I think you will have a screaming DP reel :)
 
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