New Demo Reel

jaypass

jaypass

Well-known member
I just compiled my last year's worth of work onto a new demo reel...All was shot on HVX200, some with the letus extreme. I plan to use this to get more work, so any comments or suggestions would be great! I don't really know what directors/producers/production houses/whomever look for in a reel, so feel free to point me in the right direction if this needs changes, thanks!

http://www.vimeo.com/12057454
 
Don't use any of the same footage twice, don't bother titling anything, don't say you do graphics if all you have on the reel is stock Motion behaviors. Pick out your action shots, your most well-framed and well-lit shots, and assemble them over an instrumental track appropriate to your material. If you have any doubts about a shot, trash it. You don't want to show everything that you've done, you want to impress somebody enough to hire you, so figure out what your very best work is and show that. The shorter the reel, the better.
 
Thanks for the input. I was trying to convey the wide variety of projects I've worked on, which is why it ended up so long...but you're right, it does drag. I'll come up with ways to tighten it up.

Other then the things you mentioned, does this seem like something that would serve me well by putting it on a DVD and sending it out to production houses to get freelance work? In terms of the quality of the shots in the reel...some are better then others, but are those better ones at the level they need to be? I have so much to learn, but I really want to get more cinematography and DP jobs rather then the event and corporate work I've been doing over the past year. I've never really been critiqued by professionals before though, so its tough to tell where I stand, if that makes sense.

Thanks again!
 
Oh man, where do I start.

I'm gonna use my own reel as an example and detail some of the thought that went into it. http://vimeo.com/10507738 or in my sig. It's good for what it is, but it's not where it could be say 5 years from now and it's not where it's going to be even 1 year from now. I try and show variety, and I try and show atmosphere, but it already needs stuff taken out or replaced that isn't matching up to the rest of it because it doesn't fit or it's not as good. I'm just lazy, since I get most of my work from established relationships anyway. But I try and keep the reel tight because you never know when an opportunity might come your way. I do cram in a LOT of shots, so if a shot is good but not, say, incredible, it just gets less time. Less time leaves you with a more favorable impression. There's only one shot on the reel that I think needs more time but it just doesn't have it right now because of the construction of the cut.

One question I've been struggling with is the slow beginning. I have certain material that doesn't fit with a certain tempo of music, some that requires something more active, and other stuff with a different tone from either, so that's why it ramps up from dramatic to ominous to action-y; but I worry about losing people with a slow beginning.

I can't stress enough that you can't let your personal feelings get in the way of cutting a reel. I showed a mentor of mine my first reel when I was fresh out of school. It was 3 minutes long and he trashed it. I came back a year later with a minute twenty reel that had about three or four times as much material in it, he said "Now that's a reel. You're a cameraman."

About half of that stuff was not paid work. To get your game up as a DP and your reel up to snuff you're definitely going to have to do free work, because a lot of time those short films afford you the most opportunity to pad your reel. So in that spirit you have to always be pushing the limits of every shot. How can we make this shot more awesome? That's how you gotta be, just starting out. And don't worry about what project a shot came from--just worry about how good it is, if it's worthy of being a flagship shot for your career. I have shots from events, dvxfest films, playing around outside at magic hour (I found a use for that footage), a few from a 48 hour project, mixed in with the paid music videos and promotional work.

You have to always be looking for inspiration in everything you watch or see--movies, shows, music videos, commercials, photography, people on the street in the right light, paintings even...Ask yourself, how did they do that? More importantly, how can I do that? Don't worry about ripping off anything because that's all anybody does. Everybody's inspired by something else. You probably don't have the same resources anyway so you're going to have to make compromises and figure out how to do it differently on a low-no budget. Low-no budgets make you better. You gotta get creative with it. Then as you improve and hone the craft you transition from copying to tweaking those techniques you've developed into your own style.

So to answer your question, no, I don't think any of those shots are going to get you paid DP work from a production house. A few might do as filler until you can replace them with better stuff. Chop it down by like a minute or more, get out and shoot and make some pretty pictures to really represent you. And never stop making your reel better.
 
the beginning of your reel had the most cinematic looking shots imo... the woman playing piano... granted the effects didn't help, those shots looked good and she was pretty... but they were hardly in the reel! i stopped watching at the jaguar luxury beauty. the reel is just too long and has too many shots from the same piece back to back. i'd mix it up and make it flow much quicker. like justin said... music that is slow, then picks up, then goes back to slow... ideal for a reel.

here is our old reel, it's missing our last 6 videos which is a huge bummer, but, we're working on a new one: http://vimeo.com/7701672

i think it shows a great example of a song that is slow to fast and lets you use a variety of clips. let me know if this helped!


http://vimeo.com/7701672
 
Thanks for all the input, you've all certainly given me a lot to think about...I'll post a new version when I get a chance!

And you're right, I need to get many more films under my belt, its just so difficult to find the time when working full-time elsewhere...I've looked into some of those short indie film opportunities, and they all require at least a week's full of work, and generally I don't have that time off. I'll keep working at it though.
 
Drew Ott said:
Justin's advice should be stickied somewhere. Great advice for beginning DPs.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir...a sticky would be nice, I feel like I post some variety of that same sentiment on every "check out my newbie reel" thread. No offense Jay.

As to indie opportunities, I always shot my short films on the weekends...generally not hard to find a collaborator on a short who's in the same boat, or just put it together yourself. You gotta be willing to go hard and put in a long day or two. They generally ended up one long, one short due to different logistics...your mileage may vary.
 
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