Standard Demo Reel for Directors?

murraymile

murraymile

Active member
Just wondering what a standard rule for a Directors Reel? I viewed some REEL's on youtube, and it seems their always over 3 minutes long. I think thats not going to grab a clients interest.

What are some guide lines to a Directors REEL? I have three commercials and a Music video that I want to put together. Of all four projects, I don't have any dialogue, So I put together a montage of footage from my work that I like the most. I was thinking about a Minute and a half.

Any ideas.

Thanks,

Murray
 
there is no real standard, but here's a good start....
5 min tops.
your best stuff
clearly labelled at head and tail of clip, with your info clearly displayed.

If you want to do a 30 sec montage off the top then go for it, but make it something that the viewer can bypass.
Other than that montages are annoying because they don't really show anything.

Here's one of mine from 2007...yes, I got work from it.
http://www.vimeo.com/1747587
pass: 6months

No bs, no frills.
 
Yeah murraymile you're in a somewhat similar situation to me. I have music videos mainly for now, and corporate work, and a training video, but no narrative work I'd show off yet and I'm trying to build my commercial reel next.

I don't intend to make an all-encompassing reel, I think it's the stupidest idea ever, and anyone who asks me for something like that honestly isn't a professional. If you want to see a reel, you can ask me which reel you want to see. I'll make one for music videos (done, which is just my 3 best, no use in my opinion of cutting them together, it seems silly and is silly, you can't tell how good a music video is just by seeing a few seconds of it cut to some other random music), one for commercials, one for corporate work, and one narrative one. That's my eventual goal. I am sure that I will have a larger reel DVD with samples of all types of my work, but I simply cannot edit together a 3-5 minute reel with all kinds of random crap just thrown in, gee here's some segments from this training video, oh wait here's a rock video, oops here's a commercial, oh yeah now we have no music because this is a scene from my short I'm proud of, ok here's another music video clip. That's an absolute mess. I've never heard of anyone doing that before, and really don't see how that monstrosity could get you work.

It's just like if you make a resume, tailer the resume to the job. Don't send me a resume that has everything you might have done or would like to do when applying to be a DP. Send me your DP resume, what you've done relevant to being a DP. That's what makes you a professional and detail-oriented. Same with a reel. If I'm going after a music video project, I'm going to send a music video reel. They don't need to see my short films or my training video, that's wasting their time.
 
That's a good point. Cut a reel to what I'm aiming for. I always thought that way. I was just wondering about a directors reel. It's easy to make a DP or a Editor reel. I'm thinking just putting together a Commercial Reel if anything. Thanks for the responses.
 
Yeah, that's how I think, the director's reel might be the toughest thing honestly. The best directors obviously don't need reels, neither do many working directors arguably. If you just directed a few episodes of CSI, for instance, you probably have an agent, and I doubt you need a reel to get a gig directing an episode of 24 or something along those lines. Only those of us who are trying to make it still need a directing reel, and it's very tough to figure out what we're supposed to do.

For a cinematographer, it seems really easy, not only easy to make, but also easy to deceive. I've seen some great cinematographer reels, but who knows if that represented the quality of their overall work. Even that can be tough. How do I know they didn't just take the great stuff, put it in the reel, and the rest of their work was uneven, some of it shoddy even? It's all very difficult. Then again, seeing one project from a DP, a random project, probably won't tell you much either. If the DP says, "I loved this project and I feel that it represents my abilities well," that's helpful. But if you saw a random project of theirs, you never know what they were working with. I mean for instance, let's say you judged this DP not to be very good based on the project you saw from him, he could tell you that the producer paid him, but didn't provide him with an adequate crew, he had no 1st A.C., he wasn't allowed to rent lenses, and he was working with almost no lighting budget. In that case, you may change your opinion and figure this guy didn't do half-bad for having no resources after all. I think a DP is only as good as the working environment he is provided with. I know for me as a director, if you gave me non-actors, an amateur DP, and an inexperienced, perhaps bad attitude crew, I'm not going to be able to overcome that. My work is going to be shoddy because I wasn't given anything to direct! haha.
 
Here's what I know about reels...
they rarely get you work.
The production/unit manager doesn't care about your reel.
The producer really doesn't either, even though he has to watch it.

What they really care about is that you can come in, get the job done, and not make trouble for them.
That's why they hire people they know and are comfortable with.
You may have the most developed eye, creative ideas, a killer reel,
but if you can't play nice with others you won't work.

What *really* gets you work is knowing people.
If you don't know them try nicely bugging the shi* out of the people you want to work with.
Be prepared to do it for a long time before you get the gig.
Sometimes a year.
Seriously.
I once cold called a producer about a job, got blown off, sent my reel (which was crap) and then called him weekly for 4 months until he hired me.
I also offered to work as a local hire, paying my own travel and hotel in exchange for a local dayrate.
Why?
Because I knew once they saw my work on location that they'd hire me for more work.
That was 5 years ago, and now that production company (C3 Presents in Austin) is one of my best clients.
Plus working for them has opened me up to other production companies in the area as well as nationwide.

Now I rarely send out a reel.
People know me, and if they don't they've heard about me, and positive word of mouth is the
best sales tool you can have.
 
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