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Anyone done a demo reel?

Reviewer

Colin Mulvany Aug. 15, 2010, 8:56 a.m. permalink

I'm curious if anyone has made a demo reel of their video journalism work? I'd like to make a portfolio reel, but I'm unsure of the "best practices" of how to do one properly. If you have a link to your reel, please share it here. Any other resources, other than this?

Reviewer

Eric Seals Aug. 15, 2010, 9:38 a.m. permalink

Interesting, I've never put one together and have no idea where to start or what the best length is (obviously shorter is better)

I'd find it hard to take a few of my best stories and chop them up into good sound bites and visuals. Wouldn't you think people would want to see a compete story or two from start to finish and then see some pretty b-roll to see how you see and the style you shoot?

Looking at demo reels on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/channels/demoreels

and other sites when I google "demo reels for video journalists" all I find is lots of pretty visuals set to music and no story or words to it.

I did find a demo reel section on Creative Cow, going to give it a good look to see what others are doing

http://reels.creativecow.net/c/Video

Going to chat with some friends of mine who are TV photographers for the networks to see what they do.

Eric

Brian Tankersley Aug. 17, 2010, 7:35 a.m. permalink

The way most of us put together a reel for TV is to start with a full screen with all of your info: name, address, contact. Usually, you would put one feature, general, and spot news story, and one other that highlights some other quality, like maybe lighting. Follow that with the same full screen from the top and that's it.

It's pretty straight forward. I don't think you need a video montage, or any fancy graphics, just some good quality package's. If the person viewing the tape likes it, they may ask for examples of your work.

Reviewer

Michael Fagans Aug. 19, 2010, 12:30 a.m. permalink

Colin:

Here is something I pieced together: http://vimeo.com/14110160

Immediate feedback is to break my creative work demo and documentary demo into two different reels. Will do very soon.

That being said, I personally dislike the cheesy music and 'cool' stuff.

I instead tried to tell a story, or at least show how I tell stories.

Been asking the same question myself for awhile, thought I would jump right in.

Reviewer

David Berman Oct. 4, 2010, 1:53 p.m. permalink

I did this one some time ago and to be honest think i need to redo it. I think it is important to have something that shows quickly what you can do. You never know who may want to offer you a job!

please call me.

please....

http://www.sitbonzo.com/category/our-favourite-shows/

Video showreel 3rd one down.