Demo Reel DVD
 

Hello,

I am about to graduate from college and I'm working on putting my reel together. I was to going to create a dvd with a short 30-45 sec intro of various shots/sequences. Then go a DVD menu of completed work. I had heard that this is how some reels are done, but now I have heard conflicting reports that I should make a 5-8min reel of just the best sections of various projects and don't put a menu or whole pieces. Please Help!

I am applying for shooter/editor jobs. My pieces are a combination of short films and short documentaries.

Thanks,
Dave

I have a short 6 min reel that is a sample of my work. Then, if the peole want to see more of my work, or longer scenes, I then include them on the DVD as well.

Some people just need the short demo, other need full scenes. I give them both.

A different perspective:

One editor I know had to hire an assistant editor (for a few days) and got ~200 applicants. Of the people he narrowed down, some of them submitted demo reels and didn't get hired because of it. Had they not sent in a demo reel, they would have had a better chance. This is because most student work isn't that good. This is not to say that your work isn't good... but you may want to be objective here.

So you might just want to have a very short reel only with good work on it. You do not have to show entire pieces, and you probably shouldn't. Even for people looking for a documentary editor, they are not going through entire documentaries in their selection process.

2- You might want to tailor your reel to whatever the person is looking for. If someone is looking for corporate work, only put corporate work at the start of the DVD. It's better if they think you specialise in editing corporate work... because people think that specialists are better than generalists. By tailoring your reel, you can appear to be a specialist in whatever they are looking for.

3- The first 15 seconds of your reel are the most important. The person looking at the reel may not go past that. Don't waste the first part of your DVD with a long drawn out intro. I would put your name, contact information up front and a client list if you have big name clients. Then launch into what you want to show, or have a DVD menu where they can pull what they want to see.