• Creative Community Conversations

  I’m putting together an Editing Demo reel, and need suggestions.

  Posted by Ozzy Baines on February 10, 2013 at 10:28 pm

  I’m putting together an editing reel. My idea is to split up the demo reel in three parts: documentaries, promos, and short films. I was going to structure it by showing each film, one by one, as a sort of small trailer. With project that I show, I’m pretty much telling the story of it as quickly as I can. Each project plays back to back, then it moves to the next section and so on. Any suggestions on how to make a solid Editing demo reel?

  Here are some other questions I’m coming across…

  How do you present documentaries on a demo reel? Do you usually include the sound from dialogue? Also, do you usually mute the whole demo reel and put music to it?

  Thanks.

  Brittany Delillo replied 13 years, 3 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Mark Suszko

  February 11, 2013 at 2:57 pm

  Make three separate reels, one for for each specialty. Rule 1 is not to bore the viewer making them slog thru sections they weren’t interested in. For the doc and shorts samples, pick the most representative 3-5 minutes, something that shows the rhythm and timing you apply to the storytelling. Cut the samples so we get the gist of the story, and so that we will want to go watch the whole thing to find out how it ends. Basically, making a “commercial preview trailer” for the short and the doc.

  Your spot reel should just be the best fie to ten spots slammed together, with their original audio. If one of the spots has complicated compositing or effects work involved, you might play the full spot, then a short sample of the raw footage and finished product in a split-screen, to show what your efforts added to the production. Same for color-correction or sound sweetening demos.

  Start and end the promos with a title card and contact info, put links to you on any you upload to youtube or vimeo.

  You mute a demo reel and put music to it when you’re demoing the camera work or just the effects. But if you are demonstrating editing skills, then you want to show actual storytelling.
• 

  Brittany Delillo

  March 13, 2013 at 4:54 am

  Perfect advice. I’m looking to gather my reel together and you pretty much answered every question I was starting to have.

  Thank you so much!

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up