Morgan Peline Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Hi, I just watched my friend's reel and he's made a really catchy montage using U2's Vertigo. It works really well with his reel is really energetic and the song really helps with fast cutting and allowing him to show many really nice images quickly. I've decided that I am going to try and achieve the same effect rather than go for the 'melodic and meaningful' slow reel. Anyone know a mainstream, catchy and upbeat pop or rock song that is catchy, well-known as in hummable and was most likely in the charts? You know safe...really safe catchy chart songs that people use for commercials because they are well know. I know this sounds like a crazy question but I've been so busy shooting these last few years I kinda stopped paying attention to bands... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chayse Irvin ASC, CSC Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Its always a safe choice to pick a song that says musically what you are trying to say visually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted December 23, 2006 Author Share Posted December 23, 2006 Versatile? ...and upbeat! ;) No idea what I am trying to say as I'm going to try to add all sorts of different camera and lighting styles to show I can do pretty much everything... wish I had a few crane and slow motion shots... Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lotuaco Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 With millions of songs out there, I'd say check out http://www.billboard.com and go down their singles charts and listen to a sample of the top songs and see which one fits your style the best. I've noticed a few songs from several different genres used over and over in commercials, the ones that I can think of are various versions of Johnny Cash's "Walk the Line" and a Michelle Branch song that I can't think of the name, but the melody sticks out in my head. This is sort of related, but is there any issues using copyrighted songs for demo reels? Since technically a demo reel is a sort of advertisement to get a person work that they might get paid for, would using a song such as a U2 or Johnny Cash song be considered used for commercial purposes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted December 23, 2006 Author Share Posted December 23, 2006 This is sort of related, but is there any issues using copyrighted songs for demo reels? Since technically a demo reel is a sort of advertisement to get a person work that they might get paid for, would using a song such as a U2 or Johnny Cash song be considered used for commercial purposes? I think it's one of those grey areas that no one likes to mention - as long as these songs are used for personal reels rather than commercial purposes I assume the record companies turn a blind eye as it would probably cost to much money and effort to stop every single individual from using their songs for their own reels...I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 (edited) Robbie Williams probably isn't a bad choice. (well.. it is musically.. but we won't go there) Robbie Williams + Kylie Minogue - Kids ? (Song anyone can listen to + nice and exciting) And, would you have a link to this guys reel atall? I wouldn't mind seeing this style myself. Edited December 23, 2006 by Daniel Ashley-Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted December 24, 2006 Author Share Posted December 24, 2006 Hi, http://www.ampmgt.com/philip_robertson.htm Have a look at the 'montage' reel - that's the one I want emulate as I don't have any features or tv dramas under my belt yet. It's actually an editor friend of mine who did these - he's done a load of music videos in the last few years so fast cutting has become his forte...I think he did an Atomic Kitten video a few years ago! A few years ago, he actually did quite of few of the clips that I have put on my website but obviously my footage is not as professional looking! At the moment he is quite busy so I don't think he has the time to re-do my reel so I thought I would attempt it myself over the holidays. I just bought a new hard drive and loaded pretty much all the short films I have to hand that I have done over the last eight years or so - I think that I have useable footage from about 10 to 21 shorts to play with and then a load of really bad stuff from other projects that I took on, so hopefully I can get enough variety in there. I have about about a 100Gb of material on my drive! I really wish I had more steadicam stuff, at least one crane shot and more slow motion stuff! Never mind, something to aim for for the next one. I watched a load of the old films I had shot over the years...it was fun to see many of the really bad, dodgy films that I have shot in the past! As I embark on a new career as a professional DP, I really hope that my taste in lighting, camera and screenplays has drastically improved over the years!...I really wonder sometimes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted December 24, 2006 Author Share Posted December 24, 2006 I suppose after watching the montage it is actually not that 'fastly cut' as you do actually have time to register the images. Maybe it's just the music that gives it a fast feel...or maybe I am getting too used to it now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lotuaco Posted December 24, 2006 Share Posted December 24, 2006 I suppose after watching the montage it is actually not that 'fastly cut' as you do actually have time to register the images. Maybe it's just the music that gives it a fast feel...or maybe I am getting too used to it now? It did seem to have pretty fast cuts at some points, at least too fast for me. For a DP reel, I would think you'd want to stay with the images as long as possible to "show off" what you can do. Also, I kind of feel the song distracted me too much from what I was watching and the shots of a live band playing made me think I was watching a music video rather than a reel. Now, I've never put together a reel and I don't have one myself and I'm not trying to be the Roger Ebert of reels, but it's just my gut feeling when watching reels. Search for Eric Fletcher, he posts on these boards sometimes, but he is a steadicam operator and I like his reels that he has on his site. Since it's an operator's reel, obviously the shots are much longer, but they're only put to instrumental music that doesn't distract from the visuals at all. Most reels I've seen use music that are without vocals and are just subtle instrumentals. On a side note, we recently had a professional editor come in to talk to our class and when asked about the trends when it comes to the speed of cutting, he said the fast cutting which became so popular in recent years was a result of the influence MTV has had on our culture and that with the advent of youtube, cutting will probably start getting slower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now