Reel Help

[Jon Amerikaner]

What advice can you give on putting together a reel? Should it be complete scenes or sequences lifted right out of a film's final cut? Should it be the best images cut togther independent of any story? What works? What doesn't? Thanks

[Gordon Highland]

If I were hiring a DP, pretty shots are nice, and I would certainly enjoy seeing those, but I am also interested in coverage, so I personally would like to see a master and a couple of cutaways in the same scene to give a greater perspective and how your lighting interacts with some of the reality of the blocking/movement within the frame. If you're also an operator, that would also give me a better feel for those skills as well. You could trim the scenes down to their essentials and put music over it instead of the dialogue if you wanted. And of course a montage of individual pretty shots is cool, too, maybe as an opener.

[Andre Lim]

If I were hiring a DP, pretty shots are nice, and I would certainly enjoy seeing those, but I am also interested in coverage, so I personally would like to see a master and a couple of cutaways in the same scene to give a greater perspective and how your lighting interacts with some of the reality of the blocking/movement within the frame.  If you're also an operator, that would also give me a better feel for those skills as well.  You could trim the scenes down to their essentials and put music over it instead of the dialogue if you wanted.  And of course a montage of individual pretty shots is cool, too, maybe as an opener.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What I plan to do if I when I make a DVD reel is catagorize narrative reel, artistic reel, and still photograpy (maybe), and one reel with the best from both combined. I feel that if they like my main reel, they might want to see more of what I can do. This would probably happen after I've shot many films.

[Adam Frisch FSF]

Sad fact of reels is that you get judged not by how good your cinematography is, but how "big" or "cool" project you have done.

 

Therefore, always put the short where a famous actor cameo'd or a famous director or famous brand or famous artist did it, no matter how bad it looks.

 

Trust me on this.

[Jon Amerikaner]

Thanks all for the good advice. Keep it coming. I posted these reel questions because I had two well-respected ASC members give me conflicting advice on reels. One, whose reel consisted of scenes lifted straight out of his features' release cuts, said my reel should display my capacity as a storyteller. It should show how I deliver a beginning, middle, and end. The other ASC member said my reel should be my best images, independent of any story, that's for directors he said, and yes with any famous faces at the very beginning. I can see the benefit of both formats. The emphasis on story is important for the narrative cinematographer. But knowing the demands of reel reviewers, I also want to show them my best in the shortest possible time. In a few minutes they should know whether or not I have what it takes. Thanks again and please keep posting. I am especially interested in reading any success or horror stories about your own reel dilemmas.