Increase your chances for success by following these top 20 tips for creating an engaging demo reel!
A well constructed demo reel with exceptional work examples is often the key to getting employment in the production and post business. Although demo reels come in a myriad of variations, there are keys to making sure your reel positions you well for potential job opportunities…
1. KEEP IT SHORT
If you ask 10 different editors how long a demo reel should be you’ll get 10 different opinions… but there’s one sentiment that’s pretty consistent, KEEP IT SHORT. A demo reel should highlight YOUR BEST work, and thus should probably not be a sampling of everything you’ve ever done. My personal opinion is 60 to 90 seconds for most cases, and I can think of few reasons why you’d ever have a reel over 2 minutes. One of the main tasks of a video editor is to be able to tell a clear story in a condensed amount of time. Underscore this ability by showing off your body of work with brevity.2. MAKE IT SPECIFIC
These days it seems that many folks in production have multiple skill sets. When applying for a position, ensure that your demo reel is targeted specifically to an individual skill or job function (i.e. Director, Editor, Director of Photography, Animator, Gaffer). This may mean that you will have to create multiple reels, but you will benefit in appearing more focused. Because those hiring have a very limited amount of time to review reels, they will likely only want to see examples that pertain to the position they are hiring for.3. COLLAGE OR SAMPLES?
Demo reels seem to be divided into two types – the rapid fire “collage” type reel that shows quick shots cut to music or the segmented “scene” based reel that shows short samples of clips cut together in some context (for example, several 20 second scenes with multiple shots each). Which is “right” for you? I’d say it depends. Typically, the collage type reels work best with spot / commercial / short-form work while the scene reels might be most appropriate to spotlight narrative / documentary / journalism based projects. As a general rule of thumb, for whatever style reel you make, ensure that the clips are “digestible” by the viewer. Can they take in what’s happening in the footage? Does it appropriately highlight your abilities? Whatever you do, pick a style and go with it throughout your reel!
