The demo reel

[cowtothesky]

I am now at the point where I need to put together a decent film scoring demo reel for potential clients. As I haven't had any experience doing this before, I was curious about a few things that I thought some of you may have some insight:

1. How long should the demo reel be?
I have several strong musical parts in films, but I don't want to condense these parts too much, because I don't have enough time to convey the idea musically. Right now, my demo reel runs about 4 minutes. Is that too long?

2. Should the clips be drastically different to show your versatility as a musician or should they be targeted and similar musically?
I only have 4 - 5 projects that I can include in the demo reel, so this is more of a question for 'down the road' when I have the luxury to pair up similar musical styles to the client.

3. Do you label the clips and your credit in the film clips?
I have viewed several samples of demo reels online and most do not put the name of the film and their credits when going through the clips. Is this the norm or should they be labeled? If so, have you found it better to label in sequence or at the very end of the demo reel?

4. What is the most effective way to deliver the demo reel?
I realize this can vary from client to client. Do you find it more effective to personally hand a DVD to the client, send them a private link, post it on your website, or all of the above?

5. What if you don't have video to accompany your music?
For example, I have several score ideas that have not been used in film (yet), so I have nothing visually for the demo reel. Is it acceptable to show an image with the music playing or should I just leave those cues out?


Any advise would be much appreciated. I have found some resources on this topic online, but I felt it would be better to get it from those of you who have extensive experience doing this kind of thing. Thanks so much, Dave

[FMiguelez]

.

Hi, Dave.

What has worked for me is to, as a first step, make a nice DVD with the best of my stuff. The best thing is to have different versions, each targeted for a specialized audience. I will give you the example of my DVD show reel I use for ad agencies and production houses (my Jingles reel).

The Menu has 3 sections:
a) 1 Long movie with one ad right after the other (like a long chorizo). It has like 12 in total. If the user presses skip track, then the movie doesn't end but goes to the next ad. I chose them in a way that I obtained maximum variety and contrast in terms of musical styles/content. I put them together in such a way that they are drastically different from one another.
b) A submenu where they can chose the one(s) they want to see (they get to chose from thumbnails, some are stills and some are with mini-video in the thumbnail (the ones I want to call attention to).
c) A music-only section, where I made a sort of "medley" of my best stuff.

This has worked great for me.

IME, the best you can do is to watch the reel TOGETHER with whomever you will show it to.
I always try to make appointments with producers and directors and show them my reel right there. If there are more than 1 or 2 people, I connect my fair-sounding speakers to my laptop. If there are only a couple of people, I have them listen through my headphones (great-sounding ones, and they are 2 connected with a Y connector). I always prefer to use the headphones whenever possible, so they get less distracted by their surroundings (phones, office noise, other people, etc.), and room's acoustics are a non-issue.

It's important to make special reels for each of your target audiences. Right now I'm working on a reel to show exclusively to TV series producers. It will consist of a few scenes scored against video. The scenes must be complete to make sense musically. Each scene lasts around 2-3 minutes. They will be able to watch as many as they like.

For my Jingles reel, I also made a compressed QT movie that is the exact same thing I use for point a) above. It sits in my website, so if they can't or won't give me an appointment, I can send them the link and they can watch it online and download it if they want.

I invested in nice art for the DVD box and cover. They ALWAYS seem to appreciate that.

I ALWAYS leave 2 or 3 copies of my DVD showreel, especially if I go to the agency. Also, I make it a point to leave them a CD with music that has nothing to do with Jingles, to show them my "more artistic side". Some producers and directors also do other kind of non-ad things, so it's always good they know I can write other stuff. Hopefully they will listen to it while they are working at their offices or on the ride back home.

The most important thing is that they call back offering you a gig sometime after showing them your reel. Sometimes they do, sometimes it is as if you never showed it to them...
I always do follow-up emails, but I'm not very good at PR...

I'll be VERY interested in hearing others' approaches!

To tell you the truth, I hope one day I can STOP doing all this and just be famous and rated enough so that they call me without having to do all these things.
You know, like the top film-scoring guys... their phones just ring all the time!

PS - I advise you to DROP the word "demo". It gives the impression of something not professional for some people (like if you lifted the videos from somewhere and you just show them your version). A Showreel, at least here, sounds like what it is: a collection of stuff you've written that has been AIRED.

[cowtothesky]

^^^^ Great advise, man. Thank you!!! That is exactly the kind of info I wanted. I would also love to hear other peoples views on how they put together a 'showreel'. <--- much better than 'demo reel'.

So, it is acceptable to add 'music-in-waiting' as part of the showreel. That is good to know, because I feel like my best stuff is just dying to get aired.

I need to figure out how to set up menus on the DVD. Video production is something I have never really worked with and I'm hoping that I won't have to spend hundreds of dollars in more computer programs just to put together this reel. Like you, I am trying to get better established in my area and want to get that phone ringing more often!! And (ahem), maybe a paying gig every now and then (ahem).

[FMiguelez]

I need to figure out how to set up menus on the DVD. Video production is something I have never really worked with and I'm hoping that I won't have to spend hundreds of dollars in more computer programs just to put together this reel.

You'll be surprised by how powerful the iDVD and iMovie combo is!
I know they are not "the best" tools there are, but they are very cheap (or free if you already have them with iLife), and VERY capable, at least for these needs.

Frankly, there's nothing I haven't been able to do with those 2 apps for my reel. All you need is to RTFM (or watch Apple's video-tutorials), a LOT of creativity and good taste to make the most out of them. As it often happens, less is more (at least in terms of visuals).
I've been told by colleagues that my self-made DVD showreel looks much better and more professional than theirs, and they did hire someone who used the "top apps" to do it for them!
It did take me a while to perfect it, and it went through many revisions, but in the end, it conveys the message I want to give effectively.

If you try iDVD, just stay AWAY from the cheesy and obvious themes. I think you can even get better themes in the internet.
There are some discrete, elegant and non-intrusive ones.

[cowtothesky]

I need to figure out how to set up menus on the DVD. Video production is something I have never really worked with and I'm hoping that I won't have to spend hundreds of dollars in more computer programs just to put together this reel.

You'll be surprised by how powerful the iDVD and iMovie combo is!
I know they are not "the best" tools there are, but they are very cheap (or free if you already have them with iLife), and VERY capable, at least for these needs.

Frankly, there's nothing I haven't been able to do with those 2 apps for my reel. All you need is to RTFM (or watch Apple's video-tutorials), a LOT of creativity and good taste to make the most out of them. As it often happens, less is more (at least in terms of visuals).
I've been told by colleagues that my self-made DVD showreel looks much better and more professional than theirs, and they did hire someone who used the "top apps" to do it for them!
It did take me a while to perfect it, and it went through many revisions, but in the end, it conveys the message I want to give effectively.

If you try iDVD, just stay AWAY from the cheesy and obvious themes. I think you can even get better themes in the internet.
There are some discrete, elegant and non-intrusive ones.

Cool. After my last post, I fired up IDVD and it is surprisingly easy to set up menus. It is quite fun playing around with it. I fell into the trap and used the cheesy filmstrip looking theme. I'm going to look around and see if I can find anything better on the net. I'm creating my actual showreel on Imovie and will have 3 menus on the DVD - showreel, music, and video. Thanks again for your help and advise on this.