non related but essential request for all editors.

and that request is opinions on how to put together an editors showreel. I'm an FCP editor - I love showreels and will happily cut them for directors, cameramen, DP's, art designers - however, I have never cut one for an editor nor myself for that matter. I'm at odds as to how to go about it. In London at the moment it is cool to have a showreel and I want one but I just seem to draw a blank as to what to do. Do people expect some rapid fire machine guns editing? Motion GFX? (my weak spot) - Can you include a lengthy sequence of a documentary to show you understand narrative? How long should it be? How do you structure it? Are there no rules at all. I do ads, corporates, music vid and doc. Advice warmly welcome and cheers..Phil UK

Hey Phil,

Speaking from a Motion GFX POV, rapid fire editing just shows BULK QUANTITY. Cutting away from an effect in the middle doesn't help the people doing the hiring see how designs unfold. When a client views my reel, they step through it frame by frame and want a "shot breakdown" of how each effect was accomplished and how much of it was actually done by me (some projects have multiple designers doing parts of FX as a team). Some Designers put full show opens on their reel even when they only did a small part of the actual work (hence the need for the "shot breakdown".

Mine is a combo of editing & MoGraph because my stuff is short form - telling stories in a very small amount of time (:15 to :60 seconds). I would think that long form docs / shows would need a separate reel.

Although a nice music track is important, I like to watch reels with the sound off. Sexy music / sound FX shouldn't interfere with how the work is perceived and some folks try to cut their reels like a music video.

My 2¢...

Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Thanks Joe, I do alot of short form in tandem with a AE artist, I am the picture editor and that is my strength so I would have to explain that as I'm not an all singing all dancing jack of all trades.
How long is too long?

Excellent question, Phil.

Editing reels are tricky because editing encompasses so much. If you rapid-fire a set of footage that doesn't like to be treated that way, you'll only show that you don't know how to craft the piece according to the material you're given.

I cut an editing reel for my editing mentor way back in the day as well as my own reel. We were narrative editors, so we picked extracts from our film work. One of her films was known for the long takes in one character's train-wreck stage performances. They turned out to be too long for a showreel, however, so we trimmed them down while keeping the essence. There was also a very powerful dramatic scene at the airport that we used almost verbatim. None of her materials were show-offy lightning cuts; instead, they showed that she was tasteful and knew how to shape a performance, because that was her style, not the flashy industrial/trailer style. Also I avoided messing with the editing too much -- otherwise the viewers would be seeing my editing, not Beth's.

My own reel has a silent, effects-driven action scene (sadly, the director of that film decided not to foley the film and left it silent), a music video, one montage in a narrative context, and a dialogue scene. Trying to show diversity.

For narrative, another good way to show editing is to actually show the complete films. You get a much better sense of structure, story sense, pacing and shaping performances that way. Industrials, music video, montage etc. are easier -- in those cases, the editing in your reel actually gets across a sense of who you are as an editor. Narrative and documentary are a lot trickier to "excerpt".


www.derekmok.com

Thanks Derek, it has been a troublesome process, I can cut any showreel but my own. I agree totally about the problems with documentary and narative as opposed to promos and corporate - I just wanted some documentary excerts that informed the viewer that I could tell (edit) a story with rhythm and momentum. Cheers Phil

Derek is right...editing reels is hard. I am hardly ever happy with mine = I do mine...look at it for a few weeks...move things around...add & subtract...etc. Also different clients have different requirements. Some may be looking for a MoGraph-heavy editor and will be bored to tears by too much narrative / doc work. Others may be looking for Reality show experience only and say "WTF" when the reel is 75% MoGraph. It may be in your best interest to have more than one reel. Your reel should target the employer / client and their requirements, IMHO.

While looking for full time staff work, some prospective employers looked at my reel and told me I was "overqualified" and they couldn't afford me so they didn't even make me an offer (what the...???). Others give me a nice "thanks but no thanks". Others sit down and go over every frame with me. Others didn't even give me the courtesy of a "thanks but no thanks" even after I followed up 3 times. Some employers are looking for artistic qualities and don't even care if you know the software (they will train you on theirs).

As far as length goes, I would say 3 to 5 minutes of your BEST WORK ONLY. You may have more good work than that so be very selective. I would say have your reels online as well as a DVD ready to ship if requested.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

OK....here is a link to my OLD reels:

[homepage.mac.com]

Typical way they are done. UNDER 7 min...under 5 min preferred. I start with a montage of all my shows (30 sec) and then do full scenes, or partial scenes. 2 min from a few good shows. Just having a montage means, well, you can cut a rockin' montage. But people want to see your storytelling ability...so show them. I also have MULTIPLE reels. COmmerical, Documentary, Narrative. People who want to see my narrative style don't want to see documentary scenes, and people who want to see documentary, don't want to see Louis Stevens flying around the screen.

These are the quick reels I USED send out to people when everything was on VHS or 3/4" and they only had one tape to drop in. Now that we have DVDs, I tend to do things a little different. I might still include the 5 min reel, but I will also include, in case they are interested and want to see more, FULL episodes of shows, or a full ACT of a show...and several of these for them to choose from. And, in the age of the internet, I do things a little differently on the website as well, taking a page from my new DVD format:

[web.mac.com]

I have my little montage on the front page, then a page of scenes from select programs. This format tends to get good comments.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Yep...in this age of DVD reels, it will pay off having an "Added Value" DVD

Mine includes the following content:

Demo Montage Reel (03:57:18)
National Spots (usually 10 of my best full :!5 & :30 spots with 1 second of black in between)
Local / Regional Spots (usually 10 of my best full spots with 1 second of black in between)
Spec / Experimental (spots & Animations)
3D Modeling / Rendering

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Here's where I envy our brethren in cinematography: They don't even need dialogue! I cut a DP reel several times in the last two years and it's always been slow, languid shots with music, no need for acting, story, pacing or any of that malarkey. Just tone and the shots he liked. One of the most painless editing jobs I've done.

Of course, that DP friend of mine had a whole different set of issues to deal with. He'd get people who say, "Uh, we're not sure you can light a black person's face because there's no black person on your reel".

You do your best, and the rest is chance.


www.derekmok.com

Yeah, the worst part about an editor's reel is that the content has to be well edited, but so does the reel itself. Most others get a pass on HOW the reel is edited as long as the content plays well, but not editors.

Andy

Different editing jobs require different set skills, eg. offline edits is more about story telling, pacing, etc; online edits would require more on finishing, color correcting; smoke editors/ animation would require you to show that you know how to effectively use effects. As a general rule, pace, rhythm, storytelling, choice of shots are always important- you need to show that you know how to make visuals work, that you know how to string pictures to tell a story effectively. So it depends on what sort of role are you going to be hired for- documentary, multicam studio, sitcoms, drama, they all require different editing styles. You can also try creating a theme to center your shots around.

P.S. It is different to light up for a black person than it is for a white person. The same lighting will cause a white person to look over exposed, so it is always a challenge to have a black guy and a white guy in a 2 shot. But yea, it's a little sort of dilemma if they're looking for a cinematographer for blacks and you haven't got a beautiful black person in your showreel.

Brilliant Thanks.

P.S. Cinematographers could cut various showreels for different races...

if you do a search for johan pullem you will find his demo reel. it is pretty incredible. you may get ideas from that.

heres the link:
http://www.lafcpug.org/phorum/read.php?12,182163,183935#msg-183935

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Cool...I checked Johan's reel and i like - beautifully shot. I've checked some of Shane Ross' demo but will look closer at his documentary stuff...it's doc reels that float my boat at the moment. What a great link, it is all very helpful stuff as this topic has had me scratching my head for a number of years now. Cheers and what a great bunch a characters...Phil UK

Great stuff Johan and Shane. I really want to see the doco about congo diamonds. The hand chopping scene was horrific. I've not seen the Di Caprio movie yet either.