Written by James Cheetham on 18th August 2014
Over the years I have sat through hundreds of showreels, which has given me a pretty good idea of what makes a great reel. So with the risk that ‘I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs’, here are my top five tips for a tip-top reel (try saying that after a few drinks!):
1) Best foot forward
Try to grab the viewer’s attention by putting your best material at the start of your reel. Don’t forget that yours is not the only reel that the client is viewing.
The use of montages at the start is very effective and gives the viewer a taste of things to come.
2) Size is important
Again, don’t forget your potential client has a stack of reels to look through. Keep your reel as short and sweet as possible – leave them wanting more!
A good rule of thumb for motion graphics designers is to keep your reel to about 1.5 minutes in length.
Editors showing off their skills through a montage of clips should aim for a reel 3-4 minutes in length.
3) Show your very best work only
This will help you to achieve (2), but be careful not to repeat your favourite work.
4) Music
Most clients watch reels on mute, so don’t rely too much on cutting your work to the music. Try using an instrumental piece and obviously keep away from death metal and anything in the charts, (you should be doing that anyway.)
5) Video quality
Try and only use work with the best quality compression. Also, aim to balance your reel’s online playback and download efficiency with its visual quality – learn to get the best out of your video compression.
In addition, here is a wish list for when you get time in your busy schedule (i.e. never):
a) Logo at start
Brand yourself
b) Demonstrate your Versatility
I’m being greedy here, but having separate reels to show different styles can be very useful:
Editors – a longform and a shortform reel.
Motion graphics designers – a visual effects and a compositing reel and a graphics reel.
c) Personalised Website
‘Vimeo’ can be very useful for demonstrating individual jobs, but sending a client to your own personalised website shows that you are a professional who is serious!
FIND US ELSEWHERE
BLOG ARCHIVE
- August 2019 (1)
- July 2019 (4)
- June 2019 (2)
- May 2019 (4)
- April 2019 (4)
- March 2019 (4)
- February 2019 (4)
- January 2019 (4)
- December 2018 (2)
- November 2018 (4)
- October 2018 (4)
- September 2018 (4)
- August 2018 (4)
- July 2018 (4)
- June 2018 (4)
- May 2018 (4)
- April 2018 (4)
- March 2018 (4)
- February 2018 (4)
- January 2018 (6)
- December 2017 (3)
- November 2017 (5)
- October 2017 (5)
- September 2017 (3)
- August 2017 (1)
- July 2017 (2)
- May 2017 (1)
- April 2017 (1)
- February 2017 (3)
- January 2017 (1)
- November 2016 (1)
- October 2016 (1)
- September 2016 (4)
- August 2016 (2)
- July 2016 (5)
- June 2016 (5)
- May 2016 (8)
- April 2016 (10)
- March 2016 (12)
- February 2016 (5)
- January 2016 (2)
- December 2015 (1)
- November 2015 (2)
- October 2015 (2)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (1)
- July 2015 (2)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (3)
- March 2015 (1)
- January 2015 (1)
- November 2014 (1)
- October 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (1)
- August 2014 (1)
- July 2014 (1)
- June 2014 (1)
- May 2014 (2)
- April 2014 (2)
- March 2014 (2)
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
- Autumn 2015
- Summer 2015
- Spring 2015
- Christmas 2014
- Autumn 2014
- Summer 2014
- Autumn 2013
- Summer 2013
- Spring 2013
- Autumn 2012
- Summer 2012
- Spring 2012