PREPARING MY DEMO REEL

THE CLIPS YOU CHOOSE

ACTING REEL
Pick your favorite clips of yourself.  Please limit these to your favorite 15 clips.  Remember, all of your material will have to be edited down to no more than 5 minutes, and ideally around 3 1/2 minutes.

When sorting through your material, there are a few things to know.  If you are lucky enough to have any footage of a scene with a famous actor, or someone recognizable, please include this.  If you do not have that, the most important thing is to try to pick clips that show your range as an actor.  The reel is about showing what you do that makes you different from everybody else.  Second to that, you should know that anything that was shot on 35mm, 16mm, HD Cam, and 24P will visually have the best production value and look.

Now, here is the great part about our services. Sometimes you might find yourself in the situation where you feel you have a great acting performance, but very bad production value, or the scene moves so slowly, you have no idea if it’s good or not.  It’s oftentimes difficult to have perspective on yourself when it comes to this.   Also you may be an actor who is just putting your reel together and has a couple of student films and not a lot of material to choose from.  You may think that the footage is unusable for various reasons.  BRING IT IN ANYWAY.  We can re-edit that material and make lemonade from what seems to be lemons.  We have had so many clients think their footage is unusable and then walk away thrilled.

Please see remaining technical notes below.

SINGING/PERFORMING/SPECIALTY ACT REEL
Please bring in a maximum of your 20 favorite clips.  If you have very short little bits (under 15 seconds) you would like to include, please add those to the ones you bring in.

If you have a trademark song or bit, you should include this.

If you have any TV appearances, please bring all of those in. 

If you have any quotes from famous, recognizable people, please have them written down and bring them in as well.

If you have any footage with a two or three camera shoot, please include this as it has great production value.

See remaining technical notes below.

HOSTING REEL
It is best to discuss the specifics of this over the phone.  The most important thing to know is that these need to be even shorter than your average reel.  Ideally, they should be no more than 3 minutes, but you will want to pack those 3 minutes with footage to wow them. 

SPECIFICS OF THE TECHNICAL SIDE

VIDEOTAPES
Cue up all videotaped performance material. 

If there is more than one scene/performance per videotape, then rewind the tape to the beginning and set your time code counter on zero.  Then proceed to your preferred spots on the video and log the exact time code.  When your editing session begins, this will save you much time and money.

DVDs
DVDs are easily and quickly fast forwarded.  Just know thoroughly and exactly where your clips come in relation to the rest of the DVD.  It is best to write everything down.

MINI-DV, HIGH 8/8MM/DIGITAL 8 CASSETTES
Please go through and log exactly where your performance clip is on the counter on your camcorder.  These tapes always self count—it’s pre-set, so just log the time code. 

Don’t be alarmed if the time code goes back to zero halfway through the tape and re-sets.  These cassettes do that if there is any space in between footage.  Just make a note of where on the cassette your clip comes in on that particular time code.  Again, write everything down.

MUSIC
Please pick 5 songs that you feel really match your personality.  Most likely, we will choose one song from the five.  This song will be your calling card, so choose wisely.  Bring these songs on CD and/or as an MP3 file (on a CD that we can load directly into the computer).

For Singers, if you have any CDs of your music, please pick your favorite 5 songs of yourself and bring them in.

PHOTOS
Please bring your headshots and any promotional print shots of yourself, if you have them.  Please only bring a maximum of 5 shots each (5 different headshots and 5 different print shots), so pick your best.  It is preferred that you bring digital files, as this will save you time and money.  The files can be .JPG, TIFF, GIF, and /or PDF.   If you do not have your headshot as a digital file, then we can scan it for you here.  But every extra step takes additional time, and time translates into money for you.

For Singers/Performers/Specialty Acts, please include up to 30 publicity photos of yourself, if you have them.