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What makes a good documentary showreel?

13 years, 6 months ago - Nick Currey

Hi all,

It's easy if you are a DoP - you just collect your sexiest shots (preferably with a sprinkling of known faces), add nasty electro musak and make it about 2 mins duration.

But as an editor of documentary specifically, I've never understood what the reel form should be. The few doc reels I've seen all look like bad DoP reels. Docs don't usually have sexy shots in the same way - the power of your film comes from the long-form shot by shot edit, building your argument, your storytelling. With no time for context the subject is lost, leaving trite moments of tears, hugging, shouting or laughter. Cool, telling soundbites usually seem crass and are rarely understood out of context. And what if, like me, you often edit scientists discussing complex ideas, sometimes with sub-titles? Should you even have spoken words in a reel?

So do people have tips on how on earth you do this weird hatchet job, some idea of form, pace and length? And could you suggest some links to good examples?

But if you say 'no-one watches reels anymore', how do you show clients your stuff without showing them all your stuff?

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13 years, 6 months ago - Tim iloobia

I have a couple of thoughts to your question.
In terms of how to show your work without destroying the essence of its meaning, I found recently that showing an intriguing 1 to 2 minute clip from a film/programe worked quite well (you may want to slightly trim it here
and there but generally keep it as it appeared in the original project).
It worked for us that it was a clip which was self contained in some way or alluded to a greater idea that would hopefully make the viewer want more but not too little as to be underwhelmed.

Spoken words in a reel? Yes of course. Why not?
What you need to demonstrate is that as an editor you can articulate ideas, narrative and context in an elegant, engaging and well crafted way.
If someone is looking to engage with you as a long form editor then you can afford to offer them a few clips (perhaps 3 or 4) at 1 to 2 minutes each, back to back with a title card at the start of each clip to say what the
project was, its full duration, your role and also the clips duration you are about to show. And each of the clips should really demonstrate a different editing approach so you don't just repeat yourself ie: the first could show pace and energy, the next a way of dealing with a delicate human interest story, the next
a musically led scene etc etc.

Variety and range would be what I look for on a reel.
People DO watch reels, and you can have a number of personal reels for various situations but if you are well versed in short form editing as well as long form then this is a great exercise in self discipline to cut your own stuff.
Treat your work as if it were a clients and only put in the very best sequences.

And as far as I am concerned, use the sound/music from the original cut. Overlaid, overblown, self important emotive music is vile.

Thats a lot more than I meant to say, sorry for going on and being dull..

(by the way, the DOP reel you describe is a bit old hat and is really quite a lazy way of doing things. It can be just as elegant and rich an edit without being a repetition of a million other 'easy' edits out there)

cheers and good luck

13 years, 6 months ago - Nick Currey

Thanks for that excellent reply. I pretty much agree with everything you say. The 'overlaid, overblown, self important emotive music' thing is a particular hatred of mine. It throws me into a gloom, but it is often 'required' as I'm sure you've found.

Well, not by me.

I've read several times that a reel should be very short, very slick and have no chat.
That the client will watch the first 20 secs and only stick around longer if they are
hooked. I must confess I have an aversion to watching reels probably because of this
rubbish format idea, so it's good to hear that not everyone agrees, at least when it
comes to doc reels.

Does anyone have any specific links to good doc reels that they might share - not
necessarily their own!

13 years, 6 months ago - John Lubran

This not a one size fits all issue. The original question was perhaps miss-titled
since it sought to show editing skills. A documentary show reel would be
about making films, which includes a lot more than just editing or any one
single craft. In our little company we do most everything in-house as far as documentaries and 'non-fiction' goes. When we want to impress or win a
commission we provide a show reel that displays our consistency, experience,
range and skill. We usually author a DVD with a menu indexing a lot, and I
mean a lot, of samples from many differing genres with an indication of clip
length. One of our successful show reels totaled well over an hour of clips! The
DVD usually opens with a short taster designed to reveal just how impressively accredited we are but leaves the potential client, commissioner, collaborator
with a choice. The situation where someone looks at a show reel for twenty
seconds before rejecting it would only apply where that first twenty seconds is
seriously crap or the commissioner is an arrogant twit with whom one might prefer not to work with anyway. In my experience of over thirty years, our show
reel impresses because it has so much on it not because it meets with some
media college lecturers notion of other peoples attention spans. In the real
world, where things cost money, time and effort, If someone is going to invest
in someone else they usually want to know as much as possible about that
person or organisation. Show reels are about demonstrating what one can do
by demonstrating what one has done. The difficulty for beginners, as ever, is
demonstrating success and that's why, despite the furore often arising on
these lists, those who want to succeed in this oxymoronically vocational
industry are often ready to invest their efforts in other peoples projects in order
to achieve this.

13 years, 6 months ago - TomÃ¡s Sheridan

I second Tim's opinions, I just wanted to add that for documentary filmmakers
the fundraising trailer is increasingly essential to get your films made. In a way
the doc showreel is easier than the fiction director's one as it depends more on
editing narrative than on acting.

I'd keep music to an absolute minimum, you need to prove you can tell stories.
May I add that I've never made a showreel as a doc director, I only make
trailers on a project by project basis, nor have I ever been asked for one. That
Doesn't necessarely men there's no use for it.

Good luck.