archived-videos Director Demo Reel

[HMSanchez87]

I just want to see what people think of my Demo Reel. I created it a few months back but never got a really good critique. I’ve gotten 2 directing gigs (a Short and a Feature) because of it, but I still want to here from the community.

Director Demo Reel: https://vimeo.com/38614957

 

[HMSanchez87]

Just to play devil's advocate, I'm going to disagree with both of you!

Ussinners: There isn't a most important part as a director, they are all important. Getting a great acting performance is completely worthless without equal attention to detail in other areas of filmmaking. For example, spending your time getting a good or great performance from the actors is pointless if the performance is later destroyed by ADR or by poor picture editing. A decent performance with good production sound is virtually always going to be preferable to a great performance with ADR.

Sanchez: You've listed all the aspect which are important to you but not all the aspects which are important to be a good director. Pre-production and Production exist solely to provide the raw materials for Post-production, yet in all your "aspects which are important" you haven't mentioned even a single post-production craft!?

The reason most no/micro/lo budget movies go nowhere is not because the acting is sub par or because the atmosphere on set is not positive. The reason generally is that filmmakers concentrate their efforts too much in the areas of filmmaking which they enjoy the most, at the expense of other important areas and thereby end up with weak story telling. The telling of the story is the whole point of the film medium, the story itself, the acting and everything else is subservient to this.

G

I agree with you completely...

the list I gave was very generalize, But I completely agree on the post end of the spectrum. Other then being a independent Director my main form of income is being a camera operator and editor /VFX, I again completely agree lol.

I edit my own films, and it was very poorly of me to forget to mention such a important part of being a director, which is watching over such aspects as Sound Mixing, Editing, grading, and if needed VFX. But to get back on topic, like I wanted, did you check out my demo reel and if you did, what did you think.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

But to get back on topic, like I wanted, did you check out my demo reel and if you did, what did you think.

I did checkout your demo reel. I prefer generally to give my professional opinion but in this case I can't because I don't know what your target audience is looking for. So, I can give my personal opinion but I'm not sure if that's worth much:

There were of course weaknesses and I think in places the acting was a little weak. To an extent you've avoided the issue of sound and sound design by cutting much of your reel to music alone. The sound and sound design which you have used sounds particularly weak because it follows such powerfully dramatic and professional sounding music. This leaves a question in my mind of how capable you are in creating a product which takes full advantage of the audio/visual medium of film. I'm not sure if it's actually too long but it does feel slightly too long because the energy and pace isn't maintained by the sound once the music finishes. I would be looking to ramp up the energy towards the end rather than the other way around. I would like to be left with the feeling of wanting more rather than less. Although there are some weaknesses in your shot compositions, lighting and editing, there is also a lot of merit in these areas too.

I want to emphasis though that my personal concerns and opinions may not be the concerns of your target audience.

G

 

[HMSanchez87]

I did checkout your demo reel. I prefer generally to give my professional opinion but in this case I can't because I don't know what your target audience is looking for. So, I can give my personal opinion but I'm not sure if that's worth much:

There were of course weaknesses and I think in places the acting was a little weak. To an extent you've avoided the issue of sound and sound design by cutting much of your reel to music alone. The sound and sound design which you have used sounds particularly weak because it follows such powerfully dramatic and professional sounding music. This leaves a question in my mind of how capable you are in creating a product which takes full advantage of the audio/visual medium of film. I'm not sure if it's actually too long but it does feel slightly too long because the energy and pace isn't maintained by the sound once the music finishes. I would be looking to ramp up the energy towards the end rather than the other way around. I would like to be left with the feeling of wanting more rather than less. Although there are some weaknesses in your shot compositions, lighting and editing, there is also a lot of merit in these areas too.

I want to emphasis though that my personal concerns and opinions may not be the concerns of your target audience.

G

Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it and…

No, I don't mind your professional opinion at all. I looked you up and I know you are audio oriented person, and I respect you in your field. I appreciate the critique and I would agree that my sound design is weak. The music are professionally made for each of my films, I always try to get the best possible score, and I do it because I don't know anyone who could do the sound design for me at a professional level, nor could I afford one or find one that would do it pro bono, so I end up doing it myself.

But something comes to mind. You being a professional in your field, I would love to get your opinion on my short films. I see this as an opportunity and I shouldn't waste it. Now my films aren’t long, they last 3 to 6 minutes honestly. I only ask for one thing, that you watch them as teacher, because I don’t consider myself a professional but not a novice either. I’m somewhere in the middle, with an extremely small wallet.

Shadows Of The Mind: https://vimeo.com/35076203

On-Star: https://vimeo.com/36928278

Written Dreams: https://vimeo.com/41180365
(Note) – This is a silent film, so it’s optional, also not original music

A Real Hero: https://vimeo.com/42908830
This film is password protected and I will PM the password to you.

And if anyone else wants to watch them and critique them... Please go ahead, the more input, the better.

 

[ussinners]

Just to play devil's advocate, I'm going to disagree with both of you!

Ussinners: There isn't a most important part as a director, they are all important. Getting a great acting performance is completely worthless without equal attention to detail in other areas of filmmaking. For example, spending your time getting a good or great performance from the actors is pointless if the performance is later destroyed by ADR or by poor picture editing. A decent performance with good production sound is virtually always going to be preferable to a great performance with ADR.

Sanchez: You've listed all the aspect which are important to you but not all the aspects which are important to be a good director. Pre-production and Production exist solely to provide the raw materials for Post-production, yet in all your "aspects which are important" you haven't mentioned even a single post-production craft!?

The reason most no/micro/lo budget movies go nowhere is not because the acting is sub par or because the atmosphere on set is not positive. The reason generally is that filmmakers concentrate their efforts too much in the areas of filmmaking which they enjoy the most, at the expense of other important areas and thereby end up with weak story telling. The telling of the story is the whole point of the film medium, the story itself, the acting and everything else is subservient to this.

G

While you know I love being disagreed with. I'm going to ask you to read and respond (you chimed in, don't be a punk and back out). You didn't read all the responses.

I completely agree everything is important. But, here's the OPs view on ACTING -

"When it matters to directing actors on how you want them to portray that character or just perform in general is very subjective"

"While acting is important for a director, it is not a huge part of being one."

My views:

"the acting is bad. If you can't see it, then learn to" Meaning if you can't tell the difference between good and bad acting, learn to know the difference. It's an important part of being a director.

"You should learn to tell a good take from a bad one. You should learn "How to direct actors to get the best possible performance"

This is his response to the bold section: I DON'T AGREE WITH ANYTHING YOU SAID.

This is the argument. Not that everything else doesn't matter. The fact that HE FEELS a director doesn't have to learn the difference between a good or bad take. Or that a director doesn't have to get the best possible performance from his actors.

In any way shape or form do you agree with that? Those things aren't important for a director to know. That's a simple yes or no answer AudioPostExpert.

He'll listen to you, you're a professional.

 

[ussinners]

Did you punk out AudioPostExpert? It's okay.

Hey HMSanchez87 here's a link you should check out, you won't like it. But, it might do you good. There's a really good response near the bottom by NickClapper, that will be right up your alley.

Job Of A Director


BTW: You should really consider changing from HMSanchez87 to CrackerFuck'sBeeotch.

 

[Cracker Funk]

I don't see how he's said anything even remotely resembling acting like anyone's "beeotch". I offered opinions. He agreed with some of them, and disagreed with some of them. And it was a friendly, civil conversation, between two people whom equally respect each other.

 

[jax_rox]

Ussinners: There isn't a most important part as a director, they are all important. Getting a great acting performance is completely worthless without equal attention to detail in other areas of filmmaking. For example, spending your time getting a good or great performance from the actors is pointless if the performance is later destroyed by ADR or by poor picture editing. A decent performance with good production sound is virtually always going to be preferable to a great performance with ADR.

Whilst I agree with you, the Director's job is not to record sound, edit the picture or mix the ADR.
The Director's job is the actors. A Director is primarily focussed on the actors and then discussing with the DP about the shots.
As I've mentioned previously, it can depend on the film as to how much responsibility the Director has over the other aspects, most Director's must 'okay' everything before it gets on screen (ie costuem decisions, prop decisions etc.) but their main focus is the actor and the actor's performance. At the end of the day, the film is the Producer's even if the Director will cop the flak for a bad film. To argue that the acting is not a huge part of the DIrector's job is false. That'd be like saying designing the lighting is not a huge part of the Cinematographer's job. The Cinematographer has a lot more to do than just design lighting, but doing that is a big part of his job.
If the Cinematography is great, you've got a great Cinematographer, if the Sound is great you've got a great Sound Recordist/Boom Op/Sound Designer. If the acting's bad you've got bad actors - but 80% of Directing is casting, so is that not the Director's fault? If not the Director's then whose?

The Director does bring the collaboration together and make sure everyone is on the same page, but their main focus is the actors.

On your demo reel:
It's not a Directing demo reel. It's more of a Cinematography demo reel. Directing reels generally contain full scenes, often as a DVD containing select scenes that are the best. They're essentially like acting reels. Just as a Casting Director can't get a feel of your acting from just a whole bunch of shots of your face, a Producer can't get a feel of your Directing from a whoel bunch of shots of your films.

Some commercial Directors I know have reels that consist of four or five of their best 30 second commercials from the last year that they package together as a reel. Film Directors - I've seen DVDs of that have select scenes from films (or in the case of shorts, the whole film). Are you going for a job as a Director or Cinematographer? If a Director, a Producer or Production Company want to see how well you direct actors within a scene, and a whole scene, as well as within the context of a whole film, not just how good your Cinematographer is at capturing good images, or the one or two scenes your actors may have happened to just give great performances.

Your scenes aren't really long enough to get that much of an idea of how you work, and they don't flow into each other at all. Plus, the music suddenly cutting off is odd. You're better having select three scenes that go for a minuteish each and makign that your reel, rather than a mish-mash of shots and then a mish-mash of shortened scenes with no flow into each other.

 

[FernandoAndre]

Thanks for the post, I appreciate it. If you don't mind, since its become a somewhat sub topic. What do you think of some of the performances that you see in my reel. Are they good, average, or bad?

Directing actors is one of my best skills. However, I'm a beginner. I just discover this skill inside me. But I will tell my opinion about the acting in your reel.

0:05 - Excellent.
0:08 - Weak.
0:13 [girl] - Very good.
0:15 - Hard to analyze an actor with the face covered.
0:30 - People with guns breaking into a place, and faces without any emotion? You could have solved this by directing them to the use of the eyebrow, forcing it down would bring a nervous tone to the scene.
0:50 - Again this guy, he is really good.
but...
1:00 - here, his body position is not in accordance with what the environment is saying.
1:40 - The girl is excellent.
2:09 - I don't know your goal on this scene, but I think you should reduce the angle and distance from the camera. See how the actor is making a very good use of the muscles around his eyes. This is going unnoticed because you have positioned the camera as if shooting someone in your home, like unpretentiously. He also moves his head as well toning the words. If you shorten the distance, this move would increase the aggressiveness that he tried to transmit.
2:24: The actor makes an ironic expression very relevant to the scene. You have reduced the impact of this irony by framing him on the side. He needed a front framework to communicate the real meaning of what he is feeling in this situation. I think you directed the actor fine, but not framed what you asked him to do. His eyes, the curves of his cheeks, the movements on both sides of his mouth says a lot right on this moment.
2:46: I really don't understand this cloth covering the actor's face. We lost all of his work due this cover. And he seems to be very good hehe.


Just some opinions, dude. I love this work of directing actors. I am working with children right now, and learning A LOT with this experience. As I said before, I liked your reel.

 

[HMSanchez87]

Whilst I agree with you, the Director's job is not to record sound, edit the picture or mix the ADR.
The Director's job is the actors. A Director is primarily focussed on the actors and then discussing with the DP about the shots.
As I've mentioned previously, it can depend on the film as to how much responsibility the Director has over the other aspects, most Director's must 'okay' everything before it gets on screen (ie costuem decisions, prop decisions etc.) but their main focus is the actor and the actor's performance. At the end of the day, the film is the Producer's even if the Director will cop the flak for a bad film. To argue that the acting is not a huge part of the DIrector's job is false. That'd be like saying designing the lighting is not a huge part of the Cinematographer's job. The Cinematographer has a lot more to do than just design lighting, but doing that is a big part of his job.
If the Cinematography is great, you've got a great Cinematographer, if the Sound is great you've got a great Sound Recordist/Boom Op/Sound Designer. If the acting's bad you've got bad actors - but 80% of Directing is casting, so is that not the Director's fault? If not the Director's then whose?

The Director does bring the collaboration together and make sure everyone is on the same page, but their main focus is the actors.

On your demo reel:
It's not a Directing demo reel. It's more of a Cinematography demo reel. Directing reels generally contain full scenes, often as a DVD containing select scenes that are the best. They're essentially like acting reels. Just as a Casting Director can't get a feel of your acting from just a whole bunch of shots of your face, a Producer can't get a feel of your Directing from a whoel bunch of shots of your films.

Some commercial Directors I know have reels that consist of four or five of their best 30 second commercials from the last year that they package together as a reel. Film Directors - I've seen DVDs of that have select scenes from films (or in the case of shorts, the whole film). Are you going for a job as a Director or Cinematographer? If a Director, a Producer or Production Company want to see how well you direct actors within a scene, and a whole scene, as well as within the context of a whole film, not just how good your Cinematographer is at capturing good images, or the one or two scenes your actors may have happened to just give great performances.

Your scenes aren't really long enough to get that much of an idea of how you work, and they don't flow into each other at all. Plus, the music suddenly cutting off is odd. You're better having select three scenes that go for a minuteish each and makign that your reel, rather than a mish-mash of shots and then a mish-mash of shortened scenes with no flow into each other.

I appreciate your opinion on my demo reel. When I was working on it, I looked around for director’s reels and I found only a few and a lot of them where similar to mines, and most honestly had no audio from the actual film. I made sure to use all the audio from each respect film I did. I appreciate your example and will change my reel based around what you mentioned and look even deeper into director reels.

Now I’m not trying to downplay directing talent, it is important and I do it to the best of my abilities at the moment but I wont say it's the most important part of the director’s job in my opinion, every aspect is. A director’s job is to lead his crew of talented artist from pre-production, principle photography, and eventually post. Every part is important and should have equal attention by the director. Will every director do so, honestly no because every director is different. Some are very heavy on performance and some are very hands on with every aspect of the production, such as myself.

I hope no one think I’m spitting this out of my ass. I have some credibility. I’ve been directing, editing, and camera operating for almost 3 years and I have a bachelor’s degree in film. Directing is subjective and that's all I’m trying to say, no one is right or wrong, unless they think directing is wiping their ass on set lol.

 

[Cracker Funk]

Directing is subjective and that's all I’m trying to say

Very much so. This is art, for crying out loud!

 

[HMSanchez87]

Directing actors is one of my best skills. However, I'm a beginner. I just discover this skill inside me. But I will tell my opinion about the acting in your reel.

0:05 - Excellent.
0:08 - Weak.
0:13 [girl] - Very good.
0:15 - Hard to analyze an actor with the face covered.
0:30 - People with guns breaking into a place, and faces without any emotion? You could have solved this by directing them to the use of the eyebrow, forcing it down would bring a nervous tone to the scene.
0:50 - Again this guy, he is really good.
but...
1:00 - here, his body position is not in accordance with what the environment is saying.
1:40 - The girl is excellent.
2:09 - I don't know your goal on this scene, but I think you should reduce the angle and distance from the camera. See how the actor is making a very good use of the muscles around his eyes. This is going unnoticed because you have positioned the camera as if shooting someone in your home, like unpretentiously. He also moves his head as well toning the words. If you shorten the distance, this move would increase the aggressiveness that he tried to transmit.
2:24: The actor makes an ironic expression very relevant to the scene. You have reduced the impact of this irony by framing him on the side. He needed a front framework to communicate the real meaning of what he is feeling in this situation. I think you directed the actor fine, but not framed what you asked him to do. His eyes, the curves of his cheeks, the movements on both sides of his mouth says a lot right on this moment.
2:46: I really don't understand this cloth covering the actor's face. We lost all of his work due this cover. And he seems to be very good hehe.


Just some opinions, dude. I love this work of directing actors. I am working with children right now, and learning A LOT with this experience. As I said before, I liked your reel.

This is excellent, and thank you for being detailed in your post.

 

[HMSanchez87]

2:46: I really don't understand this cloth covering the actor's face. We lost all of his work due this cover. And he seems to be very good hehe.

And just to answer this question, It's very common for thugs to wear bandanas as they rob stores or cars, stuff like that. I was trying to keep with the theme or if you want to call it, a stereotype. Basically a thug trying to rob a car and then the car kicks his ass

 

[jax_rox]

I appreciate your opinion on my demo reel. When I was working on it, I looked around for director’s reels and I found only a few and a lot of them where similar to mines, and most honestly had no audio from the actual film. I made sure to use all the audio from each respect film I did. I appreciate your example and will change my reel based around what you mentioned and look even deeper into director reels.

I haven't really looked at YouTube for any Director's reels (or any reels for that matter), but I can tell you what I've seen in my experience. I worked for a little while at an up and coming production company (who are now quite large, locally) who at the time specialised in television commercials and corporates. We received multiple directing reels daily. We had a PA employed to do odd jobs around the office, and also to wade through our daily reels collection. Any that were sub-par, or didn't show us anything about the Director's actual directing style and abilities got thrown, and the others were archived for that possible time when we needed to hire someone. We had a ridiculous amount of DVDs collecting dust on shelves (). From the ones that I personally watched, I can tell you that's the sort of stuff we got.

Now I’m not trying to downplay directing talent, it is important and I do it to the best of my abilities at the moment but I wont say it's the most important part of the director’s job in my opinion, every aspect is. A director’s job is to lead his crew of talented artist from pre-production, principle photography, and eventually post. Every part is important and should have equal attention by the director. Will every director do so, honestly no because every director is different. Some are very heavy on performance and some are very hands on with every aspect of the production, such as myself.

My point was - every other department has a specialist in charge of it. Yes, the Director's role is to run the ship, over see the production to an extent (I would actually argue it's more the Producer who runs the ship in a way, but anyway). Their main focus, however, should be the actors. A Cinematographer who sees lighting a scene as important but not the main focus of his 'cinematographic style' isn't necessarily going to be a great cinematographer - the settings and quality of the camera might be great, but if lighting a scene isn't his main focus, then what is he doing as a Cinematographer, rather than a Camera Operator or AC? A Director hires experts in other fields so that they can focus on acting. Otherwise, why would you hire a DP, Sound Recordist, Production Designer, etc.? I personally think that the major downfall of a lot of indie films is the Director spending too much time worrying about everything else but the actors. If you've got a decent crew in place, you shouldn't have to worry about the other things, at least while on set.

I hope no one think I’m spitting this out of my ass. I have some credibility. I’ve been directing, editing, and camera operating for almost 3 years and I have a bachelor’s degree in film. Directing is subjective and that's all I’m trying to say, no one is right or wrong

Not saying that at all, just in my professional opinion and experience, that is the role of the Director, and to suggest a Director could direct a film without having his main focus on the actor's performance is.. well, odd to say the least..

unless they think directing is wiping their ass on set lol.

Now that would be an interesting Director to work for! haha

 

[Scoopicman]

I think a reel should be 60 - 120 seconds. I thought the shots and lighting were beautiful, some nice VFX and the car commercial was well executed.

The acting was okay, but upping the intensity would help. For example: that girl should have been crying or screaming non-stop, until the guy shut her up; she kept pausing and semi-resisting. Perhaps the guy with his arms tied should have been sweaty, breathing hard and in pain. (Perhaps not, but it's an example.) The guy and the girl with guns literally "walk through" the scene. Aren't they supposed be entering for the first time, trepidatiously? Door opens, pause, look, then go. The guy standing in the room with the lights on the floor just stands in a long shot and waits. It's a cool scene, but I think it should have had a dolly move going toward him and you could crosscut with the Master shot, along with a cutaway of hands crawling over a light panel. Those kinds of details are a director's job.

With all the composers out there begging to score stuff for free, why didn't you use original music? (As much as I like the SUNSHINE music.)

It's easy to criticize and I'll be the first to admit that I've done much worse. Anyway, for a guy who only has a few shorts under his belt, this is some impressive stuff. I think you have a pro-career ahead of you.

I'll be honest, though -- I've never been able to figure out what's up with director demo reels.

You can tell quality at a glance. Same with an editor's reel, because s/he edited it. A director is "the point of view and the tone." I've been thinking about doing a reel emphasizing "gotcha" moments - flashy action, violence, people horrified, etc. On an indie level, a reel is even more pertinent because the director is doing more than one job.

 

[HMSanchez87]

Not saying that at all, just in my professional opinion and experience, that is the role of the Director, and to suggest a Director could direct a film without having his main focus on the actor's performance is.. well, odd to say the least..

Well then I guess I'm odd lol. I'm just very hands on in everything I do. I strive to be as good as the best. I read and watch behind the scenes of people I respect and learn about what they do on there productions and try to do the same but make it my own at the same time.

I also want to take acting classes for I can honestly understand the mind of a actor. I feel if I learn at least the fundamentals of acting, I could project my vision to the actor better.

 

[HMSanchez87]

With all the composers out there begging to score stuff for free, why didn't you use original music? (As much as I like the SUNSHINE music.)

Ha, ha, Since I decided that I wasn't going to really push it or put it into festivals, I wouldn't do a original score like I did all my other films. And I won't lie, as I was editing, I kept on hearing sunshine (adagio in d minor) in my head lol. So I used the track

Anyway, for a guy who only has a few shorts under his belt, this is some impressive stuff. I think you have a pro-career ahead of you.

I really appreciate that, thank you.

 

[Scoopicman]

Just watched SHADOWS OF THE MIND. Loved it.

 

[HMSanchez87]

Just watched SHADOWS OF THE MIND. Loved it.

Wow, thanks... Glad you liked it, it means a lot.

Since the film is around 3 minutes, what scene would you pick to have in my demo reel. The clip would have to be at least 30seconds, I wouldn't want it to be more then that, seeing that its a really short film and I think it would be enough time to show my style and abilities to direct.

 

[jax_rox]

I also want to take acting classes for I can honestly understand the mind of a actor. I feel if I learn at least the fundamentals of acting, I could project my vision to the actor better.

I know quite a few Directors who have done that and they've all told me it was one of the best things they've done.

 

[Scoopicman]

Since the film is around 3 minutes, what scene would you pick to have in my demo reel. The clip would have to be at least 30seconds

The scene that really I liked, is where the guy awakens and stands up. You focus (Red Herring style) on his neck piercings and then the girl leans in with, "I'm right here." Then it cuts to him in the dark bar. I think you already used good shots, but I wanted the "crawling over the lights" shot to end as soon as the camera booms to include your main character's face.

Not that you should use it, but the handheld shot, where he is first trying to get out of the bar, was cool. The creature crawling over the bar top in the dark was just there long enough that I had to go back to make sure that was what I saw. Creepy.