My first Acting Reel was done by my friend, Alex, (who also shoots Photography and has done Headshots for me a couple times) because we worked on a Short Film for his Directing and Film Class. My first Acting Reel was 4 minutes long, scenes were long, and this was done a couple years ago so I have a bunch of new and updated footage. My next editing project will be doing my Commercial Reel.
Anyway, I decided to start editing my own Acting Reel since I have the software and this way I can pick and choose which scenes I want to use and cut them to be shorter and also design how everything will look, as well as control the flow. Getting footage is always the hardest part after you work on a project or film. I don't think I'll ever get the footage from the film in which I played a Heroin Addict as the Director never finished the project and even though I only want the footage from my scene, I've never received it. I do have a few of the new projects I worked on in the past year and I've already edited and shortened them into 20 second clips. I have also re-watched and shortened the old clips to display the best footage and so far it's just 2 and a half minutes long which is great!
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| Shooting 'Chinese Guys' with Chris Dotson, Jessica Lowndes, Chris Miller, and directed by Steven C Miller |
Next up, I need to decide what I want to open with. You usually want something strong to catch the viewer's attention, and then something different as your second clip to show range. I've got both comedy and drama clips and I've heard pros and cons for having both on one reel. This way you've only got one reel and you're covering ground with range. The cons are they may be looking for someone comedic and see the drama and lose sight of what character you could play. On the other hand, having a separate comedy and dramatic reel, may hurt you because the Agent or Casting Director may not have time to look at both and in the time to look at the dramatic reel, they may move onto the next Actor. I've decided I want both types on one reel to make it more interchangeable.
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| Screen Shot from 'The Pink Conspiracy' with Mercedes McNabb and directed by Marc Clebanoff |
Lucky for me there was just an article on Backstage.com that gave some tips for making the best reel and the number one rule was to load it with your strongest and newest work. This article suggests having separate reels as well as other random clips that can be viewed on your website. Another tip is to make it easily accesible and keep it simple for the viewer. My e-mail address and contact info will be on the reel, as well my name (twice) and I'll keep it short to keep the viewer entertained. I'll be posting it on my YouTube and Facebook page, as well as here so that there are multiple opportunities for it to be seen. Sometimes when I'm submitting for projects I post a link to my Hosting or Acting Reel, or a show I've done recently, or even just my YouTube page. I'm going to be very excited to have new footage showcased on my new Acting Reel!
I'm waiting for one or two more pieces of footage for the reel but other than that, I've got everything edited together and so far I am happy with the variety I'm looking at! Once it's all finished, I'll post it here for everyone to see :)
