Hey guys,
Today I went down to a college and signed up for an interview to try and get into a 2 year filmmaking course. One of the requirements for the interview is that you bring a showreel with you and I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice as for what to include or avoid putting in my reel to make it more entertaining? I have 2 months to put together the reel but I would to start as soon as possible.

Regards
FXmaniac

Keep your reel short (they won't watch more than the first couple of minutes anyway), and make it varied (show your range - if you submit 5 minutes of greenscreen they will never see how teh awezome you are with directing drama, or whatever. Make sure your sound is crisp too.

The biggest thing I can say is not to be too worried about showing range if it's not obvious you have it. In my experience, variety is good, but sometimes people try too hard to look varied and end up including weaker material that detracts from the reel as a whole.

Keep in mind, it's probably harder for you to show anything you do narratively, as with script or plot, and so it's better (and easier!) to show your skills technically, instead.

One thing I would keep in mind is that many of these 9-month to 2-year filmmaking 'schools' can be deceptive workshops that don't actually offer a degree of substantial collegiate merit.

Not that that is what you're getting into, and I don't mean to judge, but just be wary of those sort of things. Because there are so many of them out there with a lot of allure to high school seniors.

Thanks for the help guys

@Atom - What do you mean?

What I mean is that there are a lot of programs and workshops that last long lengths, like a couple months all the way to several years, that are deceiving because they aren't film schools at actual colleges where you actually receive a degree; they're just courses on film that cost a lot of money and take a long time.

If that's what you're getting into and want to do, that's cool- I'm just saying be wary if that isn't the case for you and you're looking into film school; as these workshops and such are marketed to confuse people most of the time. Not that you're doing one of these things either way- just that you put you were applying to a 2-year course kinda red flagged in my head. I mean no disrespect by it, of course, just saying- be wary.

Excellent post, Atom. I think everyone should be made aware of this. +1

Ahh, now i get it. Thanks for that, i probably wouldn't have noticed something like this

I don't think this course is one of those, its one offered but the college it's self, my brother did a different course from here. It offers many courses not just this one in particular, but none the less, thanks, like i said above i doubt i would have noticed if it was.

Try to keep it short. Don't bother with fancy titles at the beginning. Put your most impressive material first because the main idea is to catch their attention before they turn your reel off and pop in another. Focus on highlighting your best skills more than showing a wide variety because its better to have a smaller amount of great stuff than a large amount of average stuff. Also only put in the stuff you are applying for at the school. Like you don't need to show your cg modeling skills if you are applying to go for directing and lighting. Don't add any annoying background music and keep the reel short.

This course sounds like one of those to me, fxmaniac. At least from hearing it's a course in a college and not a program setup by that college. And that it's a 2-year and not a 4-year. Like I said, little words and things that send me alarms; perhaps prematurely/unnecessarily. That being said, I apologize if I don't know entirely what you're getting into (I don't) and overstep my bounds in saying this, but:

Here, let me put it this way just for emphasis, too. Again, nothing against you or your brother if he's already gone through something similar.

Know this: A school that offers a degree of collegiate merit, as in some sort of universally-acknowledged, job-get-able marker of education, has to be accredited and (usually) takes at least 3-4 years to attain. A degree given in 2-years or less is normally an associates degree, and is not the same.

This is the same sort of thing you get at technical schools or work programs, and it isn't a film degree- just to be clear. There's no right or wrong way to go about doing what you're doing- and there's absolutely nothing wrong with an associates degree, it's an admirable thing to get.

But if it's film school and a film degree from that you're looking for, you need to look at schools/colleges/universities/programs that are

-accredited
-recognized as legitimate film schools
-at least 4-year programs

Anything less than that usually is something shadier or less legitimate than you probably think; like this course you're mentioning. To me, it just sounds iffy. (But then again sometimes I'm overly-wary of that sort of thing) I just see too many of these things dillute what makes college college- and blurs the lines of something real and substantial and a program you pay your way into. Like, for instance, New York Film Academy- which swindles (in my mind, at least, that's what they do) older teens into thinking they're going to 'film school' but are really just elaborate, expensive moviemaking workshops.

And hey, maybe that's what you want to do- those kinds of things offer a substantial amount of fun and experience and it isn't my place to knock them for that. But they are not colleges.

Atom raises some good points here. If you're after a degree from doing this, then look for an accredited degree course. They take time and cost money and have academic aspects as well as practical/practise ones.

That said, I know a heap of people in film/TV who don't have degrees, but got jobs through getting experienced and meeting people along the way. If the course is inexpensive it may be a cost-effective and safe way to get a couple of years of experience.

Now, that won't be real-world experience, so it'll not be the same as working 2 years starting as a runner and finding out what you enjoy doing, but it'll get you practise and used to working in teams. If you want a degree look for a degree course, if you want experience, maybe find a running job, if you want something in-between, go for it.

There are lots of excellent reasons to get a degree, but it's not a short-cut to becoming a film/TV high-flyer. Execs don't go out hunting for people with Media Studies degrees to fill jobs, they often want people to fill a job, short term, and fast. That's where experience "I was a production coordinator on xyz" beats "I spent 4 years at Uni making shorts". There are more people out there trying to get media jobs than there are jobs to go around. The more experience you have and the more people you know who you can hit up for work, the easier it is.

I don't know if that's helpful at all?

I looked this up on the site and it said that it is a full-time education course (not a program, but everything run at the college is called a course so i'm still not sure on that) But it doesn't give degrees, the qualification you aquire is a Edexcel (BTEC) National Diploma in Media Production.

BTEC National Diploma is well-recognised as a vocational course equivelent to 3 A-levels, or in modern parlance (seeing as it all changed since my day) "The National Diploma is regarded as equivalent in level to the GCE A Level, more specifically to three A2 awards and the AVCE."

That's very respectable.

Ahh, as long as something comes out of it, the course looks very good and they help you get into Uni and jobs if you wish to skip uni.

With regards to what you guys have said about the demo reels, i think it's about time i picked up the cam again, i havent done so for a few weeks but i've been learning so i must use that to produce stuff for the reel as i have quite a lot of weak work. i'll probably make my reel about 1, 2 mins max

@Limey12345 do you think i should add any music at all? I seems kinda bare to me as they don't seem to fit right have taken them from different short films they have different scores sound effects which don't sound right or match up when placed next to one and other?

I think it would depend on the type of reel you are going for. I just meant that you shouldn't add like a midi loop or something. Something that fits the feeling of the reel and is not too overplayed should work nice.