Demo Tapes

Hey all. I was just wondering what kind of experience we have around here doing demo tapes. I am faced with putting one together for an interview this week, and was just kinda curious about what people are putting out there. If you have something, please feel free to post it, or at least give a little description of it. Wish me luck! Thanks.

A.

 

Demo tape for what?

I had to do one for NYU (still waiting for an answer... should be getting one soon) and I decided to be a little risky by starting out the first 2 minutes with a cg fly in of my name and then cutting to some electric guitar work with a montage of my more special effects oriented stuff from my movies, then I showed a 3.5 minute trailor that was made for nothing more than to be a trailer, which had some mor classical music behind it, and then I closed it out with a 4 minute tribute to Walter Payton that was aired on ESPN to Celine Dion - I surrender. (I was skeptical ahout song choice at first, but it's actually some powerful stuff when mixed with such a powerful football player... and I didn't get to choose the song, the client did)

Anyways, it was 10 minutes flat because that was the limit.

What's your demo for?

Cya
Mike

 

Your demo sounds like it was pretty cool. I am putting together a demo partly so I can show a prospective employer my dvd menu building, and just some footage that I have done to show what kind of stuff I have done and am capable of.

 

Funny this should pop up. I'm putting together an FXdemo reel myself at the moment, for no other reason than to have all my good clips and excerpts from my fights/flicks in one place I can show people. I can't claim originality, but I couldn't not put it to that cool music in the ILM AOTC Visual Effects Breakdown Montage (on the AOTC DVD)

..Once I stick in some parts from my fight with Dorkman I'll deem it complete for the time being and compress it and put it online to check out for sure.

Though if you're looking for inspiration on this subject, I just refer you to mine: That AOTC montage.

 

I know this seems like a simple thing, but I've watched more demos than I'd care to recall and I'd say about 15-20% of people do not put their name and contact information either on the tape or in the demo reel. Do not just assume because you send a tape and resume together, that they'll stay together. Tapes and resumes can pass through secretaries, receptionists, and human resources long before your potential employer may ever see them.

Also, the going theory these days is that most employers (depending upon number of applicants) probably won't watch more than a minute of a demo reel unless you really have something that grabs them. So put your best stuff first (though your tape should be all your best stuff), then show your basic skills without taking too long, then finish with something strong.

I know those are kind of broad responses, but I hope they're helpful.

 

No, that's very good to know. I'll be making some changes to mine now because of that, and also adding contact info on the end.

 

LOL, for some reason i thought this thread was about "mix tapes" you know, the kind you made for girls in the 80s?

...never mind

over here (UK) we call a demo tape a Show Reel.

I'm halfway through mine, but to be honest, i've never needed it. if they want to see my work, i'll just take them the final product or something.

having said that, i have edited showreels for others before. a good friend of mine was a journalist for 40 years. trying to fit 40 years worth of news into 20 minutes is near impossible!

if there's any requests to see it, i'll try and compress it and upload it somewhen - really interesting stuff

anyway,

Nick "Shorty" Long

 

Awhile back I made one. Just put clips of all your films on it, and some creative music.