American Cinematographer - December 2000 - 95

historical for

a cinematographer,
[something that shows where he or
she is coming from]. Ultimately,
however, only the best of the best
work should go on a reel."

on

me

stuff with time code and

uncorrected

their real reels. Sometimes I do, but

[on their reels]," he

"A demo reel is

more

says.

Allen Daviau, ASC, who often alter¬

feature-film

they're assuming they will have
another chance
once

have
One

to

show

me

the reel

it's put

together, and I don't
time to see everybody twice.
should have his act together

about present¬

ing the best of your abilities. This is
especially important when you're just
starting out, because you don't often
have the type of work and the variety
of resources to design a reel for a
specific audience. Seasoned commer¬
cial cameramen can design one reel
for food, another for stylish visuals,
and another for comedy, but when
you're just starting out, creating a reel
is much more about presenting what
you do have in a way that will
communicate what you can do. The
trick is, how do you do that?"
"Don't chase the marketplace.
Go with your own vision," advises

jobs

with

commercials and music videos. "If

chase the marketplace and try to
get this current look or that current
technique, it will all be out of date by
you

the time you get your reel out. You're
better off trying to present some¬

thing that coherently represents your
own

show

Schneider, ASC built his

early Nineties. "My
philosophy has always been that
[cinematographers] concentrate too
heavily on what they think people

nates

big mistake - with a big carton
tapes," says Marks. "They'll

his commercial/music-

video reel in the

want to see

a

full of

footage, assuming that
I'm going to give them free input and
tell them what they should put on

Aaron
career

is

vision and the kind of work

you'd like to do. It may not work, but
at least you'll be going from your
own passion and not
second-guess¬
ing what people want to see."

Because

a

reel is often the sole

representation of one's ability as a
cinematographer, it behooves any
aspiring director of photography to
do as much research as possible into
the marketplace he or she will be
"selling." Sadly, this often is not the
case. "I can't tell you how
many
people come in to see me - and this

does

not

mean

your own

interest!

watch your reel a thousand
times and never get bored with it, but

You

can

other

people will. If you have 10
pieces of material, give them grades
of A, B, C or D, then put only your A
material on [the reel]. If something's
a

B, don't

use

it. The weakest link

brings the quality of your entire reel
down, and believe me, they will
remember the weak link.

"What I usually
find is that

show

although most
cinematographers
spend a lot of
time working on
their craft, many

forget how to
present their

included

over

on

the reel. "There

and

over

"[For one,]

a

mistakes that I

music video-oriented, focus your
that way. [You should]
than one reel. Don't take

reel with

a

have
a

reel

more

theatrical

bunch of short films that

you've done -
awards they've

how may
and place
them [on your reel] in their entirety
and expect an agent or commercial
company to sit through it. They don't
no matter

won

-

How to select the "best of the

Devin Mann, agent

common

who's commercial- and

someone

best" often presents a

You

really only get one shot and you
might as well just impress the heck
out of the person you're showing
your work to."
Being prepared also extends to
considering the material that is
several

phone and do some research," she
adds. "If you're sending a reel to

"Seeing" your work

cinematographer,
but if you have a
lousy reel you're
not going to get
the job."
-

"Also, [before] you send or
reel to somebody, get on the

a

like that."

craft. You can be
a brilliant

when he goes to see an agent.

Doing the homework

long - it should be as long as you
can
keep someone's interest, and that

are

see

again," relates Cheriff.
reel should not be too

bit of a
quandary for many directors of
photography. It is difficult to be
objective about one's work, and it's
also easy to fall in love with material
for the wrong reasons. For example,
beginning cinematographers might
include a piece because they know
how hard a particular shot was to
achieve, even though the work isn't
necessarily that significant. Ross
Richardson, a young cinematogra¬
pher who recently signed at
Innovative Artists, recalls, "I showed

early reel to a producer and asked
thought. She told me it was
good, and I said, "Look at this techni¬
cally, though.' She said, 'Technically?
I'm a producer, I don't care about the
technical stuff. I just want to see
pretty images.' It was then that I real¬
ized it's not about what's technically
the best. What's exciting to us as
an

what she

American

Cinematographer 93
American Cinematographer - December 2000

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