American Cinematographer - December 2000 - 98

The Reel Deal
before his name comes up,
I'll humor that, because that's his way

montage
of

getting shots that didn't make it
anything more
than that, and people's eyes will cross."
The question of "to montage,
or not to montage" becomes more
complicated when one is highlighting
somewhere else. But

work from music videos. Richardson

relates, "When Devin [Mann] and I
watched my old reel, we discussed
which parts of each video were the

interesting visually. Sometimes
re-cutting a video is necessary to
ensure that the most interesting shots
most

included in the 30-

are

to

40-second

clip you put on your reel. You have to
put your best material on your reel,
but often what may be best for the
overall piece may not be the best for
you photographically."
This is often true of
cials

commer¬

well. In the

advertising world,
a spot's edit is often determined by a
as

committee of creatives at

an

ad

agency; the director seldom has the
final word. Sometimes, in fact, direc¬
tors

aren't asked for

all. In

cut at

a

such instances, it's

common

make their

for
of

directors

to

the spots

for their demo reels. "And

nine times out of 10,
cut

own

cuts

the director's
"So

is better," states Schneider.

[cinematographers] often put the
director's cut

on

their reels

as

well. It's

pretty well-known within the indus¬
try that if you see a spot on a reel
that's

differently and has different
but has the same footage you

cut

music

saw on

TV, it's

a

director's cut."

the first 30 seconds. If you

don't,
they've already popped your reel out
and moved on to something else. I
wouldn't even say 'end strong'
anymore; stack it, and use your
powerful material up front."
According to Marks, the way
in which demo reels are judged has
been significantly affected by changes
in the industry: ad agencies are now
approving cinematographers as well
as directors. "That means [your reel]
is no longer [judged solely on] the
photography," she says. "On some
level, the concept bleeds into it, and
that has changed everything. Many
commercial directors

-

to

balance it

-

but in

recent years

people [have begun to] watch reels
on fast-forward. They're either look¬
ing for something specific, or they're
looking to be dazzled. So put your
best work up front and grab them in
96 December 2000

come

agencies, and when they're
looking at reels, it's not only about
the cinematography, it's also about
the concept of the spot."
Cheriff agrees, "Good adver¬
tising works - it sells the whole
package, the director and the cine¬
matographer. That's a primary factor
I deal with every day. The director of
photography obviously didn't write
the spot, but a strong spot really
makes a difference. If you have two
spots and they're equal photographi¬
cally but one is conceptually better,
always [choose] the piece that's
conceptually strong [for your reel].
As

cinematographer, you'd like to
people are just looking at the
visuals, but they're not."
The size of a production's
budget doesn't necessarily matter,
a

think

Specs
Invaluable to any cinematog¬
rapher trying to break into another
marketplace is the technique of
shooting "spec" projects - commer¬

cials, music videos
financed

out

in

start

spots,"

commercials

says

with

my
spec

Schneider, "I continued

consider it. I'm

always looking to
something that's good and
that will expand my work in a differ¬
ent way. Even if you get a paid
commercial, it's not always a cool
spot - [it might be] a Denny's spot
with a guy sitting and eating. We all
create

know that the kind of commercial
work that gets

attention and that
people love to do are the really picto¬
rial, unique-looking graphic ads, but
that's very hard work to get. So even
when you do get started and are
working, you should look for the
young directors who are trying to
break in, because they usually try to
break in with very cinematic work.
Nobody breaks into commercials as a
director by doing beer pours.
"Also, when you're first start¬
ing out, making sure that the free
work you do is assembled in a profes¬
sional

manner

someone
a

is

a

feat," he warns. "If

doesn't understand that

corrected in

ad that's kind of off-

own

shoot them all the way into my
mid-career for free, and I would still

even

$4 million Nike spot. If it's a cool

short films

to

Dallesandro adds. "It doesn't have to
a

or

of the filmmakers'

pocketbooks. "Although I got

be

little Diesel jeans

Structuring a Reel
The pacing and order of a reel
are
of paramount importance.
Cheriff notes, "I used to say there
were different ways of balancing reels
like start strong and end strong,
then put other pieces in the middle

now

from ad

hired the cameraman."

has to get colortelecine onto Digital

spec spot
a

Betacam, get

edited and then be

AICP

onlined, it's not going to look like a
good spot. Part of the battle becomes
making sure that the spec spots go

year were the specs, and some of the
best were the ones that cost a couple

through the same steps that real
spots go through. That way, [in terms
of] quality, the perception of the spot

hundred bucks.

is that it's real.

the-wall, that counts just as well.
Some of the best spots

I saw at the
[Association of Independent
Commercial Producers] show last

"Comedy works well, too," he
continues. "I've had guys get hired off
the creative of a good campaign. It
might have been a handheld 16mm
comedy spot, but because the direc¬
tor thought the spot was funny he

"When I started

doing

spec

spots, a lot of commercials were just

starting to incorporate dynamically
moving graphics with interesting
type; you couldn't just cut 10 shots
together and then cut to a product
continued

on

page

100
American Cinematographer - December 2000

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2000
