The purpose for making my showreel is so I have a portfolio of all my work to show employers, as I want a future career within the media consequently if someone asks to see my work I am prepared and have a short film for them to preview, that shows them the type of style of my work I produce and they can get an idea of the skills I have. By doing this it shows an employer willing and enthusiasm as you are proud to show them your work! This is likely to get you the job over someone who doesn’t have a showreel, therefore I believe it is a very important project to complete. I would also use my showreel for applying for university for the same reasons. Since starting my media course I have learnt a great deal of new skills and techniques to enhance the quality of my work. Before, I started college I had never used a Mac computer or Premiere Pro the programme we use, so I was learning everything from scratch. The first things I had to learn were the basics I did this by listening to class discussions and generally just getting a feel for the programme myself by watching YouTube videos on the different tools you could use and by using trial and error therefore pressing a button and seeing what the outcome was. I have learnt many different skills skills starting my course for example I now know how to successfully edit clips together on a timeline with music and dialogue, as well as adding animation effects, Chroma keying and cutting shots. They are just some of the skills I have developed along with many editing techniques and camera angles, for example: continuity, parallel, jump cut and match on action shot. I have learnt how to use all of these technique and this is reflected in my work as there is a variety of all of them. All of my skills will be reflected in my showreel to create the motion of my piece work and to made sure the clips are editing together smoothly to create a narrative like showreel.
3) Research The first tutorial I watched was by a university student (https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=t68raEqtqnw) , the showreel was very effective as I liked the way the shots were ordered and the beat of the cuts, each clip went on for the right amount of time and each clip linked to the next. There were some slow paste cuts and in-between this there were moments of a series of fast cuts. The guidance I will take from watching this showreel would be to start with a continuity shot, they started with someone walking away and then another person carried on walking they also ended with this shot. I thought this technique was very effective as it was like a story was told though the clips and it started and ended in the same way. I also watched a how to make a showreel( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGRDJn4IyhQ) this video really helped me with what to include in my showreel and how to put it together. In this video it states that choosing the right music is an important feature and I agree with this, he says that choosing a
song where the beats are in time with the cuts can be off putting as the cuts are more noticeable taking away the natural flow it should have. From this I have also learnt not to use a fast upbeat song and use a song that has also has a natural flow and matches the atmosphere of the shots with the song like the song in the linked student showreel. The final showreel tutorial I watched to get inspiration is a media students work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHCB3RLBNIg , I chose to review two students work as they are not professionals and are in same position as me, therefore it’s more realist as they are trying to put a showreel together to show off there skills and work too. This students work was very effective as it has a variety of shots and lighting and like the first example used continuity thought by matching up different shots together. Also, I liked the use of time-lapse in certain scenes and use of sound effects, for example the sound of the motorbike and helicopter etc. My show reveal plan is too look through all of my past projects and chose the most effective clips from each one. I chose from my chase sequence, music video, documentary and general practice footage from all my other sequences. I decided to try and build a narrative within my showreel as I found that most of my work has a deep meaning and generally as a scared eerie effect, I start my showreel with a girl on top of a rock and she jumps off. The story when on is like her after life once she is dead, is portrays death and like she’s living in a nightmare. The next clips after this are clips like screaming, people being trapped and I used as many close up shots as I could as when the audience watch my showreel they will connect with the story. The music I chose was very sad ‘Say Something’ I chose the instrumental to this song to have in the background as it brings the right emotion to the clips however doesn’t distract you from what you are viewing as well as adding sound effects to make the sequence come alive so it captures the audience. I tried to chose clips that add continuity for example walking and running shots and other clips that fits the storyline so it run smoothly throughout.