# The best way to showcase your work (showreel & website time)



## Danny_Owen (Jun 21, 2011)

Hey guys,

I'm in desperate need of updating my showreel- in fact I've taken down my old stuff, partially because it's not representative of what I'm now capable of, and partially because I was infringing on copyright for all the video I had underscore as demos!

I expect everyone here has browsed lots of other composers portfolios of work and websites etc, and I was hoping to get an opinion on the best way to present previous work.

My target audience is young film film makers who I hope to collaborate with and also corporate clients (business videos and films). I'm already exclusive to an agency for solely adverts.


Currently I have:

2 things to picture that have been commissioned that are obvious choices.
2 (maybe 3) Indie films that were well made and look (and sound) good enough for showreel material
A heck of a lot of music material that I'm proud of but can't legally showcase with video because either I didn't win the pitch or it was just a practice thing.
Also some things where I've composed a pretty good score but the film itself looks terrible, and as such I don't want to use the visuals.


I'm just wondering what you guys would think would be a good way to deal with this situation? I used to just use the visuals anyway and damn the consequences  But I'm kind of past that now and I think it looks a bit unprofessional, and also very studenty. I'm at that stage where I'm a recent graduate, but without quite enough commissions to have a full showreel of commissioned work.

I was thinking of doing one long showreel, with interspersed sections of music to visuals, then music with a still picture(s) (on the ones where I don't have the rights to the visuals), mixing them up.

An alternative would be to JUST use the music- but I think directors and producers are very visual people and they need to see what the music is working with in order to appreciate its significance to the media.

Hmm. Thoughts? And are there any composer websites that you think are particularly effective in showcasing material?


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## wst3 (Jun 21, 2011)

I am in the same boat, and I anxiously await some great answers, but in the meantime, what I am doing is creating a short video demo reel that includes stuff I can legally use, and a longer music reel which includes everything else.

I don't think the video part is a deal breaker, but I do think it makes it much easier to demonstrate that you can write to picture!

The other thing I've done is to write to the rights holders for a couple of things I did for practice for which I am pleased/proud. Hopefully they will offer me the clearances I need to use these in my demo reel.

waiting for the answers...


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## Hannes_F (Jun 21, 2011)

Danny,

I am somehow in the same boat but from another side. I have done boatloads of recordings for composers (a good number are here too) but while all clients agreed in the use of the recordings for my promotion purposes it obviously would still be a copyright infringement if I did post music openly on my site.

What I am thinking about is a closed section of my site that is accessible with a password on request. Maybe that could also be a good idea for you.


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## Mike Greene (Jun 21, 2011)

wst3 @ Tue Jun 21 said:


> The other thing I've done is to write to the rights holders for a couple of things I did for practice for which I am pleased/proud. Hopefully they will offer me the clearances I need to use these in my demo reel.
> 
> waiting for the answers...


My guess is that you're going to wait a very long time. Studios or production companies are in a tricky position with requests like that. They likely have no problem with you doing what you want to do, but to come out and give you permission opens a whole can of worms.

First, they'd have to have a discussion with you to be clear on what's really going on (that you're not trying to trick them, and not really secretly planning to sell this stuff.) Then they'd have to make sure that giving _you_ permission for _this_ doesn't somehow obligate them to giving someone _else_ permission for some slightly similar, but less acceptable, situation. Then they'd have to be sure that giving you permission won't somehow step on the toes of some other composer they have a relationship with. Politics. Then they'd have to think of what other consequences there might be to this.

And they're not getting paid for any of this. Studios and production companies don't have a person whose job title is "Handle Unusual Requests That We Don't Make Any Money On." Don't get me wrong, someone will read your request. But either that person or else his/her boss is going to decide that the best thing to do is just ignore it. And we all know that "just ignore it" . . . or rather - "Just ignore that composer trying to get a gig" or "just ignore that writer with a spec script" is _already_ standard operating procedure anyway at studios and production companies.

I wouldn't worry about copyright issues on a demo reel or composer website. Heck, I don't own the copyrights on 95% of the video on my own website, and I've never asked permission for the reasons I outlined above. (I was the paid composer, but still, no one is going to want to be the one to make that decision to grant permission. Remember, even the director or producer doesn't have the authority to make that decision. Only the legal department - people I *don't* have a relationship with - can.)

On the issue of "practice scenes," if you're posting video that you weren't actually the guy who originally scored it, just make sure it's not something that implies you scored a particular gig. In other words, if it's a scene from Harry Potter, that's bad because you're giving an impression that you're an A-List composer who got hired to score Harry Potter. But if it's generic looking video that doesn't suggest a gig that anyone would recognize, personally I wouldn't have a problem with that. And I seriously doubt the people who own the video care either. They just can't put that in writing. :mrgreen: 

Just my opinion.


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## wst3 (Jun 21, 2011)

Mike Greene @ Tue Jun 21 said:


> wst3 @ Tue Jun 21 said:
> 
> 
> > The other thing I've done is to write to the rights holders for a couple of things I did for practice for which I am pleased/proud. Hopefully they will offer me the clearances I need to use these in my demo reel.
> ...



Hi Mike,

Everything you say is true, and you explained it quite well! I've run into the "Ignore this because if we say yes to one person we may have to say yes to others" mentality more than once, and in more than one setting, so while I am waiting, I am not holding my breath!

I feel a little funny using copyrighted video footage without permission, partly because I've spent a fair portion of the last few years convincing community theatre companies that they ought to show a little more respect for the intellectual property rights of others... and partly because I believe that stuff<G>!

It isn't apples to apples, but wandering off into gray gets confusing!

There is tons of royalty free stock footage out there, and I've downloaded a couple examples, but thus far I'm not impressed with the quality, so I will keep hunting. The catch is that it is a lot easier to write music for a well produced scene.

And who knows... maybe I will get the answers I want<G>...

Oh, and your point about pretending to be someone you aren't - pretty sure that would backfire pretty quickly, but it is good advice for folks that may not have thought it through!


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## rgames (Jun 22, 2011)

"The best way to showcase your work..."

is face-to-face regardless of medium, industry, or content.


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## midphase (Jun 22, 2011)

Yup! I completely agree with Richard...it's a very personal business and people end up hiring people they get a good vibe from and not necessarily the person who has the best reel.


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## rgames (Jun 22, 2011)

midphase @ Wed Jun 22 said:


> Yup! I completely agree with Richard...it's a very personal business and people end up hiring people they get a good vibe from and not necessarily the person who has the best reel.



Right - and it's not just the music biz. My day job is not in music and it's the same way there.

People hire people, not capabilities, resumes, or demo reels.

How else could you possibly explain the success of ... OK I'll stop there 

rgames


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## Danny_Owen (Jun 22, 2011)

Thanks for all the feedback there guys!

Of course, yes, it is a very personal business, and from what I've experience face-to-face meetings can be the deal maker  At my level, a strong showreel is still really important though- simply because some of the directors I'm pitching at are either students in their last year of college or recent graduates. From my experience, at this level there is a huge mix of quality in composers, and these directors seem to look for someone who can do the job first and foremost (because so many people pitching at my level actually can't!). Obviously meeting as many guys as possible face to face will help win gigs, but if replying to any online vacancies the first thing they want to do is take a look at the showreel before meeting you.

Some interesting thoughts on the visuals side- I'm in agreement with the general consensus to use visuals from projects where you were the hired composer regardless of permission, I think it's only fair and I can't see them having a problem with it. 

For the practice ones / failed pitches- still not decided. I'd prefer not to have to explain to them if they ask that I didn't win everything that's on the reel, but then at the same time I want to be able to use the music (which of course works best in the context of the scene!). Mainly, for me, this applies to adverts where I've pitches and lost, which I know my agency definitely does have a problem with.

Tricky, tricky, tricky.

Thanks again for the advice, will have to think on this a bit more.


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## Danny_Owen (Jun 23, 2011)

Well, this is what I've done so far- I've made a trailer for the showreel ( I haven't made the showreel yet). The trailer will also act as the intro to the rest of the showreel when it is made.

http://www.dannyowenmusic.co.uk/audio_and_video.html

What this has allowed me to do is to use a track (the trailer track) that I didn't have the rights to the footage for, and also enabled me to add bits of video for which I just didn't want to show any elongated bits of video for one reason or another. Kinda killing two birds with one stone.

I think this will also enable me to just put tracks up afterwards with a still picture, and this will imply that I just want them to focus on the music. Hopefully, their assumption will be that it must have been commissioned on something (because of the intro focussing on all the films I've worked on). I'll also include the good clips that I have with music, so it won't be entirely stationary.

What do you think?


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