Filmmaking / Directing : My first demo reel by Patrick Barbeau

Well, Patrick you have a bright future ahead of you. Great mix of slow motion, quick pace, dark and light. Great score. Overall, great job!

Thank you very much Julie, I appreciate it a lot! :)

VERY nice work. I mean it. Question, observation and suggestions : first, did you edit, direct and shoot every frame of that ? If not, you need to divvy up reels or at least clarify your part in each segment... director reel, editor reel, cinematography reel... next, people are looking for different things in each job... what I see is a style reel. You have a visual opinion, which is important... but it is not quite a reel in the true sense, more of a montage or teaser. If I were looking at you as a potential DP I'd want to see maybe 3 distinctly different types of project, with cohesive full scenes so I could see how you light, compose and move the camera, how your camera interacts with a story. Some of those same scenes may well sell you as an editor, if the type* of editor is what one is after. And if hiring you as director, I care about your storytelling and people on screen. Do I as a viewer care or am I moved in any way ? *There are editors who cut infomercials, music videos , trailers.. and the really good ones tend to be different people. Similar too with directors and DPs. Right now all I can tell from your reel is that I'd like to see more of some of those scenes and less of others... you don't have to put it all in a reel, just enough to get someone to meet you for lunch. As I said, good work.

Like it. As for a showreel I personally feel it might be a bit long, but a lot of the shots I see are great. Good Luck!

Thank you so very much for the suggestions Royce! Yes I directed, shot and edited every single frame in my reel, which is why I found it hard to specify my demo. The truth of the matter is that I am more of a Director than anything else, I have a natural way of putting exactly what I have in my mind....on video. Unfortunately, I began my career in this industry a little over a year ago and I did a lot of music videos and only one short film, which is why I wasn't able to put complete scenes in the demo. This is why I tried to put a little story in the demo, to put some images that corresponded with the lyrics of the song, to give it different pacing, to show my versatility in what I can shoot or the type of projects I can handle (horror, romance, action, etc). Once again, thank you for the advice, every bit helps!!

Just a year in and you did it all ? Bravo. You have talent. Talent cannot be learned, all the rest can. Judging from the material, you are supposed to be doing this kind of work. Good luck in the short and long term!

Thank you Royce it does feel that in this industry I may need some luck, but the cards are starting to stack up properly. Maybe I have some talent but it feels as if everyone does similar work, most people's quality is good thanks to today's technology....so how do you break free from the mold and show your talent? That's what I'm trying to figure out, how to stick out from the crowd. Any advice?

Thanks Mark, usually director demo reels consist more of short scenes or is it a bit like the one I made? It's a little confusing to be honest because I see demo's with short scenes and they usually are for actors..

Patrick, director's reels that are sent out by agency repped directors feature full commercials on a commercial reel and full scenes or occasionally trailers from completed narrative films. Not sure about TV director reels. Never seen them. A director reel is about storytelling, not acting or shooting- although those need to be appropriate and professional. A music video director's reel will have segments from mulitple MVs- maybe with their own music maybe all cut to one track. A montage reel for narrative work which is short must be backed by fuller reels. 4-6 minutes is still a viable reel length for 3 to 5 narrative clips.

Really nice work, Patrick. I side with Royce and Mark. While the visuals are nice, this feels to me like more of a DP reel. I'd like to see less scenes that show more. Get some narrative in there. That'll speak more to your voice as a director. Good luck!

The look is very nice - some great pics - like the music, too - but for a director´s showreel I would definitely include some dialogue and spoken scenes... Otherwise you can see the editing, the cinematography,... but not the storytelling and working with actors what should be a director´s job