Creating a showreel and how its made.

1. Creating a
showreel
B1:Progression

2. What is a showreel?
A Showreel is a short compressed video can and normally show the best examples of
work a person of a persons previous work and experience in creativity. Showreels n
has created and putting them in a two minute ‘trailer’ gives each project a purpose.
Showreels are usually produced by or for people in the creative industries. In normal
cases a showreel is a associated with an actors work in movies but it can also include
filmakers, animators, musicians, editors, and models work across. A showreel is a just
a format that is normally a 2 to 3 minute long video and can and should include many
different and separate projects to highlight the broadness and depth of a induvials
work. They can in some cases be presented with a CV as well to show the type of
work they have produced to a employer but in most cases its traditionally as a separate
thing. Showreels can have different names depending on the work or in different areas
in some cases it can be called a demo reel, sizzle real or sometimes separating the
words ‘show’ ‘reel’ nevertheless they all essentially mean the same thing to highlights a
persons creativity and best examples of work compressed in to a short but dense video
showing any person watching what work they have created and why its on the
showreel in the first place.

3. What Makes a good show reel and why?
Well content really if the content isn’t good
enough then it can fall quickly into a state of just
a montage of random clips. That doesn’t mean
you cant do that it can also fall into editing with
a random clips you could still be interested in
the video if the music is entertaining and the
editing is different enough. It all depends on the
show reel you are trying to make at the end of
the day but I would say each show reel tells a
short but important story showing and
advertising content and its structure. Having a
variety of content is key to a great show reel but
I would say Content and Editing are the two
main things a ‘good show reel falls under
without each one being ‘good enough’ it
becomes a bland montage really quickly

4. What should/could be included in a
showreel?
Well show reels are a persons creative work putting in a very simple format that doesn’t
mean any showreel is bad or wrong or one is right and one is wrong they all follow putting
the best content into a short video style. However this doesn’t mean you cant follow helpful
constructs to make the show reel the best it can be.
• Be yourself – show your creativity and work throughout the video!
• Find the right mixture of work – have different projects that can be vastly different, variety
is key!,
• Shorter is better – don’t overload it keep it simple. (less is more in this case)
• Take the best bits – don’t fill it up with useless project scenes get the best bits!
• Try not to make it a montage – give it structure and depth don’t just throw in clips and put
music over it.

5. Examples
of
showreels
E x a m p l e s a n d w h a t m a k e s
t h e m e f f e c t i v e . L i n k s i n b l o g
b e l o w P o w e r P o i n t
5

6. Creative media showreel 2020 –
Analysis
Links in blog below
-
In this showreel is a demonstration and a kind of trailer into the Northampton college program
‘creative media’ and this showreel showed many examples from creative media, videography,
photoshop and game design. Each section shows a strong clip of the best examples of work
produced in that college. It shows content ranging from in depth gameplay of game design
process to full on student made films and clips within that. The video comes with a savvy
introduction as well with special effects and a tonal but upbeat music tone to fit alongside the
content inside the show reel. I think this example of a showreel is more a montage of the
content they produce a year rather than there absolute best things they made over the last 5
years. This showreel shows some strong examples of yearly content that they make and
decided to make into a short video showing 2020’s best outcomes. This show reel tends to
show multiple clips of the same project but different aspects which is great I would argue as
long as the product is amazing then show it off more then once. The showreel shows a
massively different content in each clip ranging from horror, comedy, photography and special
effects showing the mass difference in content creation from each course put together. The
music isn’t necessarily on beat but it doesn’t have to be because of its snappy clips and quick
montage ‘edit’ its has a lot of content and it shows it all in a narrow but strong 1 second per
clip in most cases in this show reel. Overall it’s a great example of a show reel showing
different markets of work and splicing them together to create a collage of fantastically made
work.

7. Cut media: showreel – Analysis
Links in blog below
-
This show reel is vastly different to the last one it has more a professional and motivational
sense of purpose within it it’s a little shorter but delivers on structure and amazing editing.
This show reel is a teaser of what Cut media have produced over the years and what is to come
its also to tell the viewer who cut media is. The thing that catches your eye about this one is
the snappy music with along the snappy editing matching on sequence making it quick but
interesting. It has content from media, biking, digital animation, content creation, dance and
more it fills the show reel up with so much beautifully edited content that you want more it
actually intrigue's you and therefore I believe this show reel is a massive success and great
example. The intro sequence is filled with motivational words and editing to pull the viewer in
and it works and doesn’t take time to introduce content it throws it at you almost. It
experimented with animation as well I've never seen that before I think they did amazing
mixing real life and animation into one. The video pairs perfectly with the fast music. They
have fun with this showreel showing exciting content you could create and what they have and
putting into a fun snappy style for any one to enjoy. The constant look and quick cuts of
content make the viewer and anyone really satisfied and interested throughout.

8. Media production show reel–
Analysis
Links in blog below
-
This example of a showreel is a little more drawn out and toned down for the sense its trying
to make. The university of Bedford created this showreel from what I can strictly to film and
creative media the clips in the show reel are student created films/projects and the editing with
that it’s a little more patient/giving the other two had very fast paced editing styles to fit the
mass amount of content that was provided in the video alongside a upbeat sense of music.
This show reel has more of a softer but powerful drawn out piece of music across it. It fits
perfectly with the clips its trying to show off. The showreel reminds of short but surprising
drama movie trailers its giving off the vibe of big budget sense of creative films developed on
the campus Each clip can be from 2 – 3 seconds each its a lot slower and longer compared to
the others but for the clips its showing its work greatly. At the start it has a digitally designed
logo in place of the show reel showing who made it from there its drawn out clips of vastly
different projects including, horror, drama, comedy, crime, thriller, narrative, documentary,
mystery and many more showing incredibly different clips from full dedicated students gives a
very powerful sense of the university outputting digital films each year and compressing into a
passionate show reel. Overall a good example of a what a show reel should be and I think they
have made the show reel tailored to there content more here than the others and I think that’s
very interesting and great.

9. My process in planning my potential show
reel.
- MIND MAP
I created a mind map of potential content ideas I could put
onto first draft of my show reel because not only do I want it
to be full of ideas but I want some to be personal and
unique to similar projects can come and go from each show
reel so its nice to get the opportunity to express and put in
my own content creation inside the show reel. In this mind
map I developed some rough ideas of what could be in the
show reel from my documentary about gaming to potential
edits from my favourite shows and content. You might
notice different colours I decided to also add rings of three
different colours of how likely they are to fit and go into the
show reel. Green means very likely and probably will fit into
it. Yellow means potentially and could fit into it if don’t
correctly and lastly red is probably not going to happen due
to personal problems with that work or I want different
things involved within the show reel.

10. My process in planning my potential show
reel.
- STORYBOARD
In this creative output I decided to roughly plan
some ideas and how they could go for my
eventual show reel. Firstly I wanted and could
open with my brand name and content creation
name it would fit inside the show reel and co –
inside with the logo and business card research I
also had and definitely want to include segments
of my documentary in the show reel I'm very
proud of it I want it in the show reel a fair amount.
I have ideas as well to put some of my own
creation/work into it some of my edits I have done
for certain franchises I love I think they could fit
into it nicely. I also think I could fit my digital
photoshop work as well from my canon, personal
and my media savvy/Diego's work I think they
could bring a very nice divergent from the
film/video aspect of the show reel.