How To Create The Perfect Showreel

Whatever you class yourself as – a filmmaker, a videographer, a cinematographer – there’s one key thing that you’ll all need to succeed in the industry: a showreel. A showreel is effectively your visual business card – for most people, this is the first time they will encounter your work. With that in mind, it’d best be good!

Read on to find out exactly what a showreel is and why it’s so important, before diving into some of the top tips on how to create a truly great showreel that stands out from the crowd.

What is a showreel, and why is it important?

Essentially, a showreel (also known as a sizzle reel) is exactly what it says it is. It’s a reel of footage designed to show off the very best of your work. Sometimes, they might also be referred to as a “sizzle reel” which is another great indicator of what this should be – a video that has that special something to it, giving people a taste of your work.

As much as we’d love for potential employers to sit down and take the time to watch all our amazing films and videos, they most likely don’t have the time. A showreel is that one video (your visual business card) that gives them an immediate idea of who you are and what you do. This is most likely the first video of yours that people are going to watch, and it will more often than not determine whether you get the job or not. If you don’t have one, you’re effectively invisible.

Who should have a showreel?

Pretty much anyone involved in the industry of filmmaking should have a showreel to show off their best work. Whether you’re a director, a cinematographer, an editor, a VFX artist, a colorist, or even a makeup artist, you should have a showreel that showcases your best work!

How long is a showreel?

There are no strict rules about how long or short a showreel can be, but if we keep in mind that potential employers view dozens of showreels every day and are really busy, you don’t want to waste their time. The sweet spot for a showreel is between 90 seconds to two minutes in length. If you’re pushing over the three-minute mark, it’s probably time to cut back a little.

The main components of a showreel

A sizzle reel comes in all different shapes, styles, and sizes. That’s important because you want to stand out and be unique. However, with that being said, if you’re looking at how to create a showreel, there are a few key, main components.

• As discussed above, one of the rules of thumb is that a showreel should probably sit between 90 seconds to 2 minutes of footage.
• Every showreel should have a catchy, memorable music track accompanying the footage. You can read a bit more about this below!
• Opening titles should be inserted in the intro of the reel, telling viewers who you are and what you do. For example, my name is Josh Edwards and I’m a director/cinematographer.
• This goes without saying, but the main component of any showreel is to showcase your very best work. Include your best work, always.
• End titles at the end should provide your contact details. Remember, this is like a visual business card. Hopefully, viewers have enjoyed watching your reel and want to reach out, so provide them with an email address and a website they can check out.

Examples of showreels

There are a million showreels out there on the internet for you to watch and research but below, we’re sharing just a few of our favorites in recent years. There are a few from our very own showreel competition at Artlist! Watch these, and identify their differences and similarities. What makes them great? Why do they stand out?

Top tips for how to create a showreel

So, now you know what a showreel is and why they’re so important…it’s time to create your own! Below, we’ve put together a few tips from the industry that can help you in crafting a memorable reel that stands out from the crowd.

Always (and only) show your best work

It seems really obvious, but you want your showreel to showcase your best work. Because you only have around 90 seconds to two minutes of runtime, you need to think long and hard about what makes the cut. If at some point you shoot footage with your smartphone on a family holiday, but you’re creating a showreel that demonstrates your skills as a professional cinematographer, the phone footage might not be the right choice.

Ask yourself why am I including this footage? Is it relevant? Is it my best work? If the answer is no, take it out. One average shot can easily bring down the whole quality of the reel.

Create a showreel for the work you want

Not only do you want to create a sizzle reel that shows your best work, but you also want it to reflect the work you’d like to be hired for in the future! For example, if you’re focusing on travel and outdoor adventure, it’d be a good idea to incorporate this type of footage into your showreel. If your reel doesn’t showcase this and instead, you’re highlighting your talking-head interviews and commercial work for a bakery…why would you be hired for work in the travel and outdoors adventure industry? You need to show people what you’re good at and what you’re passionate about.

Flow and sequencing

The best kind of showreels aren’t just random clips and pieces of footage stuck together on a video editing software timeline. They have a pace and flow to them.

Wherever possible, try to ensure that your footage is sequenced and flows nicely from one scene to the next. If you can achieve this, it will be a much more memorable, enjoyable watch for your viewers. It also enforces the notion that you’re a professional creative who understands how to tell great visual stories

Music choices

As you may have already noted from some of the examples of showreels above, music choice plays a huge role in how good your showreel is. Picking the right track can make or break your showreel project – it dictates the mood and feel of the piece, impacting on how your footage flows and comes across.

Do you go big, bold, and brash with a memorable anthem that compliments your fast, energetic gym workout footage? Or do you pick something subtle and more classic, to reflect your calming drone shots of nature?

Using Artlist, you can listen to thousands of royalty-free music tracks, filtering them down through moods and genres such as “powerful” and “playful”, “cinematic” and “ambient”. Whatever mood and feel you’re going for, there’s a song for you. To help get you started, we’ve even put together our very own collection of showreel music tracks.

Sound design

This one is subtle (and often gets overlooked), but it can make a huge difference. By making use of sound effects, you can help your showreel stand out that much more, bringing your footage to life with beautiful, detailed sound design. It’s a little extra work, but it’s well worth it.

Working with stock footage

This may not apply to every type of showreel out there but, if you’re an editor putting together a sizzle reel, why not make use of stock video? Because you’re not claiming to have shot all of the footage in your reel like a director or cinematographer might have to, you have more license to experiment. Your reel aims to show off your editing skills!

With Artlist, you can find all kinds of great footage, using filters such as “video theme” and “shot type” to hone in on what you need. For example, if you’re looking to show off your skills as an editor for blue-chip nature documentaries (the type that gets shown on National Geographic or the BBC), you could select “animals & wildlife” as your video theme, then click 4K on shot type, so that you’re presented with the very best, most crisp stock footage out there.

Wrapping up

So, that’s everything you need to know about how to create a showreel. This is the most important part of your portfolio and website, so take your time with it and make sure it’s a true reflection of who you are as a filmmaker and what you’d like to work on in the future.

While there are general rules and key components, don’t be afraid to experiment. The showreels that impress and stand out most are the ones that do things a little better and a little differently. Keep your eyes peeled for the next Artlist showreel competition, too!