A showreel from scratch helps you because it puts control back in your hands. We can create scenes that suit your personality, your casting type, your idea of what good screen acting is.
We can skip the things that make so many showreels BAD. The material that I write will be unique to you. We’re not going to grab a scene from ‘Casualty’ and do a pretend version of what they do and we’re not going to grab Morgan Freeman’s monologue from ‘Shawshank Redemption’. No, I’m going to write words that will sound like the characters you are going to get cast as.
The production value will help rather than hinder you. How many short films have you got back after two years of waiting, only to find they forgot to light you and they forgot that the fridge/freezer noise actually ruins the viewing experience? The way I work is simple yet effective. I point a camera at you in close up and I get the scene lit so we can see you and the microphone points in your direction so we can hear you.
The showreel will have a very specific goal. It’s not to convince everyone that you’re the next Jennifer Lawrence, although that would be nice. And it’s not to have loads of crane shots and jazzy camera moves to try and trick people into thinking you were in a Hollywood movie. No, the very specific goal of what I do is to make you castable.
There are two versions of you. There’s the ‘castable’ version, you know where people say, ‘your casting is an East London Mum’ or ‘you’re an arrogant teen type character’. Well we can take care of those roles and we can also show people you are more than that by showing a truer you. Because actually what makes people want to cast you is not only your stereotype (which can actually limit you), but it’s to show the human with a beating heart underneath it.
We won’t aim for fireworks, just for truth. If you want a showreel with a big screaming fight and lots of theatrics, them I’m not your guy. My favourite moments on screen are the smaller moments. I just watched Brie Larson in ‘Room’. She conveyed an incredible range of emotion over the course of the movie without hardly ever having to raise her voice – it was all in the eyes. That’s the acting I love.
Sure, we could film the moment when your character says ‘Fuck you, I hate you’, but I’d rather film the moment where you think that, but aren’t able to articulate it. Or the moment where you think ‘fuck you’ but instead say ‘I think we have a problem’.
I don’t like when scenes get bigger, I like when scenes get smaller. When you focus on the nuance and truth of conflict. I’m not saying you’ll never shout in my showreels I’m just saying that should never be the goal.
You should get a showreel from scratch because it’s high time you have a showreel that you’re proud of, that doesn’t make you cringe when you send it out. On this page are numerous examples of my reels and if you want others be sure to get in touch.
Email Me: dj@danieljohnsonfilms.co.uk
Twitter: @DanielJohnsonUK
