The evolution of my reel, and even more trailer house contacts

I have to say that, after months of trial and error regarding the creation of a completely new look for my DVD reel, I'm pretty happy and amazed at the results. Happy in that during this process, I was able to come up with something fresh and current, yet still keep a little bit of the structure that worked so well in my first version.

Over the years, just updating the reel could be a chore; incorporating new material into the opening intro and aligning a spot in each appropriate menu. But when I came to the decision this year that it was time for a totally new design for EVERYTHING, I was up against a process that would take much more time, devotion, and perfectionism that's always been a staple of my work.

This started with a new look for my name logo. Sure...early on I could have just put my name and title at the top of my resume and at the beginning of my reel in some nondescript font like so many others did. But I wanted to stand out by creating an actual logo for my name header. Besides, if there's something to create and make better instead of being plain, I'm usually there doing it. So I've taken the second version of that logo and created something that keeps the spirit of the look, but brings the 'branding' into the next phase I'm trying to create.

Next, there had to be a theme and color scheme to the menus. This was another multi-layered process that found a really cool design I came up with being thrown out right at the start because DVD Studio Pro could not seemlessly accomodate what I had in my head. That was a disappointment. But ultimately I was able to take that concept and make it work in a slightly simpler way.

After all the actual content of the disc was complete, then came the design for the DVD label and slim jewel case insert card. Another creative task in itself, since this was the first thing anyone saw when taking my reel out of the mailing envelope. Going from a black and white design into color was a major step this time around, and I'm very happy with the way these came out as well.

Finally comes that first test reel. Everything looks great, you burn you're first copy, then fire it up on an actual television monitor. This is where you see any last minute flaws that might need to be smoothed out. HD has opened up a whole new box of things to look for when doing a final QC. This would also be my first time creating a true anamorphic 16x9 reel, and I was pretty excited by that. However, the clarity of image had me realizing I really needed to run everything through a software application called Compressor to attain the highest quality image. This took another night or two of converting everything. I'll spare you lay people out there the technical jargon. Needless to say, everything would have looked like crap if I didn't take this final step. It was absolutely necessary! The final result was exactly right.

Now that version 2.0 has been 'released' (subsequent versions went from 1.0 thru 1.6), I'm excited to continue packaging up sets of reels, resumes, and cover letters to be sent off to all the usual suspects, plus several new ones. But more about that in a minute.

Getting back to the 'amazed' aspect, it amazes me how far I've come in the production of this reel. It all started twelve years ago when I'd cut my work together on one Avid timeline. After fine tuning the flow of one piece to another through the use of quick transitions book ended by my name logo, I'd run off a Beta master. Then, VHS copies would be made from that. Since those early days, I've learned DVD Studio Pro and dabbled quite a bit in graphics and layout design. What I now hold in my hand is a much more sophisticated and professional representation of my work for post houses to peruse.

Now, on to the new trailer houses I discovered while doing a search through the Golden Trailer Awards trailer house listings. Beginning this past Saturday and continuing tomorrow, I'll be putting reels and resumes in the mail to these new finds:

Wild Card
Create Advertising
Open Road Entertainment
Workshop Creative

A couple of these are new companies...offshoot from bigger post houses. Certainly this would be a good time to get in on the ground floor like I did with Happy Hour Creative a year and a half ago. Here's hoping there could be a nice work surprise during the month of December.