Let me just get right into it, none of the small-talk needed: I made my own reel scene! I’m talking about that process this week. It was a complete success and a total blast.
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This article goes really well with my other article on making your own reel, so be sure to peruse that one as well!
1.) Why?
I made this scene because I didn’t feel like I had enough good-quality footage in my reel that showcased my branding. If you don’t know, I love branding. My branding is the girl who likes to act like she’s fine, when she really isn’t. She’s got a secret. That’s a vibe that all my characters have, but it’s a hard one to get in a specific scene. So I made one!
Before:
After:
2.) How?
I started with the vibe of the girl who says she’s fine when she’s obviously not fine. What characters in TV have that vibe? Elena Gilbert, The Vampire Diaries. Go 5 minutes into the first episode of TVD and you will come across a scene where Elena is literally telling Caroline that she’s fine, when she doesn’t really seem fine. Jackpot! Rewrite it so that you can shoot somewhere easy, like your house.
3.) Who?
For my scene partner Julia, I went into my mental Rolodex of actors from acting class, plays, etc. and cast my project! She was an obvious choice for me.
A lot of my friends are in school for film, so I texted my friend Kira if she’d be my DP, since she’s always the DP in school, and she accepted! She also roped in our friend and her boyfriend, Spencir Bridges, to do sound!
And of course I had to include my boyfriend Chris as the director. He was able to score some sound equipment for us and really made the project sound so good with Spencir helping.
4.) When?
We set a date and actually had to reschedule, but what’s important is that we made the intention and stuck to a date immediately after the reschedule. No putting it off, no ignoring it. We just DID it.
5.) What else?
We made a shot list and followed through! It took 2 hours of filming for the 1 minute, 20 second scene.
It was just great to make the intention and really go for it. My reel looks so much better now! I highly recommend getting some friends together to make stuff for your reel! I know I’ll be doing this again, and probably soon.
That was my reel scene adventure!
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