11 March 2010
The art of a commercial reel
Posted by under: Ads; Editing; clients .
A few weeks back, I had the great pleasure of working with a major advertising agency, here in NYC. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know who they are. While working as an editor for a pitch video, I had to watch hundreds of reels from some big productions companies and commercials directors. On these reels, there where some well know directors, including a recent Oscar winning filmmaker. Here are some things that made the reels stand out from the rest.
A lot of the reels had some cool packaging and designs. Some of these came in cleaver boxes. Two in particular stand out. One individual took a piece of cardboard box and bended four ways to make a DVD case. The top and bottom of the case was hollow, so you can see into the DVD. While the DVD was held into place, by some foam glued to the box. Another DVD case was made from a small thick manila folder with two slits in each side to hold the DVD and the title card in place. As memorable as the packaging was, I don’t remember the reels themselves. This is because the reels didn’t have a particular focus.
The most memorable of these reels, where the ones who had a theme and a narrative thread. One that still stands out, even after two weeks, was a medical reel by a Mexican Director. His reel; had a few spots with a major TV star talking about hospitals, another two non-profit medical related pieces and a few pharmaceutical spots that feature one or two different drugs. The reason, I remember this reel is because nobody else did anything like it. If I was hiring somebody to do a drug ad, or anything medical related, he would be the first person I would call. It’s like any job out there. The person that targets their resume or in this case their reel will get the job by showing they have done this in the past.
Another outstanding reel was by a production company. The used packaging brilliantly. It was simple thing but was overlooked by all the others. They had the foresight to put a little silver sticker inside the box saying one of the spots recently won an award. This make me take my time to watch the reel and look for the specific spot. Anything that makes you “stand up and notice,” is a good thing. The crazy thing was on another reel, I saw a Cannes Lion winning spot but they didn’t highlight it.
To me the best commercial reels aren’t about cool visuals. The best reels are about the impact they have with their narratives, themes and aesthetics. It’s not about the expensive and/or funky packaging and design. It’s how they show the talent, story and product they are selling.