16 stunning showreels and tips for creating yours
A showreel, demo reel, or demo tape is an edited montage compiling all your work into a single video. It’s a key communication tool for any motion designer, as it will showcase your talent in just a few minutes — and serve as your main selling point. In this article, you’ll find a few practical tips as well as ten examples of showreels in video form.
Editing your showreel is a tricky exercise. You have to summarize one or several years of work in just a few minutes within a video that will serve as your portfolio for the coming months — not something to rush through in 30 minutes on Final Cut.
Among the magic ingredients for grabbing and holding your audience’s attention, music plays a crucial role. Even if it might seem secondary, sound can easily work in your favor and turn an average reel into something that really pops!
When the sound doesn’t appeal to the viewer, they focus solely on the visuals, and the flaws instantly stand out.
On the other hand, if the music is catchy and original, and the editing matches the rhythm, your reel will leave a positive impression. Even if some pieces of work were mediocre, the viewer will remember a “cool” soundtrack — and, by association, a “cool” reel :)
Next up, the editing. No need for 5-second shots — that’s already too long! A showreel is a way to present and showcase your projects differently than they were individually. The magic of a demo reel lies in giving new life to your old projects through faster, more dynamic editing — by selecting only the shots you’re truly proud of! Projects that were once “meh” can suddenly look much more “cool” in just a few frames!
For this, editing to the beat is essential. Carefully analyze your chosen soundtrack, identify the key moments, and align the visuals accordingly. Avoid using ultra-violent animations like wiggle(50,500) during a quiet break, for example ;)
Don’t hesitate to edit and cut your music to shorten it. You don’t need to make a 5-minute 23-second reel just because that’s the track’s full length! Music is structured — it’s counted in time and measures — and you can usually cut and paste sections to shorten it seamlessly ;)
And for the cherry on top, add a bit of sound design to emphasize the visual moments — it’s always classy! (see the Onesize reel below)
Finally, polish your intro/outro. It doesn’t need to be long — 10 to 15 seconds is plenty — but make it count! This is the part that represents you, where you can truly express yourself since there’s no client behind it! Don’t forget to include your name, alias, and website in your video. If it circulates, people won’t remember you if all it says is "reel 09" ^^
So, what does this look like in practice?
A selection of 9 fresh 2009 showreels:
To visit the authors’ or studios’ websites, click the small arrow to the right of the title ;)
And 7 older must-see reels:
Since you’ve just seen the demo reels of Roman Koenigshofer and Christopher Hewitt in the playlists above, I suggest you check out two of their creations, based on New York footage and masterful editing.
The synchronization with the sound is stunning — the image supports the sound, and the sound supports the image. Both are a joy to watch:
If you enjoy this kind of deconstructed sound design like in OFFF NYC, I recommend checking out Hecq’s website, who handles sound design and audio branding for many top studios!
On that note, if, like me, you’re a big fan of showreels, I hope the ones featured in this post inspire you for your own! And if you have a new reel in the works, feel free to send it my way once it’s online — I’ll eventually make a post about my readers’ demo reels :)
About the author
I am the Founder of Mattrunks. I work as Creative Director and Motion Designer in my studio. I also create video tutorials to share my passion of motion.