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A reel, often called a demo reel or show reel, refers to a collection of works by an individual artist and is the motion picture or video equivalent of an artist's portfolio. It is typically used as a tool to promote the artist's skill, talent, and experience in a selected field, such as acting, directing, cinematography, editing, special effects, animation, or video games and other graphics. The demo reel is frequently submitted with a résumé to a prospective employer. When a reel contains scenes from actual productions, a shot list or credit list may also be submitted to describe the artist's specific involvement in each portion of the reel.

Demo reels can take several forms depending on the field and media. Examples include Director's reels, Cinematographer's reels, Motion graphics reels, Resume tapes (Broadcast Journalism), Actor's reels, Animation reels, Demo CD (Radio), and Voiceover demos.

Increasingly video-based portfolio are housed within web portfolios.

External Links[]

"Reel First Impressions" by Ted Lega

"On Target with your Cinematography Reel" by Peter Hartel

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