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Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The End of the DVD Reel
Alan Shisko | 10/01
There. I said it. DVDs are done like dinner. Disappered like dodos. Disposed of like dirty dishes. Dissapated like disparaging alliterations that I’m now going to stop, please and thank you. Yes, I’ve burned my last DVD, and I’ll be a richer, more dynamic and connected man for it.
I’m a freelancer in the motion graphics world, and I’ve been thinking quite a lot about self-promotion of late, specifically how I get my work out there to be seen. I’ve got a reel, of course. It’s my calling card, a spicy, sizzling little morsel, easily digestible, that summarizes what I do. How one gets said reel out and about and into the hands of clients has always been one of the trickier aspects of self-promotion. In the olden days (so I’m told), you’d have your work on a big ‘ole 3/4” video tape. That was, I might point out, before my time, but I did enter the business just at the end of that particular epoch and heard stories about art directors who insisted on a 3/4” reel because that’s the only machine they had in their office. The lovely, much-maligned VHS format then reigned supreme for awhile, nicely butchering many a fine reel. A few hardy souls then played around with various formats on Cd’s once they became standard on desktops, but it wasn’t until you could author and burn DVDs on your own machine that physical reels finally reached their technical apogee. And so it remained.
And then, along came the Internet.
I remember the first few reels that I saw online (yes, I am THAT old). They were teeny little quicktimes with lousy audio that took forever to come down my 28.8 KB data pipe. They weren’t effective, and for some time the DVD remained the de facto standard, mostly because it was “full resolution”, portable, file-able and tactile. Electronic reels were adopted fairly slowly by the industry, mostly because of data rates and encoding techniques. But once these hurdles were overcome, most everyone moved online.
I’ve maintained my reel as a DVD for some years now, but as I’ve mentioned, it’s time has come. I have decided to move to web-only delivery for the following reasons…
1) The Expense. There’s no denying that it ain’t cheap. A good quality blank DVD can cost a buck, or more if you go with ink jet-printable (which you should have). Stylish clam shells add to the cost, too. Print a hundred, and that’s a pretty nice dinner out.
2) The Printing. You didn’t send in reels to potential clients with your name written on it with a sharpie, did you? Of course not! You picked up a DVD-printing ink jet. And of course the thing would break, or start printing funny, or run out of ink, or simply refuse to print at all.
3) The Coasters. I’d usually take a day once a year to ‘update my reel’. I’d prepare for the upcoming season by printing off a whole bunch of DVDs, so that they’d be ready to get to clients right away. Of course, come the end of the year, that always meant a great big pile of drink coasters or car-mirror accessories.
4) The Fishermen. And of course there is the problem of how to actually get said disk into the hands of a client. If they were local, I’d take the opportunity to go for a little bike ride and drop it off, maybe squeeze in a quick ‘hello’. But most of my clients are international, necessitating shipping charges. Now, the big question is always, “how serious is the potential client?” If it’s Sergey Brin on the line, you can be sure that it’d be a quick trip to FedEx for that package. But then there are the fishermen. They’re motion graphic artists who want to find out how much to charge. It usually involves an email, asking something vague like “We’d like you to do a TV show opening. How much do you charge?” I always assume that any contact is a potential client, so no problem, I’d send them my day rate, and that’s usually the end of it. But sometimes a request is more sophisticated, necessitating a more sophisticated response on my part. If I feel that they’re a potential client, then that might mean an offer to send them a DVD reel to compliment my web reel. I’d send it by mail if I wasn’t sure, but usually I’d go the FedEx route. If a gig comes of it, then all is well, but every now and again I’d pay the $45, ship the reel, and never hear from them again. That’s painful, not just because of the courier expense, but because it takes me time just to GET to the courier!
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I whole heartedly agree Alan. I only need to look to my right and I can see the last eight DVD’s I ever burned of my demo reel. Nicely packed in slimline cases with the self printed insert wrap & disk cover, breakdown sheet inside and completely covered with about an inch of dust. They’ve sat lifelessly on that shelf since 2005. I’ve been internet advertising ever since. It is nicer than having to align a disk in your printer last minute when someone wanted a reel, then have it print offset and have to start all over again. 
Posted by David Torno on 10/01 at 04:25 PM
I just got asked for a DVD copy of my demo reel. I don’t have an updated one available, so now I need to do some extra work just to send this one out.
Posted by DanConklin on 10/02 at 09:55 AM
My old graphics art teacher once said that the most important tool a graphics artist could have is a dictionary for spell checking. It’s way cheaper than a Flame.
Posted by Steve Hullfish on 10/02 at 01:31 PM
Jewel case and came up with the idea of a multi-functional and 100% recyclable cardboard box, inspired by the visual language and utilitarian functionality of the humble transit box.This is so nice that if a disc actually came in a packaging like this, I’m tempted to not open it.
Try Singlesnet.com
Posted by Try Singlesnet.com on 09/18 at 11:01 PM
A lot of the packaging posted on here…as lovely as many are, they don’t look—I don’t know if this is the right word—realistic?
This, on the other hand, I could see implemented in reality. I can imagine looking at a shelf full of CD and DVD cases packaged in cardboard and not thinking twice about it.
Mail DVD Rentals
Posted by Mail DVD Rentals on 09/19 at 12:25 AM
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