Q: I’m going to edit together some commercial footage for my reel, but in one of the commercials, there’s a voiceover and it’s not me speaking. When I use this footage, should I leave it silent or add free-to-use background music? —@Singingmama, Backstage Community Forums*
This is a great question. To answer it, I sought the experience and expertise of my Create Your Reel partner and lead editor, Kevin King, who has edited thousands of reels over the last 10 years. Here’s what he advised:
Showing an entire commercial can waste precious seconds in your reel and, as you pointed out, voiceover can cause confusion. We tend to believe the talent is the one speaking in every demo reel scene. To make this work, you first need to separate the voice and music from the edit and put it off to the side. Then, focus on cutting down the footage to just the coverage of you and string it together.
Next, add back more of the commercial to fix anything strange that stands out. Don’t worry, your edit might be short. In fact, it might be super short. But there will be no question for casting that you’re the complete focus of the scene. Whether short or long, the clip will definitely accomplish its goal.
Now, go back to that VO and background music and grab just a bit of it to cover the duration of the newer, shorter spot. Quite often with commercials, this works well enough for a reel. If all else fails and there isn’t any dialogue in the commercial, feel free to lay down some royalty-free music of your choice. If the commercial has its own jingle or song, even better.
How do you know if the edit is right? Play it without sound and ask yourself: Who is this scene about? If the answer is you, mission accomplished.
*Submit questions for our Experts on Backstage’s Facebook or Twitter accounts or via our forums page at backstage.com/forums!
This story originally appeared in the Jan. 23 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.
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