There are many types of video reels you can do, and they vary in quality, workmanship and finding your work from production or taking it off of your DVR, screencast or making it on your own from your independent pieces as well.
Audio and Copyright ©
Be aware that youtbube and vimeo have algorithms and a huge database that will either strike your video down or give any money from views to the copyright holders if you decide to use John Williams music in your demo from Star Wars or Annie Lennox. You can speed it up or change the sound itself, but for most work, you should just try to use original work if at all possible. Time constraints in submissions etc can make that hard and the urge to up the ante in your demo or submission as well weigh in.
Copyfree Music and Creative Commons
When you want something that won’t get you banned or some issue on video hosting sites that scan for copyrighted material you can easily google search “copyfree music” on youtube and download the music with links per video you find of the audio or just the [youtube downloader dev edition] or some other plugin for your specific web browser (firefox, chrome,edge) allowing you to take the audio.
Some websites also have copyfree and creative commons music. Look for different definitions of these two types of music and what they offer for a actor’s personal submission vs a video you’re trying to enter in a contest or production.
Video Quality and Settings
Youtube
http://www.youtube.com
Youtube is a great place to put your work. Your work. If you put an entire episode of something you were on with NBC it might be taken down. So, remember, clips are tiny parts of you in a piece, maybe even a title too. Youtube settings are pretty well described in detail on their site, but a beginner’s guide is:
- HD 1920×1080 23.974fps 20-30mbps
- HD 1920×1080 59.97fps 20-30mbps
- HD 1280×720 23.974fps 12-28mbps
- HD 1280×720 59.97fps 12-28mbps
You can also learn about I-frames if you want to get very tech savvy and colors like flat bright red that get compressed a lot due to the way some programs use compression algorithms. Yes.
Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/
Youtbe and vimeo are similar, but Vimeo makes you wait quite a long time after uploading and has size limitations for free users. Not a big deal, but you can get better quality on most uploads to vimeo if you compress it correctly, it diminishes less on their site. The same quality settings are fine for vimeo and youtube, if not higher mbps to a point. Refer to current limitations on vimeo to find out if they change over time, which they will.
Common Compression Types (2019)
H.264
https://www.vcodex.com/h264-resources/
H.265 HEVC
http://x265.org/hevc-h265/
Editing Software
Blackmagic Davinci Resolve
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/
The best part about Davinci Resolve is that it is so full of professional components and it is still free (2019-2024 so far). Color correction, audio toolkit, noise reduction, titling, so many formats that can combine. There is a small learning curve no different than the other NLE editors here but it is probably the best. Make sure things like output > best isn’t always selected and you choose maybe H.264 for your mp4 output, 22-32mbps not 80mbps. Using H.265 doesn’t always work with youtube and other online video hosts but that is changing.
The speed and workflow with a medium level GPU from AMD or NVIDIA even on a laptop with dedicated GPU will run amazingly on Resolve. Only Vegas is faster for multiple takes and cuts for self-shot submissions with other cuts ins for maybe you voicing non existent actors to play from. Resolve can do it too, just learn the interface and try to get the highest (3840×2160 UHD) or QHD screen if you can, if not 1920×1080 is ok but there’s a lot of interface and things happening on NLE editors for 1920×1080 HD
Magix Vegas (Sony Vegas)
http://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/?utm_source=sonycreativesoftware&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=redirect&lang=us&prdt=vegaspro
Vegas takes tons of video from phones, cameras, camcorders and puts it all together without having to convert it and understand too much about the technology. The output is pretty straight forward and with a bit of practice you can edit very professional reels and video submissions in no time on Windows platform systems, tablets, etc.
NCH VideoPad Video Editor
http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/
It is pretty powerful and free, so this is the one to go for when you want to start out and your vegas 30 day trial ends if you can’t afford to buy a version of it or other NLE (non-linear editors). Try it out. Windows.
Final Cut Pro (7 | X)
http://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/
Apple users, this is a pretty awesome video editing suite and it will get you some work in-between acting in the media world if you get to understand it well. I don’t like having to bring in media and convert it all to ProRes, but it is a great system. A bit advanced like Premiere in the learning curve, but it awesome.