Ethan Swick

After three days of editing, I’m proud to announce that my demo reel is finally finished.

It wouldn’t have taken so long to make if I didn’t have such a large library of content to choose from. There were several videos I originally intended to include, but in the end, there just wasn’t room for everything. What really mattered to me was that I needed to show just how wide a range of experience I have in shooting and editing video.

It’s weird to see 5 years of video experience summed up into a single 80-second reel. From filmmaking to event highlights to animation, I’ve got a lot here, and it’s cool to see just how far I’ve come. But I know that this reel does not define the totality of my work; it does not take into account the hundreds of sports broadcasts I have produced, it does not tell the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours it took to learn this craft and to acquire this footage, and it does not portray the emotional and intellectual journey that I have been on since first arriving at college and eventually growing into a professional. At first blush, this is just a bunch of clips that show that I, at least in some capacity, know what I’m doing.

However, I think if you really try, you can see something deeper in this video. You can see something more than just a bunch of clips edited to the “Baseball Game” song from The Sandlot. I think the whole is greater than just the sum of the individual parts; if you look closely, you can at least see a few things important to who I am as a person:

• I have taken on a lot of different work. I have done video for churches, industrial companies, powerlifting meets, documentaries, sporting events, miscellaneous events, short and feature films, and more. And I don’t take on new work without heavily considering who it is for and what it is trying to say. Some of these jobs have been almost voluntary, with little to no pay, and I still took them on because I knew they were for a good cause, even if I couldn’t wholly see the big picture.
• I have a wide range of interests. Another part of why I like to do all kinds of different work is because I have a wide range of interests (which certainly helps when a client is eager to pay for a video on an obscure topic). When I was doing those animated videos on hog sorting and finisher barns, I really enjoyed learning about how the process of raising pigs works. I love sports, and so I really enjoy making videos about sports. I love talking to interesting people, and so I really enjoy sitting down with people and doing documentary interviews. There are so many things in this big wide world that interest me, and so you’ll see that I have a lot of videos that cover vastly different subjects.
• I have a deep love for stories. The number one thing that connects every video I’ve ever done is story. Each video, film, or animation has one. The story can be as simple as a cartoon rabbit trying to steal a hotdog or as complex as a group of football coaches training and mentoring young athletes. What thrills me each time I get to make a video is the prospect of telling a new story, identifying the beating heart at each story’s core, and figuring out the individual beats and moments that give the narrative its structure. I love stories, and I love telling them.

This demo reel is not just a reflection of my work, but also of me, just as my own being comes from the collection of events that I have experienced through life. Each clip in this demo is an experience that brings up a slew of different emotions and memories, and I love each one. I know I’m rambling here, so I’ll wrap this up, but I just wanted to say that, at first blush, this is merely a demo reel. But if you look deeper, if you squint your eyes while you watch it, you begin to see me.

I’m so glad to be able to share this video with you. Enjoy.