REELS: A ‘playful parameter’ developed by Cormac Donnelly
This exercise is based on the editing practice where a feature film is often split into reels during the edit. These reels are often (but not always) in the region of 18 – 21 minutes in length, a limiting factor imposed by the maximum amount of 35mm film which could fit on a physical reel (2000 feet). Despite editing being almost exclusively handled in the digital domain now, many editors still use the ‘reel’ as a way of managing their editing timelines (see some more of Eddie Hamilton’s timelines here). Ahead of BAFTSS 2026, we are inviting contributions to our ‘Playful Parameters’ videographic interlude, as part of our Fragments panel on Thursday 16th April.
Guidelines:
- Pick a film – any film, but ideally over 60 minutes long.
- Choose to centre your selected clips around either 18, 19, 20, or 21 minute reel lengths.
- Where you choose to cut either side of the reel points is entirely up to you, but try and keep each clip to less than 30 seconds.
- String your chosen clips together and export.
Examples:
- Ferris Bueller (Cormac)
- Almost Famous (Jemma)
- In both cases, we selected clips based on 19 minute reels so have cut (very much to taste) either side of the following; 19 mins, 38 mins, 57 mins, 1:16, 1:35 etc.
If you would like to try making your own ‘Reel’, please send an unlisted link to editorial@fragments.video no later than Thursday 9th April.
We will try to share as many as possible at the conference, but please note that, depending on interest, this can’t be guaranteed. A Collection of Reels will be published in Fragments in late spring/early summer.
We look forward to hearing from you!
…and finally, please bear in mind ‘Restrictions are productive, they are arbitrary but never random (and meant to be overstepped).’ (Kreuzer & Binotto, 2023)
https://zfmedienwissenschaft.de/en/online/videography-blog/manifesto-videographic-vulnerability