Vikram's demo reel showcases great examples of animation we normally do in our beginning to intermediate animation classes, such such as: The Gear Change, Choice, Walkcyle, and Take. His animation examples of Choice, Curiosity and Chase are great too. His movement and staging is clear, he has a great sense of timing, orchestrating fast with slow movement and demonstrates a subtle yet effective use of overlapping action in his character's heads. Hey Vikram, keep up the great work and best of luck in all you do.
This little clip Sean Talarico is a nice sweet little hit. At first, its simply unbelievable, but as we proceed with his breakdown, we end up learning a lot. As a lesson to you, if you plan on creating your own animations or visual effects shots, "simple" is always better. This shot seems complex, but the general idea is simple and clear, this is very important.
"KISS (keep it simple stupid)" as they say, is not easy as they come. It takes time, experience, and many times, you need a second opinion as it becomes difficult to move past our personal preferences, especially if we've been working on something for a long time. Keeping this simple, also means making your project clear and you will know this immediately once you garner feedback from others.
Check it out and enjoy. Great piece Sean, keep up the great work, and when you get a chance, let us know how you are doing. By the way, how long did this clip take you to create?
Hi Guys - Great work here. I saw this about a year ago, and it still stands as great example of what he can do. During the turntable, take a look at how organized the mesh is. Great lighting, materials and compositing too. What are you doing these days Berni?
Saw this today and had to post for future reference. Overall, great presentation, use of type and design, highlighted by a great model of a crotch rocket/ mantis robot. Very nice. Keep us posted as to how you are doing Arison.
I couldn't resist. I had to post this for future reference. Alberto not only shows mad VFX and Compositing skills, but what I like the most, is his presentation and design sense.
He's got a sensitive touch to his typographic presentation, something that we should all keep in mind as we prepare to show our work to professionals.
Like many of these VFS Demo Reels, we appreciate the breakdowns. See if you can count how may passes he has for Shot III.
This is a pretty nice presentation of some well executed compositing, and as always, we appreciate the breakdowns. The "Lego" theme is also very thoughtful, creative and lots of fun. I'm posting this because it serves as good inspiration for my Painter class this week, where they will be exploring special effects in the program. Its not After Effects by any means, most of the effects will be frame by frame, but its fun and his breakdowns show the layers he used to create the effects.
Adam's demo reel is exceptional. It shows awesome compositing, animation and rigging work. On top of all of all this, its pretty darn entertaining. One of the great things I like about the model turnaround of the robot, is that it looks at us as it spins...a nice touch that I appreciate and would like for students to remember. Keep up the great work Adam, thanks for posting your reel.
Francisco sports another great VFS Demo Reel. I love this concept for its simplicity. His modeling, lighting, texturing and motion capture work together to make a believable and entertaining piece. For those of you who like sushi and animation, this one's for you. Thanks for sharing Francisco, let us know what you are up to next.
I was involved with graduation portfolio reviews this week and had noticed a couple of things that I think any animation/design graduate should know about.
1) Include music in your demo reel to make it interesting. Music makes the presentation go quickly, without it, it seems to drag. These are industry professionals in the room and they have things to do. Therefore, adding music not only makes the time go by faster (for someone busy), but its also more interesting and engaging. The demo reel featured on this blog is by Jason Findkey, his demo reel is exceptional ways in which I will explain below. His music selection added to the look and feel of his presentation.
2) Only show your best work. I'd rather see a few fantastic examples (like 2 - 5), rather than 11 - 20 mediocre ones. If you use only a few excellent samples, be strategic in their placement, by showing them off well, and by putting some thought into the presentation design. How do you do this?
3) Watch more demo reels. There are lots of outstanding demo reels that you can learn from. You can start by clicking the demo reel on this blog. Click it and see what else comes up on the side. When you watch them, look at how long they are, what they show and how they show it, timing, pacing, music selection and polish. One of the reasons why I like Jason's reel, is because it feels like a movie. He gradually draws us into his work through the music, logo intro and Hellboy silhouette which piques our interest from the beginning. Hey Jason, if you read this, nice work!
4) Know your audience. In our geographical area, its not unusual for gaming companies to sit in on these portfolio reviews, so early in your school career, you should see if you could create graphics that these gaming companies could use. Does it man you do graphic images of fruits or money? Maybe, but if you look at the variety of imagery these companies use, you'll see that subject matter range from characters (cartoon to realistic), typography, 3D and 2D vector based graphics. In all of these, a good sense of design is essential. How can they tell you have good design skills?
5) Have a working website. Your site represents your design sensitivity and the type of work you are interested in. Many of the gaming companies present were not receptive to 3D modeling and texturing work, but were impressed with the graduate's website. Its a nice a little added touch that makes you look really good (provided that it works). If the site doesn't work, or isn't designed well, it will hurt you. So, be sure to test your site by having people you trust to test and comment on your site, and fix things before your site goes live.
6) Plan B. Have a contingency plan, a "Plan B" just in case your demo reel doesn't play. One thing you could do, is point people to your site. Be sure to test your site to see if your demo reels load. In using Quicktimes, I've noticed a slight delay. You may want to upload your video to Vimeo.com, get an embed code for your video and place this embed code on to an HTML page. This loads much faster, and you have the option to view your demo reels / videos in full screen.
7) Be Prepared. Before you leave the room, or before the meeting starts, check to see everything works. This means, if you are going to show your site, that you open your website in the browser window that is being projected at the front of the room.
8) "Damn" When I show the Jason Findkey demo reel to my classes, it is met with silence and often, I hear someone quietly say "Damn". One word says it all right? "This guys is really really good", his work is so outstanding, that we're left speechless. The scary party, is that this was his work coming right out of school. His work is interesting on many levels and the best part, is that he doesn't really show that much. So what are you gonna do when you apply for the same job as he does? Seems like an unfair question, but it happens all the time. Better yet, what if you were both hired, and both of you work on the same project?
What I want for you, is that when people see your work, that they are so impressed, it would be foolish to not hire you. You don't do this in 2 weeks. You have to keep working at it (whatever you do) and you have to get feedback. Following the tips above should prepare you to do battle in the field.
That's all for now. I'll add things to this as things come up as I feel it could help others.
The Vancouver Film School in Canada produces some of the greatest demo reels I have seen coming out of any school. The demo reels are well executed and produced. They feature not only the effects shot, but also an integrated breakdown compilation of how the shot was created. I will be posting the ones I like here on this blog for future reference and inspiration.
This demo reel by Teh-Wei Yeh is exceptional. He shows some excellent compositing, animation, texturing timing and editing. His intro with the falling bullets is "Off the Hook!"(as they say in my neighborhood). You can view his demo reel below.
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