Pls Crit my Demo Reel

[bcairns]

A few suggestions: I'd take out the concept sketches, first of all. I'm not sure if those need to be there. You should show turnarounds of your models, instead of just still images. Also show wireframe shaded models as well as fully textured ones. On the still scenes it might be nice to add just a little bit of camera movement to make it more interesting. Just some thoughts. :)

[DiNKArt]

I think you need to make your reel a little shorter. You should selected the models and animations you think are the best and place them in there. A shorter reel of the best stuff in your current reel would be better even if it will only be less then a minute. Defenetly take bcairns suggestion into consideration. The reel feels kinda slow. Doing what bcairns said and making it shorter will help this. I would also add music. Let the people that are watching your reel decid if they want to hear music or not. Music will also help the tempo of the reel and may also help your audience remember your reel. Everytime I hear Rage Against The Machine I remeber an animtion reel that was pretty good.

I went through your website including the Ned the Knight Site and I have have made a list of what I think you be best to go on your site.
First start off with Centaur then Evil Dragon followed by Ned the Knight and Sgt. Maximus. I would finish with the Komar model. I think it is your best model and you should end on a good note.
Make sure you spin these models around so the viewer can see all sides. Also add shots of the wires. I believe these are your best models. Your texturing skills are not that good so you should show untextured models instead of the textured ones. Your centaur looks pretty good but the textures brings it down.
I believe from viewing your sites that your greatest talents are in doing enviorments. You should add the Bistro Set and Untextured Town to your reel with the Wizard Hut and Open Shot Bright. Make sure move the camera so the vieewer can see the whole scene from a closer perspective instead of a fare away still image.
Any other image that I didn't mention shoulld not be in your reel. Just because orcs are a popular subject among cg artist dosn't meen you have to add one.
If you want to add any of your drawings add them at the end. Kiera Knighty Port
and maybe the Komar drawing are the only image I believe that you should add if you want to add any.
This should help you form a much better reel.

[snorthul]

Excellent. Thank you both for your input. I have shown this reel to a few people, but nobody in the CG community. This really helps. I will take all of your suggestions and get to work.

Hehe. Now that you mention my texturing, I went back and took a good look....you are absolutely right.

I will go back and add more movement to my whole reel. I will also strip the textures off and then make some turnarounds. (which is what I should have done in the first place)

Thanks again. I really appreciate this.

[CadDebunk]

Put your best work at the very beginning of your reel. Good point about taking out the sketches--they're not aiding your reel.

But make sure your best it the first few things they see. Pretend the reel reviewers are only going to view the first 15 second of your reel--it's what they do with most reels. If nothing stands out immediately, they'll move on to the next demo reel.

And shorten then length of the clip at the beginning with your name and contact just a bit. Add it once again (like you did) at the end of the reel so they don't have to waste much time watching your contact info at the beginning instead of work.

Best luck.

[snorthul]

Hey there.

I took most of your suggestions and reformulated my reel. I put more motion and timed it ( to some extent) to music.

I did not follow the suggestions exactly, but I kept very close.

I know that you may think my sketches don't aid, but I really think that they convey I have some traditional skills as well. I kept my 2 favorite drawings in.

I didn't make it shorter unfortunately. By the time I got my animation in, I found that stopping it there with the music would have kind of been awkward. I added some stills and then faded the music out.

I made the credits at the end last awhile for the tape, so once you see the credits for music, that is it.

Thanks for everything...I believe my reel is already 100% better now.

Again it's an 11.5 MB divx compressed d/l (R Click and save as is best)

Demo Reel #2 (http://www.mike-yucka.com/assets/anim/Reel02_Feb04.avi)

[DiNKArt]

That is a much better reel then your first one. If you want to place your drawings in there I would place them all at the end. You had to drawings then two still then two more drawings. I think you should show the 3d stills then show all the drawings togther at the end. Maybe slow down the first clip of the Centaur. Zoom out slower and take more time spining it around. Maybe add a second or two. It is one of your best works and you should display it a little better. Big improvment. I liked the little animation of the knight. It gave your peice a little variety.

[snorthul]

Wow, that was quick. Thanks for the hints.

I'll definately slow down my first pic. My files were rather large, so the previews were a little tough to synch to. It shouldn't be too hard to fix.

The 3d still in the center of the anims was because of a mistake I made. I didn't notice it until I rendered it. I will fix it by expanding my first model. I want to keep synch with the music as much as possible.

Thanks again.

BTW. Do you think my stuff is good enough to get my foot in the door anywhere? I tend to think most of my stuff is crap...I think it is because I look at all of the fantastic stuff on the net and I feel like I'm playing catch up. Heh. I'm 30 and just figuring out what I want to do when I grow up

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