First atttempt at Demo Reel

[KevinKraeer]

One of the bits of advice that I've been given repeatedly regarding my own reel is that it's unfocused. I think yours may be slightly unfocused, also. The goal of the reel, like the resume, is to pave the way for you to accept a position as a modeler, rigger, animator, or TD. So the reel should generally be geared toward one of those areas of expertise.

I'm not feeling that this reel is geared specifically towards anything, which is actually pretty typical when starting out, I think. When you're learning 3D, you are generally asked to create completed work that is modelled, lit, and animated by you. So, I know your pain. Nobody tells you to narrow things down when you're working on the stuff...and to really be a well-rounded 3D Artist, you have to do these finished pieces.

The strongest part of your reel is easily the door transforming into a portal. If I were you I'd lead off with that. It's strong not only because of the excellent animation and compositing, but because you put a description of what's going on right afterwards. I'm told that's always good.

In the same vein as putting the description/extra info on the door aniamtion, I'd add poly counts as sort of a heads-up display to the spinning bike. I thought the inside of the computer was strong, too, I'd spend more time there.

The camera zooming around the interior was a little too spastic for me, I thought the modeling was really nice, but I would have liked to either have a slower camera, or have the cam at a series of different angles slowly zooming in - just a little - for a few seconds. So, it'd be view one...zoom a tiny bit for 5 seconds....view two, same thing, view 3, and so on.

I would lose the bike zooming through the canyon, as this just didn't feel finished. I think you could keep the canyon, change the lighting to something a little more earthly, and show it off as an environment.

The city scenes, Golden Gate bridge and the motorcyclist at the beginning were not your strongest material, I don't think. I would replace them or remove them entirely.

The credits at the end may look OK on TV, but they appear very small on the web. I might try to break it into two screens, each lasting somewhere between 5-10 seconds. Or maybe just a larger font would work.

Overall, a good effort. If you have more time, I would think about what you want your focus to be. Where do you see yourself working at your dream company? Modeling? Animating? The lighting guy? Then spend a few weeks creating new samples based on that narrowed field of vision and replace the weaker parts of your reel with those, putting "Modeler", "Animator", "Lighting Guy" under your name (and contact info!) at the beginning and end.

Good luck!

just reread your post and saw that you're looking for VFX work. All the more reason to lead off with your door animation ;).

[mikecarry]

I also graduated from the International Academy of Design a while back. In my opinion, it was a big waste of money and time. They lacked everything, and all the students were forced to learn on their own, more or less. They should have taught us Maya, as Maya was becoming mainstream, but instead, forced us into using old PowerAnimator software. Looking for a job was a nightmare. Everyone wanted Maya knowledge, and here I was not even knowing what Maya was....thanks to the IAOD allowing us to use old software. I was able to come up with a decent demo reel, but no real success when using it to look for a job.

My suggestion to you is, take what you learned at the school, as much or as little as it was, and take a few months, even a year, and make a whole new demo reel. Use the demo reel you have now as a learning experience.

The one you have right now is all over the place. If you want to focus on VFX, then focus on VFX. Forget about character animation. There are a few instances of animtion in your reel, and to be honest, it's not a very strong display.

[seaofwires]

Thank you very much for your replies. I fully agree that IADt did not teach me what I wanted to learn, mainly they are now focusing on a bachlors program not just an assoc anymore so most of the 3d classes got moved to the second half. I plan on reworking and doing alot of self study to make a much stonger and more focused reel. Over the next month I will post what progress I have made and updates, I value the information you have given very much.

-kevin-
www.stickproductions.com/demo.html

[Lil_Mick]

I agree with a lot of what the others have said. You might need to just spend some time creating some more clips to add to your reel. If you want to go into effects, focus your reel on effects. Don't just show everything you've made over the years. Do a few simple (but well done) projects that show you know how do do stuff. Since you want to be in the VFX area, show you know how to comp well. Display some good rotoscoping and the sorts. Give it time, and some polish and it should pay off.


~J

[BuendiaCG]

I did meet one or two talented people and a cuple of teachers that where decent there, but I think is not a good school, at least not good enough, and it shows, most of the demo reels there are very bad. I just couldnt take it anymore, now I joined the vancouver filmschool, that school rocks!.
In my opinion if anyone thinks of going to iadt tampa think it twice. is just my opinion.

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