Animation Demo Reel, Advice and Opinions Wanted

[MCHammond]

Im not the best person to talk to about this but as no one else has yet I might aswell!

First of all your demo reel is mehh.. I.e nothing special, so straight away you are at a disadvantage. It also looks like it came of a production line! I'm pretty sure I've seen the same layout and font on 10 other equally mehh.. showreels. Its also Boring which combines with the already Mehh.. and ununiqeness factors to produce a subpar showreel. This might seem unfair but thats what it is. I would add music to liven it up a bit and move the guy with the chest to the start!

Visualy its boaring aswell the whole thing looks like its be sucked of all its life and then left in the sun for a few weeks. The first shot with the guy on the tight rope is visualy boring agian but due to the lack of depth. can you render it out shaded so you can see more detail! you seem to have a lot of grey or blue there are more colours out there!

I know none of these things have anything to do with animation, but they just make your showreel look dull and boring. Wich isnt going to help you find a job!
"distance youreself from the masses"

What type of job are you looking for? a generalist or animator! if its a generalist then this showreel wont get you a job anywhere I have worked as one! They want to see finnished projects that you have done start to end and a wide range of skills "my experiance".

If its as an animator I would do more animations! you say you have been out of work for a year or more! I assume you are working full time somewhere because if you had that much time to work on a showreel I would exspect alot more work!

Dont listen to your parents do what YOU want to do! "unless you are living at home, in which case exsplain to them how you feel!"

As for where to go from here I would start a new project and aim high! Post a WIP thread here and on your program of choice's foroum and listen to the advice as if it were the clients and implement them as such "aslong as its positve". Learn from it and then repeat. when you are comfortable move on.

Anyway good luck and hope this helps

[sipone]

Yo! Quite agry with McHammond about the "form" of the reel itself (even if he is a bit harsh), flatness of some shots due to the rendering, no music especially with your "cartoonish" style of animation seems a little dead while watching, anyway, these are details but they count.
In term of animation, i think the "cells" 2d part is the best, nice waves in the movement and rythm in general (maybe a little slow on certain part), your 3d is not bad at all, but i think every movement are way too soft, we don't feel any acceleration for example the guy jumping on the box, he is floating in the air with no rythm at all, and i think it's the biggest problem in all your animations, you must accentuate some part in terms of posture and timing your animation will get more life, for example the first animation there is none part where the guy is jiggling the arm extremely fast to keep is weight on the ground or watever, try to watch some tex avery or else to see their timing,

anyway good luck in fiding job and don't hesitate to post other works

[MCHammond]

Sorry!
I in no way intended to offend, It might be harsh but I only said it so you can improve! I'm a bit tired so I might of given of the wrong impression!!

Again good luck with the job hunt!

[sicean]

Thank you guys,

Don't worry. It takes a lot more than that to offend me. In fact, I appreciate the honesty. You're right though, McHammond. My last reel should have been presented better. I think I was feeling a little down about my career when I cut it together, I guess those emotions came through. Here's an earlier reel (with much of the same footage.) Much livelier as you can see:

YouTube Version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97igJ9eJEyQ)

Quicktime Version (http://cean.animationblogspot.com/files/2008/08/CAH_demoAug08.mov)

Unfortunately, I don't have access to Maya anymore. Any improvements on the existing works will have to wait. In the meantime, I can always create new works in Blender. It's what I have to work with for now.

I'm not living at home. It may be hard to believe, but I'm actually a 30-year-old man. I have been working full-time, just not under the umbrella of employment. Most of my time has been spent looking for work, both in the animation field and the restaurant field. This is a full-time job. It has left me with little time for self improvement animation-wise. I suppose I have dug myself into a bit of a hole; I need a job, I need a job right now, or I won't survive. This apparently isn't going to happen until I improve my animation skills. I'm really trying not to panic.

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