End of Master Showreel 2017
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Hi Polycount forums,
as the title suggest i am coming to an end of my masters program and i was wondering I could get some feedback on areas to improve and change in my showreel, I am also thinking of adding extra models, is this a good idea for someone that wants to start out as a Junior character animator?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PM6oX0TiDM
Kind Regards,
Darthtaj1
as the title suggest i am coming to an end of my masters program and i was wondering I could get some feedback on areas to improve and change in my showreel, I am also thinking of adding extra models, is this a good idea for someone that wants to start out as a Junior character animator?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PM6oX0TiDM
Kind Regards,
Darthtaj1
Replies
I don't want to go through each piece, so I'm going to cover the basics.
Generally you want your demo reel to show you competently understand the 12 basic animation principles, body mechanics and some personality. Some of your pieces have a sliver of personality which is good, but the fundamentals and core skills are lacking to the point where I don't think you'll be able to find work with any of this in your demo reel.
Pretty much every shot that has been composited onto footage is poorly framed and detracts from the purpose of your reel and makes the viewer judge you on elements that would be outside of your role as animator. It's would generally not be your job to comp shots together so it makes it unnecessary to show. A still camera, play blast without textures or complicated lighting - as long as we can see forms and movements clearly is more acceptable to have, like almost everything after the 2 minute mark.
E.g. Your 3d element at 1:41 is so small on screen and dark I missed the occurring action on screen because I was distracted by how beautiful that building looks, had to then re-watch multiple times on top of that to figure out what was occurring. The track is slipping, poor framing, missing shadows and appropriate lighting became more and more apparent - which as an animator wouldn't really be your responsibility but we're still judging your animation on those points despite that, due to it's presence. It's also worth noting how that room attracts the viewers eye to the walls & ceiling through lighting just cos.
First minute with the car - cut it.
The reason why I say this is because it's, a boring start and overly long. It also shows poor camera work and lacks any 'real' animation. The 2nd shot at the 5 second mark had the most potential to show it could be interesting then the locked parented camera did you no favor.
Any animation that cycles - give it a few run throughs. People need to be able to see that you can make seamless loops and have enough time to be able to observe that your body mechanics are correct with regards to weight transfers and such otherwise it's up to the viewer to skip back and forth and that's unacceptable.
Some background music helps inject some life into animation demo reels. As long as it's appropriate, it's also necessary so that if you have pieces with sound, like you do at the end the viewer is prepared and less likely to be startled. After 2 and 1/2 minutes of watching, we don't want to be suddenly blasted with sound, especially Britney Spears.
No. Keep the reel to a specific area, if it's an animation reel, then animation only.
Overall, it needs work. Now if this post is bit of a system shock, sorry but it's important if you're serious to get passed that and find other artists that you can direct and guide you accordingly. If you stick around the animation community here is getting larger and there's some great animators around, there's animation challenges, and regular crits to be had, etc.
Otherwise check out some alternative resources and sites, E.g. - http://11secondclub.com/ is good monthly practice.
Keep practicing, study reference, and watch tutorials that focus on the basics. Good luck!
look into the animation community which rigs are the best to use (there are tons you see ofter around and they are used for a reason...).
This is the showreel of a friend of mine who I know found animations jobs straight out of uni:
In one minute he showed understanding of human and animal movement and weight, moods and attitude, walk cycles and all in just 7 showreel pieces.
Look into more showreel like this one to get inspired. Your animation is showing some skills, but you need to really focus on that and improve them if you want to work in char. animation.
If you don't want to work in comping don't bother showing it in your reel.
Good luck!
Darthtaj1