Animation Demo Reel Feedback?
Hey folk, situations being what they are my last studio found itself against the changing winds and I'm back on the market. I've been trying to land somewhere with my reel but finding it a bit more challenging then I last remembered. In your awesome opinions, what is working for me, what isn't?
Replies
Definitely lead with your lightsaber duel shot, it's easily your strongest (I love their capes!). The CryoSuit parkour could use some love; you need to get some more squash and stretch in your poses, for example when he first jumps off the railing have his legs extend all the way to brace for impact and have the rest of the body squash as he lands, and then continue the flow of the movement. Then when he jumps over the second rail, have his arms all the way taut to show the weight catching as he's hanging. You could also improve the camera, perhaps by cutting to a lower angle as he drops down at the end.
The shot with the characters from AM is probably your weakest imo, it's pretty floaty and lacks weight. It's a cool idea, but I would icks-nay it altogether, as the time it would take to clean up is probably not worth it. Before you even go into spline you need to have a solid foundation and I don't think it's there for that shot.
The dragon...something doesn't quite seem right about it, like the up and down movement of his body is like 10-15 frames later than it should be in relation to the wings. Perhaps someone else could expand on that as my knowledge of flying mechanics is pretty minimal. Nowadays with slow motion cameras being so prevalent you can find slow motion video of birds and bats up the wazoo! Also check out HTTYD and Game of Thrones for some great dragon reference.
The one with the tiger/dog is one of the rougher ones, and is worth it to keep if you polish it up more.
The next death shot is nice.
Your two takedown shots are pretty cool as I always love that sort of animation, but I think the first one is stronger, and you only need one of the two, and after that we get the idea, imo. It could still use some polish, especially at the end when he rolls.
The ones with the vehicles are pretty cool, but I don't know that they really add much to it? They're not really strong pieces, but they're not weak either. I'd say out of those two the buzzsaw drill excavator thing is better.
Overall I think you fall into the trap of hitting spline too early before you have a solid blocking foundation (I'm assuming you do stepped blocking for the sake of argument). Your poses need improvement and you need to focus more on nailing the weight, which is imo easily the hardest thing to get right in animation. Don't sweat it, you've still got some great stuff!
Cheers man.