Demo Reel Tips

reikalykos

Hello everyone! So I am in the process of putting together my very first demo reel and I was wondering, what are tips that you have picked up when it comes to demo reels? I'm looking at a bunch of articles on what to include, but I thought I would ask the community if there was anything they thought was work mentioning.

Neox

are you an animator? or vfx artist? if you are "just" a modeller you dont need a reel. just get an artstationaccount

PixelMasher

yea....Tip #1: unless you are an animator or FX artist, dont have a demo reel. no one is spending the time to watch model turnarounds or environment flythroughs. A few clear images of your work on artstation will go a lot further. Modeling demo reels belong back in 2002. 

tip #2: if you are an animator and need a demo reel, avoid adding any crazy music to it/having it autoplay. The demo reels ive loaded up with screamo death metal or intense techno music that in no way matches the content being shown just makes me cringe....hard.

tip 3: assume people are only going to watch 5-10 seconds of it unless the content is really engaging so avoid having a ton of title screens with fades between them that just waste time and have people exiting the video before even seeing art. Put the visuals first right out the gate, with your best work first.

and please, use youtube to host the video, 3rd party video plugins or whatever will only hold you back, no one is installing codecs to watch  a random demo reel. 

garcellano

Maybe this is different now, but have your 2nd best piece start the demo reel, your best piece in the middle, and 3rd at the end.
This is a thing I remember hearing for Graphic Design portfolio, lol, so it might be different, BUT, this can carry through in a demo reel.

Jonas Ronnegard

I don't know the rules on this, but in response to Garcellano, when I had to check reels for recruitment I would just turn it off if the first thing they showed was below standard, so I would put your best stuff first.

Eric Chadwick

Your Portfolio Repels Jobs
Still very relevant

Also
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio