Demo reel, critique needed homies

los

hey just finished up work on my new reel, nothings finalized so I'm completely open to suggestions

Critiques appreciated...



www.polyism.com/demoreel/finaltest.mov

Edit- Cut number dos
www.polyism.com/demoreel/finaltest2.mov
-los

Rick Stirling

I haven't even seen it all yet, and I'm already bored with the first model. It's good, but it doesn't seem to stop! Multiple spins and slow spins.

Now, Pancho starts great - showing key points with nice zooms and quick snaps. Better, but inconsistant with the first model

Then you bring in a third character, but unlike the first 2, you didn't introduce it. Again, inconsistent.

Nice models and textures though.

EarthQuake

Yep yep, gotta agree with rick, it also seems too low res to actually tell any detail or read any of the text you put in.

MoP

First off, really great models and textures, I like them all. Poses are nifty too (although the crowbar + mask guy could maybe seem a bit more aggressive?).

I agree with Rick - the pacing and consistency of this is slightly off.

Why is most of the first 12 seconds just blank, black space? Have your name and contact info displayed right from the start, with a bigger, clearer font. Keep that up for 4-5 seconds, then go straight into the models.

Instead of prefacing each model with it's own little title screen, why not just put the model name and polygon count in the top left, in the empty space left by the rotation? Saves time, and leaves the info there to be available if the viewer glances away for a second, as they'd miss it at the moment.

Don't spend so long showing off each one - a single spin around the wireframe is fine, the slow-mo ones just seemed unnecessary to me. Maybe show the close-ups only for the textured versions, not the wireframes.

Drop the "action pose" quick flashing shots of Pancho, I know I'm disagreeing with Rick here, but I think they're just too fast and snappy to actually get any visual information out of them - either make each one last a little longer, or drop them completely. I want to check out your models and textures, not get surprised by separate images flashing up quickly.

The rest is pretty good ... I'd say just work on the pace and consistency, cut anything out that isn't absolutely necessary.

Great work, keep it up - hope your reel gets you in somewhere nice

los

sweet, great critiques guys. much appreciated.
I'll Definetly work on all that stuff
-mult. spins
-blank space
-consistency though out reel.

its nice to get a fresh set of eyes to look at it.
thanks again
-los

EDIT- I forgot to ask, How was the timing with the music, did it seem to match up correctly?

Rick Stirling

I listened with no sound. Demo reel sound is a touchy subject.

MoP

Ehh, I didn't notice any "matching up" ... just sounded like an ambient drum rhythm in the background to me. Not too bad - I think most people watching a demo reel probably prefer it with no music, since it's likely they'll have their own on, or will want to talk over the top of it. I'd just leave the sound out, myself. You could do worse, though - at least it wasn't some crappy pumping techno beat that'd just piss people off

los

lol, I tryed timing the cuts with the beats, guess it didnt work out

That explains the inconsistency, When I turn the music down, It looks worse I think.

maybe I should just X the music and do something more consistent then.
-los

aesir

Techinally, you have good models and textures. Nothing that I found really amazing, but it was solid work none the less.

However, your presentation was definitely lacking. Try placing your models on little textured pedestals. Concrete for the mugger, dirt for the cowboy, etc. I've always thought it looks much better when a character is grounded. Next, would it be possible for you to give the characters a little idle animation as we panned around them? I dont know if you have any animating ability... but it would help them look more alive. As others have already mentioned, the cuts could use work, the spinning went on too long, and the quick action poses with the cowboy looked a bit rough (although it was a cool idea. needs better cuts). Your lighting could also be a bit more interesting if you worked at it a bit.

Overall, it has some decent work in it, but i just found it boring... Still, not too hard for you to fix up

Rhinokey

good work, i konda like how it matched up with the music, tho i think standardizing the way you show things off would really help, do them all with the method you used for pancho,
i gave the link to the lead character guy here at mythic, hope you don't mind.

los

RhinoKey- I dont mind at all man.

well after listen to all your critiques I made a different version(not the last either), swapped the order of characters, made faster, and I added texture maps. I think my 2D section needs some more attention though.

I think tommorrow Ill do the characters the same method as the pancho character, with the quick cuts and then Ill leave out the extreme close up.

enough rambling heres my update, Its still rouugh timing wise but, here it is anyway.

www.polyism.com/demoreel/finaltest2.mov

again all your critiques are appreciated
-los

Cubik

3D:
Ok, first you need to find another compression method. The text is almost unreadable and the pixel noise doesn't do your work justice. I think the spins are way too fast, and I'm not sure that zooms are necessary at all. I wouldn't zoom the textures, instead just leave them at full size for a few seconds. Not sure if you need to show the unwraped wires either, those just takes up screenspace that you can use for the textures. The masked bandit got some weird framerate issues on the wired and the textured version. I would rethink the black border that you have used around the picture too, since you haven't used it in any of the other scences. Personally, I would have redone all spins until they look the same as Pancho for consistency.

2D:
The same critique as with the textures. Why do you have zoom in on them? I feel it's very distracting and I can't get a good look at your art in a decent size before it's wrenched away and replaced by the next picture.

As a final suggestion: if you really want to keep the music, do two versions. I got a ton of weird "bzzzztt" sound that I can only think is unwanted noise, and it's quite distracting.

los

cubuik thanks dude, I'll work stuff that stuff up.
the compression is a non issue for me right now because this is just a rough cut, something that I could render pretty quickly and throw on the net for suggestions on the timing, speed,concsistency, and other stuff. Not worried about compression atm.
Ill work a copy with no zooms on the 2D and textures. and stuff.

what do you think about the order of the characters being shown?

all you guys have been quite helpful. thanks again cant stress that enough.

-los
www.polyism.com/demoreel/finaltest2.mov