Animator in a world of Modlers
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howdy gang!
I'm a long time fan of the forums and have finally put together something for everyone else to look at too.
Check it out at -
http://www.mattlefferts.com/DemoReel.html
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howdy gang!
I'm a long time fan of the forums and have finally put together something for everyone else to look at too.
Check it out at -
http://www.mattlefferts.com/DemoReel.html
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Replies
Good to see some more animators infiltrating our ranks.
this rocks though, not more than a couple hours old and I have responses.
it's what I love about this place, great feedback.
Just one comment (actually, kind of for my own benefit as well), but is it not best to pick a specialty and try to get a job with it for your reel? You're trying to sell yourself as an animator, modeler, and game designer (though I didn't see anything for game design other than you naming yourself a game designer). I've always been told I should pick one specialty and stay with it. In this case say, there's not enough modeling to get you a modeling job, so it just takes up time in the reel.
Am I misinformed on this, or is this for the most part true?
Good looking stuff.
Just one comment (actually, kind of for my own benefit as well), but is it not best to pick a specialty and try to get a job with it for your reel? You're trying to sell yourself as an animator, modeler, and game designer (though I didn't see anything for game design). I've always been told I should pick one specialty and stay with it. (In this case say, there's not enough modeling to get you a modeling job, so it just takes up time in the reel.)
Am I misinformed on this, or is this for the most part true?
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thats what i've been told too. if you're applying for a job i heard its best to completly focus your demo reel toward that subject... why would they want to see your animating skills if you're applying for an environmetal artist. although i would also like to hear others thoughts about this.
The beginning splash with your name and contact info can be shorter. Go ahead and make that email address a big larger too.
The first shot with the spinning kick, it looks like the blue guy is a little too slow in his aerial spin. It should be more snappy, maybe put more emphasis on his anticipation before the jump. At the height of his kick, extend his right arm for a more dynamic pose. Right now the kick looks a little stiff and powerless.
The second shot - this one is strange. After the guy gets hit in head and starts getting up, he looks really strange with that blank facial expression. He should at least be blinking since he just got hit in the head. Maybe some anticipation befoe he gets hit would be nice - like he sees the object coming at him and he panics. When he gets up, he should be leading with his head. I don't know if you are going for some robotic, Frankenstein type character, but having his head swivel in last doesn't look right to me.
Third shot - the guy's leap over to the other guy looks odd, but you cut away too fast for me to really figure out why. This could be a cool shot if you added a little more fighting to it. It's over before I could get interested in it.
Shots with the dog - Pretty nice. Maybe give the dog a little more quickness and bounce. This is your best stuff, IMO.
The shots with old man are nice. I don't know if you should cut back and forth between the dog stuff and this guy. At least keep the old man stuff together, because he's kinda strange and cool and I'd like to focus on his movements instead of being distracted by cuts. His punching movements are weak, more follow through would sell them better, especially after the second punch.
The silo isn't very interesting, animation wise. I'd leave this off your reel.
The model at the end - it's an interesting way to show off a model, but I feel still images with wires and such would be better.
Another thing, your may want to change your music choice. Lyrics on a demo reel are a no no because when interested employers watch your reel, they might watch it muliple times, and hearing the same lyrics over and over is distracting. I muted your reel while evaluating it.
It's a solid reel overall but I think you're missing 2 to 3 extra shots to really sell your skills. Hope that helps.
Great stuff all the same and good luck when applying for jobs.
-caseyjones
like i said, looks really clean, just a couple of spots i would pretty up a bit.
keep it up
The tips and thoughts have been so excellent, lots of things I hadn't thought of and all. I'm takin them to heart.
Some crits/comments:
Shot1:
Blue guy has a few timing issues as someone else mentioned, he is a bit slow in the air which is fine for a cartoony character but it looks like you are trying for realism with this shot. When his foot connects there isnt much of an impact as his leg is very extended on the actual contact and the body is already quite far over, you could exaggerate this a lot to make it look really powerful and still have it looking realistic. When he steps down his leg is very bent at the moment which takes away from the weight of the animation, maybe have him kick, pull back and then step down.
Shot2:
Impact and landing look ok for a cartoony character but the getting up is a bit weird, there is no much movement where there doesnt need to be - try getting some reference for this if you can, if you sit down and stand up you would always be facing forwards as there is little reason to actually turn right around, as someone else mentioned the head turning is a little jarring at the end as well
Shot3:
As this is a silhouette (spelling?) the poses need to be really strong as they are the main focus, some of these could be made a lot stronger by exaggerating more, and the weight isnt coming across very well. For instance before the jump the back leg comes off the floor before the bodies weight has shifted - in reality the guy would fall on his ass so you could shift the weight over first, have it move over and down so he can really spring off into a nice pose
Shot4:
Yeah doggy is easily the best on the reel at the moment and shows some real character, good stuff
The section with the guy walking away could use some better timing as the guys legs/feet look quite floaty at the moment and could use some extra weight
Shot5:
Some kind of idle? This really isnt up to the quality of the rest so I would remove this
Red guy is waaaay too busy looking at the moment so he doesnt read very well, there is so much extra movement going on. I would go back and clean him up a bit, delete all the keys you dont need and try to be a bit more subtle with the movement - the impact on him is nice though
Silo:
I'd remove this as the reel seems mainly focuses as a character animation reel, you want your work to show off a) weight b) timing c) strong poses, and the silo doesnt show any of those so scrap it!
Amazon:
This seems quite out of place on an animation reel so I would remove it from there. If you really want to show off your modelling skills as well, I would make a seperate reel to show the modelling and send that along as well.
Hope the crits help, I'm not trying to be harsh - just giving a few pointers.
As a general rule of thumb people put their best work first on the reel - if a potential employer is looking and has a million different reels to look at the first impression means everything, so I would shift it around a bit and put the dog first, then the kick, then the silhouette / stand up.
Also you should mention on the actual reel itself at the end which models were yours and which are premade rigs as some people may get a link to just the .mov file and wont see the info you have on the page.
I think you could use a few more pieces to really make the reel pop, some kind of demonstration of lipsync would be nice - best example of your talent would be some acting with a character to dialogue and this will really sell your reel
Oh and congratulations on not having a techno pumping soundtrack on there - that bugs the hell out of me with reels
- good luck!
Anyways love your reel, but one thing that really sticks out is the 2nd shot of the blue guy being hit by a ball, its fine up until he gets back up and does that really awkward turn.
Mebe try start the motion from the hips instead?
Frettchen thanks for all the pointers man, I have been hearing overall the same stuff from other people posting so that is a good sign that I'm on the right track and now know what to improve. The impression that I'm getting is that it's just about there, which is good, gives me hope
I'm going to work on these and repost them as they progress.
I have gotten alot out of the comments from everybody. Thanks gang.
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