You’re awesome, but we need to see examples of your work!
It is always good to keep your showreel short, sharp and sweet; starting and ending with your strongest work. It is far better to leave your audience wanting more, than for them to be bored and fast forwarding. 2 minutes is more than enough; we have seen fantastic reels from professionals with over 20 years experience that are as short as 60 seconds.
Your best work, and only that. Mediocre work will always drag the better material down. Think about what is relevant to the job you are applying for.
If you have more than 1 discipline we suggest you have a separate reel to showcase each area.
Show it to someone whose opinion you trust and who knows what they are talking about, and try to consider their criticism objectively.
A soundtrack should complement the vision, and not dominate or distract. Some people will turn off the sound when viewing a reel, but you should assume they will listen and you should do your best to sell your work with the soundtrack, and not to show what great taste you have in an obscure musical form!
Always have an accompanying shot breakdown which outlines your contribution and the software used. Alternatively you can use titles onscreen during your reel to indicate this. Be sure the titles are clear but do not distract from the visuals.
For security reasons there are certain sites we are unable to access, such as Google drive and Dropbox. The most convenient way for us to view demo reels is through Vimeo and YouTube. Increasingly people have websites where we can access all of their material, this makes it easy for us!
Variety of styles is key for all of the departments as our projects are not always in the same style.
Below are some suggestions of what you could include in your reel/portfolio. Of course if you are applying for an advertised role make sure you are providing materials requested, as specified in the job ad.
Concept
– Examples from your sketchbook
– Characters: biped and quadrupeds
– Environment: organic and hard surface
– Props
– ‘Moments’
– Mood boards
– Range of motion examples
Storyboard/Layout/Previz
– Timing, composition, movement through shots
– Whole sequences – see how separate shots work together to make a sequence work
– Camerawork – variety of industry lenses
– Final shot – is it consistent with the original?
– It is common to have 3 windows onscreen – storyboard animatic in one, Layout in another and final shot in the third.
Modelling
– Reference material (concept or photo)
– Characters – biped and quadrupeds
– Environment – organic and hard surface
– Props
– Wire frames
– Turntables
– If possible your character/environment model in a finished shot
Rigging
– Characters: biped and quadrupeds
– Mechanical
– Facial rigs
– The rig (sped up)
– The rig animated
– Python scripts
Look Development (Surfacing)/Grooming
– Realistic/photo real
– Reference material (concept or photo)
– Turntables
– Characters
– Environments: organic and hard surface
– UVs
– Realistic grooming
– Shading
Tracking
– Original plate
– Digital markers/stabilised plate
– Final shot with integrated CG
Animation
– Realistic animation
– “Cartoony” animation
– Biped and quadrupeds
– Acting piece: subtle, includes lip synch
– Action work
– Creature performance: includes lip sync
– Process reel
– Leave out the music, especially if you have lip sync
FX
– Realistic FX
– Simulation
– Particles
– Rigid body dynamics
– Fluids/water sim
– In situ so we can see the scale is correct
– Character FX: cloth and fur
– Tools
Lighting
– Character lighting: furry, human, feathered
– FX lighting
– Environment lighting
– Day and night
– Exterior and interior
– All moving images, no stills
Matte Painting
– Realistic work
– Projection work
– Layers
– Original plate
– Finished shot
Roto/Compositing
– Original plates
– Layers
– Final shot
– Set extensions/environments
– CG character/creature shots
– FX heavy shots
Generalist
– Compilation of your best work
– Separate reels for each discipline