Having a kick-ass showreel is the main thing that will get you hired in the animation industry. Yes, having the right contacts, experience, and resume will help to land your dream job, but your showreel is the thing that will get you noticed, and it tells recruiters that you can do everything they need for the job.
So what makes a good showreel? It is a question that gets asked at every animation conference, online Q&A's, and universities. This post will cover the information that I have gathered on my animation journey and is specific to 3D character animation.
Showreel Do's and Dont's.
The following information is from notes I took down at online Q&A's with my former Mentors, Shawn Kelly and David Tart at animationmentor.com.
Your first shot on your showreel has to be excellent; if you don't capture the recruiter's attention within 10 seconds, the recruiter will instantly put your work on the trash pile. It sounds brutal, but they need to sit through hundreds of reels every day, and if your first shot is just ok, they won't even bother looking at the rest of your work.
If your first shot is fantastic, you need to keep the viewer's attention and end the demo on a high, ideally something the recruiter will remember. Generally, the shot order should be your best shot first, your third-best shot should be second, and your second-best shot should be last.
For the actual content on your reel, you can do anything as long as it accomplishes a few basic things. The recruiter wants to know if you have a solid understanding of body mechanics, acting, you can demonstrate the 12 principles of animation and that you can tell a story through your shots.
Now, this question is up for debate, should I animate whatever I like on my reel? Or should I cater to my reel to the studio I want to work for? I have heard many different animators talk about this, and there seems to be two answers. Here is an example, some recruiters I spoke to at Move Summit in Edinburgh said if you want to work at Disney or Pixar, make your reel look like it could be in Moana or Toy Story, etc. However, some recruiters say they want to see reels that reflect your personality and showcase your own unique storytelling style. I showed one of my old reels to Bruce Wright, an effects animator and shorts director at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Bruce said that he likes to see unique shots that make you connect with the characters on an emotional level. He also mentioned that if he gets a reel that looks like any of the Disney movies, he throws them out; he said, " We want to evolve constantly. If we bring in artists that do our style, our films would never change, they would get stale and boring pretty quick". I would say I am with Bruce on this topic. However, I think some common sense is needed when you are applying to specific companies; I wouldn't send a reel full of zombies being decapitated to a studio that does pre-school animation. Use your brain!
The next bunch of tips are less obvious, but they will help increase your chances of recruiters watching your entire reel. The shorter the reel, the better; recruiters would rather see 1 minute of gold than 5 minutes of average. If you are an established animator with a few movies under your belt, you can make your reel a bit longer, but try to keep it under 3 minutes.
It can be tempting to put every animation you have ever done on your reel to show your progression, but if you put a bad shot on your reel, you may have just killed your chances of getting a job. My former mentor, Shawn Kelly, said, "You are only as good as the worst shot on your reel." He added, "If you put an average or lousy shot on your reel, it shows that you don't know what good animation is supposed to look like, and it will stop people from hiring you." If you have doubts about a shot, get rid of it, or fix it.
Here is an old reel that I used to have, don't judge me! As you can see, there is work in progress shots, dodgy animation and I don't have my contact info anywhere on my reel. Don't do this on your showreel, learn from my mistakes.
......and here is my current reel, as you can see I have removed some shots that I felt were not good enough to show, and my contact info has been added .
Your showreel needs to have a simple way of telling recruiters how they can get in contact with you, have your name and email big and clear at the start, or end of your reel for around 2 seconds. Don't make a big fancy motion graphic that takes 60 seconds to show your name and email address; it will just make the recruiter hate you, and they won't bother watching your reel.
Music is also important; if you are going to use music on your reel, choose something subtle, and make sure it does not distract from your animation. Also, make sure you don't have happy and upbeat music over a tragic death scene; it can completely kill your shot's mood and make all of your hard work seem useless.
My former mentor, David Tart, gave the most brutal piece of advice on demo reels. He said, "When you are fresh out of University or Animation School, don't apply to your dream job straight away because you won't be ready for Disney or Pixar." He added, "it can take animators several years of industry experience to get up Pixar standards, and when we see a name that we recognize that did not have a fantastic showreel, we don't bother watching them." He suggested that we apply to smaller studios, get some industry experience, and continue to work on personal shots in your own time before applying for your dream job. He said, "You need to continue working on your own shots when you are working in the industry because there is a chance that the show or movie you are working on will never see the light of day."
I have applied all of the advice given to me on my own showreel, and I think it is suitable for the skill level I am currently at. Work from my reel has been featured on the Animation Mentor social media sites. I have also had work shared on the Animation Minute hosted by Jean-Denis Haas, an animation supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic. I will continue to work on acting and dialogue shots as I feel this is the weakest part of my skill set at the moment.
Hopefully, you have found this information on showreels useful; it can be daunting sending out your personal work, but it is essential for getting a job. Get regular honest feedback from your peers, mentors, and industry professionals as much as you can, and keep on improving your work. You will get that dream job one day if you work hard at it.
All the best,
Marc
Comments