Aqua Vivus Productions Mograph Reel

[Thomas J. O'Hara]

I made my first After Effects Reel - check it out, leave some constructive criticism if you wish. :smile:

http://vimeo.com/4036716

[oneinfiniteloop]

Here are my thoughts ... it's too long. You sit on shots for too long and it gets uninteresting really quick. You should only use the exciting/cool/visually interesting parts of each piece. Show something that is cool and show it quick. Keep it exciting, this is where less is more. I don't want to see something that I see everyone else do, I want to see something that is exciting. I just cut a reel the other day for fun and it ended up being about 47 seconds long. I have a decent body of work and could have made it much longer, but I cut it in a way to keep it exciting and to make sure people watch it.

Which leads me to my next point, the music. Granted, music is a matter of taste, but the way you cut to music can be measured to a degree. Song choice will go a long way as to making your reel exciting. I generally try to find something that has lots of changes, or something unique about it, so that I can keep the energy levels up. Length and song go hand in hand so when you have something like Coldplay (which I like as much as the next) it can drag a bit.

And finally, it all depends on what you're trying to do with your reel. If they goal is to get work, then you obviously want the most amount of people to watch it, which is where my criticism comes from. If it's merely for personal gain or something else then there are no such goals.

[Thomas J. O'Hara]

Here are my thoughts ... it's too long. You sit on shots for too long and it gets uninteresting really quick. You should only use the exciting/cool/visually interesting parts of each piece. Show something that is cool and show it quick. Keep it exciting, this is where less is more. I don't want to see something that I see everyone else do, I want to see something that is exciting. I just cut a reel the other day for fun and it ended up being about 47 seconds long. I have a decent body of work and could have made it much longer, but I cut it in a way to keep it exciting and to make sure people watch it.

Which leads me to my next point, the music. Granted, music is a matter of taste, but the way you cut to music can be measured to a degree. Song choice will go a long way as to making your reel exciting. I generally try to find something that has lots of changes, or something unique about it, so that I can keep the energy levels up. Length and song go hand in hand so when you have something like Coldplay (which I like as much as the next) it can drag a bit.

And finally, it all depends on what you're trying to do with your reel. If they goal is to get work, then you obviously want the most amount of people to watch it, which is where my criticism comes from. If it's merely for personal gain or something else then there are no such goals.

Thanks for your feedback - I'm definitely trying to get work with this! I'm applying for a job at the moment, and it's about time to give them some links to my portfolio...any specific shots or is it the whole thing?

[oneinfiniteloop]

I just watched it again, well, most of it again. For example, the first shot, you could cut that down a bit, it's almost 9 seconds long. Maybe do jump cut after that first camera move down to a little closer then jump cut again to the lady in the window. The next shot too, you don't need all that text stuff in there, the cool part of that is the cartoon b&w girl walking, so just show that and get on with it. Also, work more with the beat of the music. Right now your cut doesn't really go with it. That song has a strong beat on the one so you can always use that as a driving pace until you get to the vocals.

What I usually do is find the song I like then edit it down to the part I want, sometimes chopping bits out in between or adding different parts to each other. Again, length is key, no one will sit down and watch that whole 3:21 reel. Hell, for artists I admire and are the best of the best, I usually won't sit through a reel that long unless it's super good or I'm specifically looking for something. With yours, we've kinda seen everything by 1:30 in, so after that it's just filler. I'd much rather see something really good that's only 30 seconds long rather than something just mediocre that's 3 minutes longs. If you want I can post a link to my reel to show you how I applied some of these things, I just don't wanna hijack your thread or anything.

[green thumb]

I don't think that's hijacking his thread, it's just helping him out.

Okay, okay, maybe I just want to see your reel.

[oneinfiniteloop]

I don't think that's hijacking his thread, it's just helping him out.

Okay, okay, maybe I just want to see your reel.

I started a new thread (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=167686) to keep things on topic here.

[Thomas J. O'Hara]

I just watched it again, well, most of it again. For example, the first shot, you could cut that down a bit, it's almost 9 seconds long. Maybe do jump cut after that first camera move down to a little closer then jump cut again to the lady in the window. The next shot too, you don't need all that text stuff in there, the cool part of that is the cartoon b&w girl walking, so just show that and get on with it. Also, work more with the beat of the music. Right now your cut doesn't really go with it. That song has a strong beat on the one so you can always use that as a driving pace until you get to the vocals.

What I usually do is find the song I like then edit it down to the part I want, sometimes chopping bits out in between or adding different parts to each other. Again, length is key, no one will sit down and watch that whole 3:21 reel. Hell, for artists I admire and are the best of the best, I usually won't sit through a reel that long unless it's super good or I'm specifically looking for something. With yours, we've kinda seen everything by 1:30 in, so after that it's just filler. I'd much rather see something really good that's only 30 seconds long rather than something just mediocre that's 3 minutes longs. If you want I can post a link to my reel to show you how I applied some of these things, I just don't wanna hijack your thread or anything.

I understand what you're saying about getting just the "cool parts". I've gotten a few other opinions from artists who don't work in our field (musicians, narrative filmmakers, etc...) and they were engaged the whole time, they didn't feel the need to rush anything. It makes me wonder if we are so used to seeing awesome mograph reels, that our eyes see things differently and we get bored of stuff very quickly because we've "seen it all".

My biggest thing is that I want people to actually see my work...sometimes with those really fast paced demos I can't even see what's going on, so I don't expect someone else with untrained eyes to see it either. Perhaps things run at a different pace out here in San Diego than they do in NYC. :smile:

I'm pretty sure the job I'm applying for won't have any other motion graphic artists, since it's a video production / documentary job, which is why I would rather have a slower paced reel...but thanks for the comments, it's made me think about this stuff a lot!