demo reel critiques?

[encity5]

Hey Guys,

just wanted to share an update to my reel: http://vimeo.com/6445292

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Hey guys i just put together a new demo reel (second one i made) and wanted your guys feedback on what can be beter/ what might u suggest replacing/ etc is it strong, stuff like that and any comments. im trying to get more professional (still an amateur/student) beggining to look for work. so all the criticism is appreciated!

Its a collection of (mostly) after effects motion graphics and some cinematography of short films i've done. (only selected ones that were shot in hdv)

http://vimeo.com/4324713

Thanks!

[barnapkins]

awesome.

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

I think it was pretty good. My only two comments would be to eliminate the live action edits, or really reduce them... or do something with AE for them. After all the AE stuff, having these live action sequences sort of slows the program down.

The other comment would be to have a final logo come up, rather than just sort of freeze frame on the last sequence.

Also... ok, three comments... get a domain name and an email address other than gmail.com... or similar 'freebee' email account.

[FilmBoy77]

Also... ok, three comments... get a domain name and an email address other than gmail.com... or similar 'freebee' email account.

man, i think this comment should be a law for everybody doing business, definitely agree with this. with your demo reel it'd come across a whole lot more like a business than a student if you had a domain attached to it. $10 a year brother come on, lol :)

other than that you're on your way. i'd hire you to do some stuff definitely...what are your rates?

[Deepfocus88]

Incredible motion graphics, I mean really impressive, but the live action video brings this reel to a crashing halt.

[encity5]

Hey Guys,

just wanted to share an update to my reel: http://vimeo.com/6445292

after some criticisms from my previous reel, it was suggested i make two reels for motion graphics and another for cinematography. So i updated my old reel to include mainly Motion graphics, so let me know what you guys think and any criticisms you have! thanks!

[medeamajic]

It looked good to me. Your hired : )

[Deepfocus88]

Ha haha, what he said. ^^

Reel is super sharp. You really seem to know what colors work together . Very pleasing to my eyes. And the music is complementary to the reel.

I just wish the term "mograph" would go bye-bye. I can't stand it!

[oneinfiniteloop]

I'm going to be blunt here since you're asking for constructive criticism...

First off, too long, I've seen it all 30 seconds in and after that you're just rehashing projects. You don't really have anything that warrants a second viewing. It's far better to have a killer :30 than a mediocre 1:16.

It looks like you have some technical chops, though the majority of your reel looks tutorial based. Nothing wrong with that per se, but you should take what you've learned and apply it to your own projects, make it your own. Obviously you don't have a lot of finished pieces since you kinda have a bunch of "JM" idents throughout and you reuse the same pieces. Now you should focus on making your own pieces with what you've learned.

You should also focus on the design aspect of things. You have a lot going on but it's all very trendy and I'm not sure you know why you're doing these things. Think through every aspect of a project, why are you using this type? What does this type reflect? How is it supposed to make people feel? Why am I moving this? What should this movement do to the viewer? Start asking a lot of questions about the "why". Right now you're just giving me a lot of fluff.

Learn up on your typography, it's easily the weakest aspect of your reel. Most of your type is kerned horribly and the rest are uninspired font choices. Really focus on learning the basics of type, design, etc. That stuff is far more important than looking like the latest MTV show open.

Also, study up on the basics on animation. Just because you can set two keyframes in AE doesn't mean you know anything about animation. Learn the 12 principles, they will guide you forever and they're created by the masters of animation from the Disney golden years. Observe things in real life, watch how things move. Watch everything move, then think about how to translate that movement to your animation. Think about how different types of movement implies different meanings. Right now most of your animation is very linear, point A to point B. That doesn't tell me anything and nothing in the real world moves like that. Things ease in an ease out, change pace/velocity, etc.

Say if you wanted something to move in a menacing manner, would that something move at the same speed? No, it would move rapidly, probably with staccato movements, making it hard for the eye to keep up and causing the viewer with a sense of worry/anticipation because they can't tell what's going to happen. Think about these things in your animation, it's really important.

Hopefully this helps.

[encity5]

Hey, havent checked out this thread in a bit.,

oneinfiniteloop:
Thanks for your criticism. You make plenty of good points, and I agree a lot more thought needs to be polished out in my projects before put into my reel.
Just want to respond to a few points, animation wise, for most of the projects in there, there are a lot of velocity changes outside the keyframes and plenty of ease ins and ease outs. If i know thats the case, then I think it might be in my editting where I dont highlight those movies as clearly in my reel. (as the thought process behind my editing was cut it short so I can leave the energy moving from shot to shot.
However, im NOT saying all my animation is organic and saying your wrong, Im just trying to address your claims and write out my thought process of how to showcase it better...

Also, you mentioned my reel looks tutorial base, which for me is slightly offending, just because I went through my reel closely after reading your criticism to figure out if or what tutorials this and that project couldve been influenced by. But for the most part all my pieces (in the reel) have been ideas I've come up with for projects / or my own experimenting.
I'm not one to say your thoughts are invalid, and personally I think the "tutorial" feel you mention might have come from not polsihing my projects to an acceptable level.

Sincerly however i appreciate your response, theres always a certain level of work I try to achieve, criticisms like these really push me and my mind more on how can i make it to that level of polish and professionalism. And address that with my current body of work.