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A DEMO REEL PRIMER
Written by Zero Dean

What is a demo reel for?

A demo reel is essentially a sales tool. You are selling yourself and proving, to an extent, what sort of positive addition you will be to a company. If you can prove you've got oodles of talent and a creative way of thinking about things, your demo reel will get you noticed. If it is exceptionally good, it's your doorway into the industry.

Who is your audience?

Your audience, obviously, is comprised of those people you want to work for. The thing is, you're not alone. Many, many people want and have tried to get the same job you are applying for. These demo watchers have seen countless reels and guess what, they're tired of seeing the same things over and over again. If you think your 3 minute flying logo is going to win you a job, you better consider it very carefully before putting it on your reel. These people are not obligated to watch your entire reel. If they're dissatisfied, they will hit EJECT and move on, possibly missing your Oscar(tm) worthy animation later in the reel.

What to put on a demo reel SECTION A (general):

Only your best, most amazing work ever. This stuff has to be the best thing since pizza. If you can do it all (model, render, and animate), do it all! You'll earn points for this. Companies are looking for people who can wear many hats and accept many responsibilities. You need to capture their attention and show them you're more than up to the challenge of working in a creative (and crazy) environment like theirs. You want to not only show them you're up to it, you want to show them it'll be a breeze for you.

What to put on a demo reel SECTION B (specific):

You need to get as many strong points across to your audience visually, in as little time as possible. You need to capture their attention, draw them in, and make them forget for an instant that they are watching a demo reel. This can be quite difficult unless you a great deal of vision and a really good story to tell. Currently a lot of business are looking for excellent character animators. You need to bring an object to life, give it a voice, an attitude, "CHARACTER", and have it tell a story. Be fresh, creative, and original (I can't stress that enough). Also, there is a demand for artists who are good at creating low polygon count models. If you have specific skills you want to show off and can, such as adding actual paintings you've created in the real world into a 3d environment, then do it. You are trying to earn as many points as possible. A well rounded artist is always appreciated.

What not to put on a demo reel SECTION A:

Probably whatever you are most likely to think about putting on your demo reel first, is the sort of thing you want to stay away from at all costs. You may think you're being original, but believe it or not, everyone else thinks their name or company logo looks cool flying around the screen too. How about spaceships? They're cool, to be sure...but if you're a demo watcher and that's all you see day in and day out, you're probably dying to see something else. Also, with whatever objects you include in your animation, make sure they are decorated (textured) in the best way possible. Most things in the real world are not shiny and new. Instead they are dented, beat up, scratched, or flawed in some unusual way. Prove your texturing skills by creating your own complex custom textures and make your models even more interesting to look at.

Realize that your audience has seen just about every basic transition and effect out there. These are the things that are only one click away in whatever program you're using. You need to be different and your effects need to be hard won. If it can be done from a simple pull down menu, it's probably not doing to impress them. You need to stand out from the rest of the pack.

What not to put on a demo reel SECTION B (exceptions):

Of course there are exceptions to everything in the computer graphics and animation industry. If the job you are applying for is going to require specific skills, such as flying logos or spaceship battles, then by all means gear your demo reel in that direction. However, if you are going to be applying to a wide variety of jobs, it is best to have something that will appeal and look absolutely amazing to everyone.

How do I create a good demo reel?

Sit, plan, make-up, cross out, plan some more, think, cross out, make up, and then get to work. A good method is to think about what your strengths are and then think about the most effective and entertaining way possible to get those strengths across on screen. Then sit and think about every aspect of what you want to do and storyboard it out. Understand what every scene is going to involve, how long it's going to take, what sort of resources you'll need to accomplish it, and if everything you want to do is really possible. And if it's not possible, how you're going to look that obstacle in the eyes and say "up yours, I'm doing it anyway".

What does a good demo reel look like?

Many companies have their own reels which you could probably arrange to get a hold of. Contact these places and see if they will send you one. If these are places you would like to work for, then pay close attention to the sort of things they do. Otherwise, I suggest checking out many cool animation tapes currently on the market. Look for "The Mind's Eye" series by SMV or "Computer Animation Festival" series also by SMV. Watch the tapes, be inspired, and then think about how you could have done it better...and then do something else, since what you're thinking about doing has already been done. Remember, be original. If you want to do something that's been done before, do it differently (if that makes sense).

Things to remember!

Put your best stuff first. You want to grab your audience's attention as soon as possible. Give credit where credit is due. If you didn't do something, say so. Also, specify the tools you used to create your demo reel.
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Lincoln sport picture

<P><FONT size=2>Wow thanx a lot aatur for that "took me half-hour" reader. m sure this will not only help the noobs but even expericend people have a better presentation.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>cheers!!</FONT></P>

woah!!!!!!!!!man that was a massive report on demo reel<IMG src="smileys/smiley32.gif" border="0">........thnx aatur......i dont know from where u get all this stuff.......neways thnx and i wouldnt be putting our beta short ani.&nbsp;thing till gets complete and aired.....lol.....i hope that short wud help me get into some studio.......

<P>Hey Aatur,</P>
<P>The article is very informative and its worth appreciating that u find such stuff n post it here so that so many others can benefit.</P>
<P>Even i have an experience which i wud like to share...i met the production head of an advertising agency once...He was eager and open to having freshers at their studio, provided....(the main thing)..the demoreel had to be very very impressive...he said that i hav to put my best in the reel....So i started planning..<IMG src="smileys/smiley14.gif" border="0"></P>
<P>the very first para of above ...Where Oren Jacob has written...The work that you put on a demo reel entirely depends upon the work that you are trying to get. If you applying for a jobs as a character animator, put character animation on your reel. Create a story. Compel your audience. Make them laugh or make them cry, but evoke some kind of emotion or response</P>
<P>I liked that the most....Animation is about acting it out n making our characters believeable.</P>
<P>The field that all of us here have chosen is a vast n beautiful world and i think that our demoreel is the key to open the door to this amazing world of Animation.<IMG src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0"></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>

<P>Hello sir,</P>
<P> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n bsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This is satish kumar and i am realy very impressed by ur view regarding the Show reel ,I will keep this in my mind forever till i will b in this field.<IMG src="smileys/smiley31.gif" border="0"></P>

great thread man... aatur thanks a lot for this <IMG src="smileys/smiley32.gif" border="0">

<P>hi aatur that's great. this will healp me out a lot.</P>
<P>thanks buddy.<IMG src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0"><IMG src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0"><IMG src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0"></P>

<P>hey aatur, grt stuffs , very informative.... very usefull.</P>
<P>thnx dude.</P>
<P>keep pouring...</P>
<P>regds</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>

The article was very informative, but as i noticed was oriented to modelers and primarily towards animators.
what about lighting and rendering artist? what am i supposed to put in a demo reel ??

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DEMO REELS : PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Written by Oren Jacob

About the Author:

Oren Jacob is a Senior Technical Director at Pixar. He has been with the company for more than six years now and has worked on numerous award winning commercials like Listerone "Arrows", "Mission", and "Jungle", Levi's "Khakis", and Hallmark "Magnet". He has also worked on many commercials that did not win any awards, but his mother still loves him. Oren did quite a lot of lighting and special effects work on the chase sequence in Toy Story, creating the smoke contrail effects and assembling the overhead helicopter shots of a suburbia that was a little too much like the one that he grew up in. More recently, Oren finished a new THX logo for LucasFilm, taught the first Pixar University, a 10 week, intensive training program for newly hired technical directors, and is now a Senior Technical Director on the Toy Story Sequel.

*Disclaimer*: These are the personal views of Oren Jacob. These are not the views of his employer. The following text has no relationship with how his employer as a company, anyone who works there, or anyone else for that matter, feels about this particular topic. This text may not be used or reprinted, in whole or in part, without permission.

DEMO REELS: A word or two from Oren Jacob

The work that you put on a demo reel entirely depends upon the work that you are trying to get. If you applying for a jobs as a character animator, put character animation on your reel. Create a story. Compel your audience. Make them laugh or make them cry, but evoke some kind of emotion or response. Almost always, any robot, spaceship, chrome teapot, checkerboard floor stuff will get you ejected as fast as the reviewer can reach the button on the front of the VCR, unless you do something really, really, really creative with that material. And I don't suspect that all of you out there are Chuck Jones or Tex Avery, so pick your subject away from the typical Siggraph palette of tired examples.

If, on the other hand, you are applying for a job as, say, a lighting TD, then show some lighting in your shots. Have some bright regions, dark regions, transitions in between, focus the viewers eye, lead them around the frame, demonstrate a sense of density balance, color balance, and good taste. Maybe if you can pull off an excellent looking frame that violates every single one of these things, then do that too. But just do not submit a flat shaded, poly render of some wizard staring at a point light which happens to be embedded in a flickering candle with tons of ambient filling the scene all around.

Maybe a good suggestion for people who don't know what to do with a reel like this is to imagine that you are putting on a theatrical play. You are the person walking around up there in the cat walk and you can point all of those clever lights with colored gels toward the stage to create an aesthetically pleasing experience for the audience. Just remember to not throw each of the 16,000,000 colors available to you into the picture and thereby totally distract the audience from what they should be getting out of the image. Go buy a book on cinematography and buy a book on black and white still photography. In fact, why don't you include some real photographs in your reel. Show us stuff that wasn't done on a computer. Big points for this. And sketches. Reviewers always love to touch and hold things. Send us pretty pictures.

And, let's say that you are applying for a job as a modeling TD. Then, show us your models. Do not hide every shot in really dark lighting so that we can't see anything. You're applying for a job as a modeler, not a bad lighter. You probably don't want to pretend that you are an animator and try animating your model so that is just ends up looking epileptic. If you do that, then not only can we not see your model but we also know that we're not going to forward your reel to the animators. Just build some cool stuff, render it sensibly - maybe even light it well - and show it off. Give us a few seconds per model to let our eyes understand the image. And you probably want to show several kinds of models. Organic, living shapes. Hard edged, manufactured objects. And all manner of things in between.

In all cases, do not put on some completely lame, Art Of Noise, 1987, super-duper, agro, around-the-world remix of something on the audio track dubbed so loud that the clipping causes the speakers on our televisions to go into a seizure. Every other reel for the past decade has used this kind of techno-garbage. Now, while I may or may not actually like that music when I'm listening at my house, using that kind of stuff on a reel only just pisses everyone off in the review session. Enya can be pretentious but if the images that you are showing are a match, then you could get away with that. Classical music tends to be soothing. Big Band music (highly recommended...) is exciting, robust, and a little zesty. All I'm saying here is search beyond the techno section at your CD store and find something unique. Gregorian Chant? Moroccan? Maybe subtle Japanese string instruments? Just no more techno stuff, please.

And always include a credit list explaining what you did, shot by shot, or model by model, so that the reviewers don't immediately ask "Did s/he do that all by her/himself? No way.. give them a call." And, this is particularly true of folks who work on large group projects like, say, a film effects job.

Don't just lump every single shot from the film that your company worked on in the reel. When we review two reels that come from a company that worked on a show like this, we all immediately ask "I wonder why those two folks put all the same shots on their reel and didn't include a credit list with their resume?" Just avoid this situation entirely and put a credit list with your reel.

And, above all else, more important than anything mentioned previously, do not ever, ever, ever show stuff that you are not allowed to show. If you are working on a film and it hasn't come out yet, NEVER NEVER NEVER put this on your reel. Besides the obvious legal debacle that you are bringing upon yourself, besides the high probability that you will get fired immediately, and besides the overall stupidity of this concept, you will never, never, never get hired.

A few additional thoughts...

Overall, be creative. Be original. And put something on your tape that makes me want to watch it. Draw me in. Compel me in some interesting way. Try and do something that hasn't been seen at Siggraph in the past few years. And have fun doing it. If you really want to make space ships fly, go ahead and make a better space battle than the one in A New Hope. But your odds of success against a mark set that high are, well, not very good in my humble opinion. You probably aren't a better director than Lucas and if you were that good executing effects sequences, you are probably already working in the industry anyway.

I should point out that there are companies that do look for folks who can execute space ship battles copied from films and TV shows. If you are applying for a job in those sectors of the industry, then this email sort of doesn't apply to you because your job will be to make space ships fly through star fields. If that is the case, then disregard everything I've said.

I should also point out that it can really help to tailor the work on your reel to the company that you want to work for. ILM, Disney, Digital Domain, PDI, BlueSky, Pixar, Rhythm&Hues, Sony, and others all do different kinds of work. If you want to work for one of those companies in particular, then it can help to submit a reel that deals with some of the issues that the various companies deal with.
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History of bmw

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DEMO REELS : PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Written by Robert Skiena

About the Author:

Robert Skiena...(info when available)

*Disclaimer*: These are the personal views of Robert Skiena. These are not the views of his employer. The following text has no relationship with how his employer as a company, anyone who works there, or anyone else for that matter, feels about this particular topic. This text may not be used or reprinted, in whole or in part, without permission.

DEMO REELS: Some thoughts on Demo Reels by Robert Skiena

Show both quality and variety.

I don't think that it is possible to rule out any one genre, except 1 space ship flying through space. If you have 3-5 minutes of QUALITY work, that says a lot about you to potential employers.

You will be judged primarily on the worst part of your reel, not the best, so don't stick any crap on your tape. Depending on what you want to eventually end up doing, tailor your reel to that. Know ye well that the fastest route to employment is a tape that shows you can animate a character in a somewhat classical style and give him or her definitive personality. Realistic motion is nice, but animation is not necessarily realistic motion. Exaggeration and the other aspects of classical animation should be applied.

Lastly, realize that the people who will be watching this reel will be seeing probably dozens of other, mostly horrid, reels. Make yours stand out, but not by adding "flash" (lens flares, sparkly effects, frontal nudity), but by actually trying to make your tape as enjoyable to watch as possible. Nice, COMPLETE stories show that you can actually follow a job through to the end -- just make sure that your stories are well-edited and tight. Don't have long spaces of dead air on your tape, as that's boring to watch and would make people (me, anyway) question what your tolerances for quality and pride in your work are.

[Demo Reel: Telling a good story]

I actually attended a "trade school" for CG in Vancouver, but in my previous life I held a BA in English from a respected East Coast American University and made my way as a writer in New York City (and it is well established that if you can make it there you can, well, you know. . .). I learned the elements of story from a different perspective than many people in this industry, so my reactions to your [demo reel] question may not be the norm, but here goes.

Your basic story has three elements: a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. Before you roll your eyes at this (oops, too late) it is basic concept that many people don't consciously recognize.

Beginning - Introduction to who, what, when, where, why, how of the story. Essentially set-up time for the story.

Middle - The meat of the story. This is where everything happens that leads up to the climax of the tale.

End - Well, what do you think happens here?, The story is wrapped up (usually) and concluded.

Dull lecture time is now over. If you're trying to make short animated piece, and you're LOOKING for a story, then I wish you luck. The best story ideas have always just come to me, although I am always on the lookout for them.

[Rob Skiena on building a story]

I think it depends upon what the function of the piece is going to be. If you're trying to create a demo reel to try and get a job, I would try to start with a character in a situation, but if you're trying to win an Oscar(tm) then you may want to try and center around a concept. In trying to find ideas, though, I think the easiest way to go about it is to come up with a character and then come up with a situation (example, an insecure fish trying to learn how to swim.) If you define the character before creating the story, the story will almost write itself, since the character is essentially reacting to the situation.

DEMO REELS : PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Written by Beverly Garland

About the Author:

Beverly Garland was Art Director at Titanic Entertainment at the time this was written. Prior to that she was employed at Origin, as a 3D Artist/Animator for almost three years ("Privateer," "Ultima VIII"), and an Art Director ("Crusader: No Remorse") for another two years.

*Disclaimer*: These are the personal views of Beverly Garland. These are not the views of her employer. The following text has no relationship with how her employer as a company, anyone who works there, or anyone else for that matter, feels about this particular topic. This text may not be used or reprinted, in whole or in part, without permission.

DEMO REELS: A Top 10 by Beverly Garland

If you're interested in the exploding Computer Games market, they have plenty of room for good animators. In my former life, I helped screen hundreds of demo reels for a game company called Origin, so here are some suggestions for what an Art Director might be looking for in your demo.

Not in order of priority: (Oh, yeah--it doesn't hurt to show non-computer art, too, if you've got something worth showing. You will be required to draw with a pencil *gasp!* once in awhile)

1) Evidence of original design abilities--include conceptual sketches and storyboards, as well as the finished piece, to illustrate the design process on at least one of your samples. (No copies of the USS Enterprise or X-Wing fighters, please!)

2) Visual story-telling ability

3) Modeling strengths: Complex objects, both organic (monsters, people) and inorganic (space hardware, architecture)

4) Texture mapping and attention to detail: scanned texture maps can be very cool, but make sure you show your ability to make-do from scratch, using anything like Fractal Painter, Animator Pro, etc.

5) Realistic Set Design: build a complete environment where architecture, accoutrements, and effective lighting allow the viewer to imagine him or herself inside the space.

6) Wow Factor: There should be one or two pieces that really stand out in their originality, execution and artistic composition

7) Craftsmanship: Not all pieces need to be ready-to-broadcast or print quality, but an example of one highly-polished project will greatly help in demonstrating your ability to produce "finished" artwork.

8) Animation ability: human figures performing a simple, natural and fluid action are extremely desirable. Choose an action that would NOT be found in Muybridges "Humans and Animals in Motion." Now, if you really want to impress, think "Jackie Chan."

9) Resume: organize it so it's easy to scan at a glance. They're more interested in what's so special about you than in what schools you've attended. If you have extensive technical experience, stress that. If it's artistic experience, stress that.

10) Important-- Along with your demo reel, enclose a sheet that describes what is contained in your reel. With what application is each piece done? Was it a group project? Did you build the mesh yourself, or use a commercially available one? How much time did each one take to complete? This is INVALUABLE information to them.
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MARIJUANA STRAINS

thanks
 

thaks for this informative article

Thanks
 

well thanks guys for this amazing info!!!

for those who are into lighting

Tips for lighting reel
http://cgtantra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6803

Thanks a lot, man. Thats a huge help

gr8 job n
 

hi aatur
kool tips man......it is a big stuff for me thank u
pls post some more for the demos

hii
 

it was nice o read this............very informative

hi want to apply as texture artist....................can u help me me in how my demo reel shud b?

wwoowwww!!!
 

hyeee aatur thats a BIG n really helpfull post yaaa
thanx a lot m ssoooo sure its gonna help a lot
thanx a ton

;) guy i happy beca u give me amazing information:)

hello aatur
 

Hi there, thnx aatur for givin such informative article regarding Demo Reel..
I do follow wat al u breif'd...

regards,

Ghanshyam

thats is of a great help to all the novists out there...
thanx a lot man.....

regards,