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| DEMO REELS ARCHIVES |
| |
DEMO REELS : PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Written by Jeremy Cantor
About the Author:
At the time this was written, Jeremy Cantor was head of the Animation Dept. at Tippett Studio (Starship Troopers, etc).
 *Disclaimer*: These are the personal views of Jeremy Cantor. 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: Submission Tips by Jeremy Cantor
Having recently waded through several hundred character animation demo
reels, I thought I'd offer up my reactions in the form of a list of tips
and suggestions regarding such submission materials.
If anyone actually has the time to read this whole darn thing, please
feel free to correct, append, edit as you like...(remember, this is just
one man's opinions - and a lot of this is undoubtedly redundant to the
information on the cg-char/3D-ARK/etc webpages).
Before getting specific I wanted to first mention what I feel is the
best piece of general advice I can give to someone submitting a demo
reel:
Imagine that the people who are going to review your work are the
busiest, most disorganized and inconsiderate folks on the planet.
You want to make it as easy and painless as possible for them to look at
your work. Try to avoid anything that might contribute to them not being
able to (or not wanting to) review your stuff.
COVER LETTER:
1) Make it short and to the point. (See previous paragraph).
2) If you are applying to a particular department, indicate this so we
know who should be looking at the tape.
3) If you were referred by someone, definitely mention this.
4) Include a list of references. Most of us have had at least one or
two bad experiences with colleagues in the past. If you don't steer your
prospective employer toward folks who like you, they might stumble upon
someone who doesn't.
5) Avoid adjectives. I'm always suspicious when someone butters up
their cover letter telling me how good their work is. "If your work
speaks for itself, there's no need to interrupt." I want an applicant's
animations to convince me of their talents, not their words.
6) Check your sppeling, grammur, punkshooayshun & typoez. This may not
matter to some people but keep in mind that your cover letter is often
your very first introduction to a prospective employer. Don't let your
first impression indicate that you don't check your work and that
attention to detail is not a priority for you.
RESUME
1) Try to avoid listing irrelevant experiences.
2) Do, however, list skills/hobbies/interests that might be relevant.
If you're applying for a job at an interactive house that makes fighting
games and you've studied karate, indicate this.
Acting/mime/dance/gymnastics/etc are good skills to mention when
applying for a job as an animator.
3) Accentuate but DON'T LIE! If you were a janitor, say "custodial
engineer". If, however, you were a grunt animator at a particular shop
and one time you made a suggestion to a co-worker and they took it,
don't call yourself an "animation supervisor".
DEMO REEL
1) VHS. NTSC. It's a safe bet that the place to which you are applying
has a standard VHS deck. They might not have a 3/4 deck or a PAL
converter though. Don't send CD's or floppies or zip-drives unless
you've called ahead and confirmed that they are able to view such
formats.
2) Put your best stuff first. Because of the volume of tapes I need to
look at, if I'm not "grabbed" in the first ten seconds of a reel I tend
to watch the rest in fast-forward mode until I see something that looks
interesting enough to stop and look at in normal speed. Don't let me
miss your best piece.
3) Don't repeat animations. Please don't assume that I wanted to see
that particular piece again. I do have a rewind button on my remote.
Also, repeating animations implies you have a limited quantity of work
and it looks like "filler".
4) Keep it short. 3 minutes is a general target length.
5) Include a reel breakdown. Unless EVERYTHING on the tape is 100%
yours, it is essential that you include a descriptive list of your
contributions to each shot. If you don't I am assuming that you are
claiming that everything is all yours. If you have collaborative work on
your reel, it is dishonest, annoying and downright criminal to not
include a reel breakdown.
6) DO NOT PUT OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK ON YOUR REEL! This should be the most
obvious thing in the world but it happens. Just last week I received a
reel without a breakdown that had work I recognized because it belonged
to a friend of mine. After requesting a reel breakdown, the dishonest
submitter admitted to "having had little to do with" certain pieces on
the reel. Since this information was not initially volunteered I had
been led to believe that he was claiming to have done those pieces
himself. We do not make a habit of hiring deceitful people. My friend is
actually considering a lawsuit against this individual. (Can you say
"plagiarism"?) Also, do not include any tutorials or demo/stock scenes which came with the
software on your reel.
7) Don't send inappropriate work. A place that does children's
educational software does not want to see blood and guts. We are a
creature shop. Don't send us a tape full of spaceships and camera
fly-throughs. This shows that you didn't take the time to find out about
the company to which you are applying. Why should we then take the time
to find out about you?
8) Label your tape clearly and put your contact information in the body
of the tape. Sometimes tapes get separated from their resumes. Make it
easy for us to re-organize our piles.
9) Pop your tabs. Remember, we are busy and disorganized. I might hit
the "record" button instead of the "play" button accidentally. Remember,
I'm thoughtless and inconsiderate.
10) Rewind your tape. We WILL charge you $1.00!
11) Include drawings on your tape ONLY if you truly think they will
help your case. I will certainly be more inclined to want to interview a
tape with borderline animations if there are really good figure drawings
at the end. Strong fundamental skills are a good indication of someone's
overall aesthetic sensibilities. However, don't include bad figure
drawings just to demonstrate that you've taken a figure drawing class.
Now, I'm not saying that you have to show figure drawings in order to
get hired as a character animator, but don't go out of your way to show
your weaknesses. It tells me that you aren't a good judge of your own
work and will therefore need a lot of supervision.
12) Show "acting". Let's face it, walk/run/flight cycles alone will not
get you hired as a character animator anymore. Mainly because such
motions can be easily copied from a variety of sources. Your animations
need to convey emotions and thoughts through body language. Example:
Don't animate a kid eating a bowl of peas. Animate a kid who hates peas
but his mother is making him eat them anyway. If you can tell such a
story through timing, posing and facial expressions alone, you will get
hired. (I actually rarely have the volume on when watching tapes).
13) Avoid large, cumbersome packages that are difficult to catalogue,
file and shelve. I've seen them bent to fit into boxes. Which of course
brings up: Don't send original artwork. It WILL get damaged.
14) Don't show stuff you don't want to be asked to do.
15) Wireframes with solid motion are better than fully textured
renderings with mediocre motion. (You might accidentally get hired to do
lighting!)
16) Be careful when including work that isn't supposed to be publicly
viewed yet. If you are showing me clips from a film that has not yet
been released, you are telling me that you'd be willing to show OUR work
before it's released as well. Make sure your interviewer knows that
you've cleared it with your current/previous place of employ first.
17) Make sure your tape really shows what you're capable of. I get a
lot of tapes from ReBoot/Beast-Wars folks who mention that they have
very little time to do a shot and the style is dictated very strictly.
Given such restrictions I can't really judge their skills by seeing this
work alone. When I get such tapes I immediately request additional work.
Include personal stuff as well as professional work. I like to see what
you can do on your own as well as what you can do on a team.
18) Be honest with yourself. If your entire experience with character
animation includes nothing more than having pulled off 2 walk cycles,
you're probably not quite ready to offer your services as a character
animator. Only apply to a place where you truly feel you can do the
work.
INTERVIEW
1) Be on time. Remember, first impressions are lasting impressions.
2) Dress appropriately. You don't have to wear a suit, but error on the
side of overdressing rather than underdressing. Don't worry, you're not
going to insult a prospective employer if you are better dressed than
they are. Chances are you will be...after all...they already have the
job!
3) Bring another copy of your reel/resume. Remember, I'm really
disorganized, I might not have it handy.
4) Bring some additional work. Don't let me believe that your reel
comprises everything you've ever done.
5) Be very careful when speaking negatively about a former job or boss
or co-worker. This is a very small industry. There's a chance your
interviewer knows the person/place of which you speak. I lost a job
opportunity myself because of this once.
6) Watch for trick questions. "Oh...come on...you can show us those
shots from that movie that isn't out yet...we won't tell anyone!"
Or: "Hmmmm...I see you have 3 months to go before finishing your current
project...we could really use you sooner...are you sure you can't just
abandon your current team and join us now?"
If you do it to them, you'll do it to us.
FOLLOW UP
Keep in mind it often takes a while before a demo tape gets reviewed.
If you haven't heard anything for 3 weeks or so it is okay to call and
make sure your tape was received.
But don't be a pest.
After an interview, it is a good idea to send a follow up letter
thanking your prospective employer for taking the time to meet with you.
Don't call unless you haven't heard anything for a while. And don't
contact the company repeatedly.
If you don't get hired, resubmit your materials every 6 months or so.
Our needs and criteria change all the time. Your skills/style might not
have been appropriate for last year's project, but they might be right
for this year's.
That's all for now.
Time for me to do some work...
Would you like to add, share, or correct some information? 3D ARK welcomes your contributions. Send mail to: webmaster@3dark.com
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