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Demo Reel

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Demo Reel

Hey guys! I put together a demo reel to send out for a summer internship. What do you guys think?

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/DemoReel.zip

I would like for the sound to get softer when characters speak, but I barely know how to use Premiere. I also dont know anything about compressing movies so right now it's 29mbs and compressed with Sorenso 3. Does anyone have any suggestions on decreasing the file size?

MightyMew1's picture
"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

your reel looks good. i like the hand drawn pencil test the best. are they leading to a film?

I would've kept the shaky head on "orange in HUE," the legs of the closest guy to the screen at the front look stiff as he's walking away, and the end of the pencil test at the end carries on too long and shows of (relative to the rest of your reel) not-as-good animation. Other than that, probably very solid for where you're aiming for this summer internship. But definitely don't show them anything but your strong stuff. The biggest thing would be starting and ending with an impact; at the very end it feels like 5 drawings with no tweens and I can't say that's a WOW finish.

Thanks Scattered, I'll fix it. :D

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

More Movement

Hello.

Some really nice efforts at performance...

The one aspect which really needs work is character movement.

All of the performances have the character standing in one place and just moving up and down.

You need to do a real character walk with emotion. that includes an anticipation, the walk and then a compensation (curbing the momentum of the action).

Then try a weight lift with thinking time- have the character walk up, think, decide what to do, then lift something at least 125 lbs and place it on a shelf (five feet high) and be successful or...if you wish unsuccessful.

Then try a full body whip...

There that should keep you going for a month...

Thanks.

thanks

Thanks for the responses uncle phil and Scattered!

Uncle Phil, the 2d things aren't leading to a film. The first one is my wip with March's 10 second club audio file. The second one is all I've gotten done for one of my previous classes. I didn't finish because the project was too ambitious for the time frame I had. It was ok because all we needed was a visual aid and the class was impressed with that. I would like to go back and redo/possibly finish the animation but right now I dont have time. I need to get the reel sent off before the 26th since I dont have a dvd burner at home. Although, now that I think about it, the second 2d animation might be long enough (if I finish it) to qualify as a short film...

Scattered, I took out the head shakes because someone on cgtalk said they were unclear and the character didn't really have motivation for them. I'll work on the walk in the "Scared to Death" animation. I agree that it's stiff.

On the last sequence, where is the tween-less animation that you're referring to? I can't really take it out because it'll be pretty obvious. If you tell me the part you're talking about I might be able to insert some inbetweens. Although to be honest, none of the animation has inbetweens. I did it before I had a better understanding of timing and spacing and I had intended for all of the drawings to be keys. If I redo it, it'll be so much better. I want to keep it though, because it's not bad and I really like it. I am thinking of inserting a screen that says Pencil Tests before the 2d animation plays. What do you think?

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Pencil tests move; how about "animatic." =)

And since when did a CGTalker ever hold any sway over you? Talking about clarity and lack of motivation for that move is absurd as far as I'm concerned. It's how we act! Think of someone who holds their fist out in front of their face like "Why I oughta!" If they're gripping their fists tight eventually (certainly in caricature) their anger will manifest in the hand/arm shaking. Your guy isn't upset there, but the move was an acting move, a personality move. Having been exposed to the source material we know the guy is supposed to be dandified, foppish, and that was so pin-point good at communicating that whole character (despite the fact that the body is a half-naked Dr. Scratchensniff-esque fellow) that it tickles your insides to watch it. And now its gone.

With that much variance in audience reception I wonder where -your- feelings are about it. Some people critique for the sake of critiquing, but if you went to the trouble of changing it obviously you agree with him to some extent so I guess leave it alone?

I was referring to the end of the hop-on-the-bed guy. And in trying to land an internship I would think less about what I was attached to personally and more about what makes you come across as the most competent and suitable person for the job. I'm assuming the job is in animation, so drawings that don't move (for example the batch at :50-:53) could be seen as counterproductive for you.

Thanks so much Larry! I sent my reel last night and am waiting to see if I get a response. I just finished a bouncing ball but my friend said that bouncing balls shouldn't be on a reel unless they tell a story. If you want to see it here's the url: http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/bouncingBall.mov

I'll work on your suggestions over the break, so expect to see them posted on one of the forums! :D

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

What's the story with bouncing balls? I've seen quite a few now where they'll suspend like that at the top of their peak for a great proportion longer than the couple frames it takes to bring them down...I realize that's the idea but more and more I see the disproportionate spacing (not saying it happens here or that it's a bad thing, this just reminded me)

Hey Scattered. My friend who's in AM taught me their method for doing bouncing balls. Maybe thats why you are seeing so many that are done that way...

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Their = the students, or their = the instruction?

What's the method? Some of the assignments were more mechanical and some allowed free range of "life"...

Their = the instruction

The method relied heavily on layering and doing the majority of the work in the graph editor. That taught me a lot since I was/still am new to it. My friend probably taught me based on how he was taught during the exercise with tailor since that was the most recent assignment (I think). I dont really follow AM's progress that much because it makes me sad. I want to enroll in AM so badly, but I doubt I'd have time to do SCAD work and AM work. :(

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Graph editors are a blessing and a curse. I like that there's a malleable record of the keys, but the intended use for them is so half-hearted usually in experience. It might be a pain in the arse to bake in all the different changed positions of the object while the bone animation is going on inside, but it's a lot more functional in terms of production quality than using the curves and things to do what they just can't. That was in my Lightwave class, though; Maya's character animation stuff is MUCH more intuitive for me, and in all honesty is more streamlined of a process, since it works with absolutes.

It might be unfortunate that you can't enroll just yet, but knowing you and your work ethic not being there certainly doesn't affect your chances of getting hired. What's more, you have two friends in AM to tell you all the goings-on and pass down whatever might be new information; being at SCAD is just having different mentors (and other facets of the production process). I'll write a letter to Congress asking for 30 hour days and see what I can swing. How's that sound?

Thanks for the advice Scattered. ;)

Here's an up-date on my reel. I worked on the walk at the end of the Scared to Death animation. Hopefully he looks like he is trying to be some what stealthy >_<. I worked on the Mother animation yesterday but the frames don't have any detail on them yet. I aim to extend that sequence by the end of the weekend.

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/DemoReel.zip

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Wow. That walk's definitely looser. How do you feel about it?

Wow, Scattered that was fast, are you lurking on this thread or something? :p

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

To answer your question, I dont like it. The walk's looser like you said, but I dont like how it looks. I want him to walk/sneak away but it should be about 80% walk and 20% sneak. Sadly, I dont know how to get that. :(

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Lol, 30 hour days sound great! :D Thanks for believeing in me and for the SCAD pep talk, lol!:) I am very thankful for the help of people with my work. I dont understand how people can be content with sitting back doing nothing instead of trying to improve themselves. This isn't highschool, why are you in college if you aren't serious about your career? It's sad.

Anyway, I didn't understand a thing you said in your first paragraph aside from the first and half of the second sentence. I agree that the graph editor can be a blessing and a curse though.

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

I'm glad you said it -- it's almost on the other end. I think it went from too stiff in the thighs to droopy silk-like movement. If there's a way to use the straights in a limber way, that could be your only hope. Hehe kidding, I just like drama.

Tell me the exact locations of droopyness so I can fix them, please.

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Actually, on second glance, it's almost as if it changed -- it's more fine than the last time I looked. To answer your question, most of :15 through most of :17...the foreground guy.