Top 10 things to never put on your Reel

[lnowlin]

Hey VFX.

Saw this thread at CGtalk and wondered whether there was a Visual Effect equivalent. So to all those who watch thousands of reels and want to find the people who sent them and say don't do this: what are the top 10 no-no's in regards to scenes for demo reels/scenarios people should stop trying to create?

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...ings+demo+reel

If there's already a thread similar to this let me know...I couldn't really find it.

[Aruna]

I've only got one.. And that's bad work... If you know it's not your best work, why put it on the reel? Actually, I've got another one, which is, work that doesn't relate to the position you're applying for (why put modelling on there if the position is for animation?). Oh, and a third one.. Tutorials! I don't need to see that you know how to follow directions.. I need to see how those skills you learned in the tutorials applies to original challenges.

Ok. I think I'm done.

[faridzadeh]

I remember going to site that had a collection of the 'best' worst demo reels online. The king of them all was some monkey 'dancing' to the song "I got the Power".
I really wish I could find that one again.

[fiveftaway]

this one should probably be a given but hey, i've already seen it done on this forum and others as well so i'm just gonna have to say it. don't ever put WORK THAT IS NOT YOURS on your reel. seriously, you may get past the initial reel review, an interview and perhaps even get hired. but once you sit down at a computer and can't composite or track or do what you reel shows, you'll be screwed and never hired again. in the long run, you'll be burning your career and the contacts you've made down to the ground instead of building it. so please, think twice before you show work that you're not capable of doing.

[ShadowMaker SdR]

I think for compositing showreels, lightsabers should probably on the 'don't do them' list -unless you were at ILM doing lightsabers of course. :-)

[CGnews]

hey, we just got this article up and i thought you might want to check his demo reel out - its pretty awesome!

http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9018

[ShadowMaker SdR]

That will show me - it even has lightsabers :-)

[VFXTalkDotCom]

yea but he was at ILM so we can let it slide

[girlcompositor]

I think for compositing showreels, lightsabers should probably on the 'don't do them' list -unless you were at ILM doing lightsabers of course. :-)

Yeah I agree with this one! Although I do have a kinda light saber thing on my reel (it's more a glow starting at one part of the sword and working up to another) that I had to do for a music video I worked on. Go figure with all that techno music.

I think Ipod stuff gets kind of lame and the same with copying the HP commercials where you freeze a frame and track it like it's a picture. It's good work, but it's been done and it isn't original. Plus tons of other people are doing it.

I've also seen stuff that people have somehow gotten footage from movie studios and did work on it in school as a class project. That's all good fun, but it seems like everyone ends up using it, plus you didn't actually work on the movie so it's kind of deceiving. Anyway those are my general ideas.

[lnowlin]

Thanks...very interesting posts thus far. I figured light sabers would make it up here...I've also heard space ships for some time are a big no no as well.

[lukeyb]

I've been to a few meetings at escape studios for "do's and don'ts" on your showreel but sadly i lost the paper i was writing on!!! I do remember them saying not to put out any special "thank yous" to anyone or put down something like "directed by" on your reel if you are doing compositing as most directors know what real "directing" is.. sorry all that i could vaguely remember.

[colourz]

well...this thread has been quite helpfull for me thanks everyone..
secondly i think if we can avoid applying any special effects over showreel.
let the work be cleanly and completely visible..

i hope this would be a great suggestion...
cheers guys

[haz]

only add work which is relevant to the position you are going with, and if you are using stock footage then DONT just use it as it is with a few colour grading and simple comps.. make that footage part of the bigger picture!! oh and only add the best work and make the reel short and sweet! 2 mins is the max i think unless you have worked on major big films then you could stretch a little longer.. oh and lastly add the most impressive of the best work first in your reel to keep the studios looking at the reel interested from the start of the reel...

hope this helps.

cheers

HaZ

[Hugh]

Good load of advice....

I'd amend Haz's advice by saying put your second-best piece of work first, and put your best piece of work last.... Leave them with a good impression at the end.

I say this, realising that I ought to re-cut my showreel a little.... The stuff at the beginning isn't all so impressive compared to a little later.... Ah well - I'm not looking for work at the moment - just showing off!

[girlcompositor]

Good load of advice....

I'd amend Haz's advice by saying put your second-best piece of work first, and put your best piece of work last.... Leave them with a good impression at the end.

No offense, but I totally disagree with this statement for the simple fact that if they get bored early on and don't take the time to watch your whole real, they haven't seen your best work. I mean I completely understand the idea behind putting your best work last, but I kind of view it as Russian roulette, will they watch it all the way through? They have hundreds of reels to go through, and you'd like to think they'd watch it all the way through, but there's always a chance they won't, but there is a good chance they will at least watch the first minute or so.

I also think the human brain is more likely to pay attention to something in the first 30 seconds and remember it than at the 2 min mark. I watch this happen all the time with my boyfriend, if he's not reeled in the first 30 seconds, you've lost him.

But to each his own.