DEMO REEL | SHOW REEL FORMULA for CG / VFX Artists.

DEMO REEL ?
In short, a demo reel is a compilation of your (best) work that shows your range in two minutes or less. It’s like an Showcase of your skills & abilities, exposure of knowledge to Recruiters. As such, your reel is often show what you are.

Guidelines for designing the Demo reel.

- Submit a demo reel + cover letter, a shot breakdown and reel outline along with resume.
- Show your ability to learn new software.
- Read the job description carefully to find out the need of the studio.
- Mention about software and operating systems used in the making of demo reel.
- Impress your recruiters by your imagination and hard work.
- Keep an online backup link of your demo reel. (Vimeo or You Tube.)
- If you fail to get the job don’t get discouraged, get the feedback and apply gain.
- Labelling should be done clearly
- Good attitude is also important as the reel.
- If you have more than 1 discipline we suggest you have a separate reel to showcase each area.
- Always have an accompanying shot breakdown which outlines your contribution and the software used.

About Shots:
-Great acting shot and another will grab everyone’s attention.
-A mid close-up shot sells emotion well;
-Feelings of the characters will make the audience hooked.
-Editing is the key part here; proper selection and arrangement of shots will add WOW!

About Time:
- Demo reel of one or two shot with duration 30 second can also win heart.
-Recruiters prefer a tight and short reel; 2–3 minute reel interesting.
-Don’t be insecure about the length of the demo reel as every frame counts; even 10 seconds of amazing animation can beat one minute of ordinary Animation.

About Sound:
-Make the dialogues interesting to tell the story;
-A soundtrack should complement the vision, and not dominate or distract.
-Don’t use rave music as most recruiters turns off the volume at the time of viewing the reel and listens only for lip sync on an animation reel.

Concept
– Examples from your sketchbook
– Characters: biped and quadrupeds
– Environment: organic and hard surface
– Props — ‘Moments’
– Mood boards
– Range of motion examples

Storyboard/Layout/Previz
– Timing, composition, movement through shots
– Whole sequences
– see how separate shots work together to make a sequence work
– Camerawork
– variety of industry lenses
– Final shot — is it consistent with the original?
– It is common to have 3 windows onscreen
– storyboard animatic in one, Layout in another and final shot in the third.

Modelling
– Reference material (concept or photo)
– Characters
– biped and quadrupeds
– Environment
– organic and hard surface
– Props
– Wire frames
– Turntables
– If possible your character/environment model in a finished shot

Rigging
– Characters: biped and quadrupeds
– Mechanical
– Facial rigs
– The rig (sped up)
– The rig animated
– Python scripts

Look Development (Surfacing)/Grooming
– Realistic/photo real
– Reference material (concept or photo)
– Turntables
– Characters
– Environments: organic and hard surface
– UVs
– Realistic grooming — Shading

Tracking
– Original plate
– Digital markers/stabilised plate
– Final shot with integrated CG

Animation
– Realistic animation
– “Cartoony” animation
– Biped and quadrupeds
– Acting piece: subtle, includes lip synch
– Action work
– Creature performance: includes lip sync
– Process reel
– Leave out the music, especially if you have lip sync
- Unique character; don’t copy the popular character and do walk cycle turn-tables.
- 30–45 seconds of animation is enough in a demo reel
- Animating only the eyes and eyebrows of a character can sell the shot.
- Just a slight movement of eyebrow can change the whole facial expressions.

FX
– Realistic FX
– Simulation
– Particles
– Rigid body dynamics
– Fluids/water sim
– Character FX: cloth and fur
– Tools

Lighting
– Character lighting: furry, human, feathered
– FX lighting
– Environment lighting
– Day and night
– Exterior and interior
– All moving images, no stills

Matte Painting
– Realistic work
– Projection work
– Layers
– Original plate
– Finished shot

Roto/Compositing
– Original plates
– Layers
– Final shot
– Set extensions/environments
– CG character/creature shots
– FX heavy shots

Generalist — Compilation of your best work — Separate reels for each discipline

Do-Nots
- Don’t show violence acts,
- Bad selection of shots will lead your reel into the bin.
- Never put a shot in your demo reel until and unless you are 100% satisfied.
- Don’t mention about the software which you have used only one time.
-You’re only as strong as your weakest link. Also don’t overly repeat stuff as it will just look like padding.

for more information on Demo Reel please go through:
Difference Between Showreel & Demoreel,

References: Animal Logic Entertainment, JONNY ELWYN, Animation Calcutta, https://www.cgspectrum.com/

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