10 Tips For Making A Quality Animation Demo Reel
Everyone knows that having a solid animation reel is essential for landing that dream job, but what are employers actually looking for when they review a reel?
Here’s a set of 10 tips for creating a quality reel shared on Twitter by veteran Dreamworks animator Guillermo Careaga (Home, The Boss Baby, Megamind, Madagascar 2 & 3). It’s packed with simple and practical advice that should prove useful to anyone putting a reel together.
Careaga’s tips:
- Quality over quantity. Always.
- Great acting ideas tend to trump polish. (Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t polish your shot, but good acting will stand even if it’s not fully fleshed out).
- Avoid dark lighting. (Especially true for VFX shots. Just show the playblast).
- Make it easy to watch. (Avoid sending links to complicated websites, the need for long passwords, etc).
- Tailor your reel to the place you’re applying for.
- Fancy titles, background music, cool editing are nice but not essential. Always focus on the animation being great first.
- If you need to show other people’s shots for continuity, just desaturate them. No need to add a lot of text breaking down what’s yours and what isn’t.
- Wow factor. Is there at least one memorable, unique moment in your reel?
- Professionalism and good attitude are as important as the reel.
- If you don’t get the position, don’t get discouraged. There might be a dozen other reasons why you weren’t picked, apart from reel quality. Timing, availability of spots, the particular needs of a show, etc. Try to get specific feedback and, when appropriate, apply again.
If you want to see what a good reel looks like, Careaga’s personal reel from 2015 can be viewed below:
