My new demoreel and job discussion

[bobi]

Hey there fellas.
I hope I am posting in right forum.

Since, I am tired of freelancing for 500$ (or lower) per month (doing various jobs (mostly animating logos) on freelance bidding sites), I've gotta swallow my pride, and ask for advice.
It's really getting hard to compete with people who do the 3D animations for 30$, no matter how that animations looks.

So, I've made my new demoreel, and you can view it here:
http://www.vimeo.com/14752105

My questions would be:
1) Is my demoreel competitive enough to get me a job in some fairly small studio, but with a more reasonable budget, then competing on some freelance cites?
2) Can you recommend some sites like smoothdevil?
3) Any advice you wanna tell me...

I want really honest answers, even if they hurt.
I know that right know, I don't stand a chance working in big (or medium) companies, but I hope maybe some small studio could put me in a good use.
As you see in my demoreel, my strong points definitely is not modeling and texturing, but rather: optimised lightning, animation, special effects and postproduction.
I've read all similar threads, but I wanted opinion on my demoreel.

Thanks in advance too all willing to give some advice.

Regards,
Bobi

[rhunecke]

hey there,

I like your stuff but you should check your spelling:
If you lit the scene, you did the LIGHTING not lightning (often misspelled so don't bother too much).

Keep on, there's really nice stuff shown in your reel.

[I_AM_DAVE_COX]

Not gonna lie - I am jealous!

[bobi]

Originally Posted by rhunecke

hey there,
If you lit the scene, you did the LIGHTING not lightning (often misspelled so don't bother to much).

Thanks a lot man for pointing that up!
It's already fixed, and converting at the moment.
Thanks again.

Originally Posted by I_AM_DAVE_COX

Not gonna lie - I am jealous!

Thanks mate.

[TekNeek]

Judging by my own experience, then I really don't see why you shouldn't get a job.

If you compare my Reel with yours, you'll see yours is loads loads more professional (and altogether better) looking.

One thing though, I noticed in your animations that stuff feel rather weightless, (i.e. the spaceships when they turn and when the bowling ball crashes into the chair).

Another thing, the torch-fire effect, is that realtime?

If I were you, I'd put a small "Realtime" notification in the top left corner.. because, if it's realtime, it looks good, if it's not, then it looks bad.

[EDIT - As in, the fire-effect, it needs more work]

But hey! Best of luck, I really doubt you wont get a job

[bobi]

Thanks TekNeek
Your reel looks great. You've got some pretty great modeling skills (much better then mine). Just put them all together in some cool way.

I agree about everything.
The torch is realtime in way that it's particle flow (and the particles are emmiting in realtime), not a solver like fume fx. But it's not the in-game realtime. I know it looks bad, but it's old work of mine, and the fire is just a quick-done, because that was not primary in that animation.

Thanks again mate.

[Freespace-3DT]

I know it looks bad, but it's old work of mine

This is exactly what you shouldn't have in your demoreel.

I don't want to be mean, and we've known eachother for a long while, so I can go ahead and be perfectly honest. You shouldn't put old stuff in your reel, especially if you know it doesn't look as good as you could make it today.

Making a demo-reel is about putting the absolutely best things first (the first 30 seconds are the win or loose of your reel), and the good things last. No room for old or bad.

Also don't be afraid to make new things specifically for the demo-reel, meaning a demo-reel doesn't need to only be a montage of your past works. You don't need to specify how long render times are for your frames, but that's just a matter of taste I guess.

I like that you get straight to the point (after 5 seconds the reel is on), because people don't have patience to sit through interminable intro logos for demoreels, and the music is a good match. I hope you can take a month to put together brand new things and populate the start of your demo reel with them.

Focus on your best assets, instead of showing a blend of good and average things. If your modeling isn't too good, focus on something else. You don't want to show a potential client that you're average at something, you want to show them what you're great at. Note that a good lighter will make up for lesser modeling through brilliant use of lighting and post processing

[TekNeek]

*points up*

What he said

If you want a reeeeaaaaaally nitpicking comment, I'd actually just cut the Torch scene out of the reel, also, the scene at 0:40 does not (ofc this is all imo) compare to the [good] quality of the rest of the reel.

also, most of your work has a really production like quality to them.. except for the cloth simulation scene. Don't get me wrong, it is an awesome scene, animation and simulation wise, but comparing that rendering to the rest turns it a bit down. So what I would do is move it near the center of the reel, so you'd end up with title -> awesome -> awesome -> awesome -> really good -> awesome -> awesome -> awesome end.

Also, the spaceships come, shoot the beejeevus out of the camera, and the first thing we see is the composer's name. Of course he should be credited, but I think it'd be a stronger move to post your e-mail again in the middle of the screen, and beneath it is the composer's name in smaller font size.

But of course, I'd get a second and a third opinion on these.

*pokes Freespace*

Thanks for your compliment btw

[bobi]

Thanks a lot guys for such honest answers.

I've just got to answer on this:

You shouldn't put old stuff in your reel, especially if you know it doesn't look as good as you could make it today.

I agree completely!
However, that's the reason that I didn't had new reel so long. I always wait to create something "worthy" for a demoreel, but as I am moving forward, and creating new tests and small animations, I never have something that I am completely happy with it. So... I figured out... if I wait for that to happen, that will never happen, because there is always lots of improvements that can be made in all my animations.
That's one of the reason I've created this.

I will follow Freespace advice, and will start very soon on some new animation (and simulation) tests, and will try to look much more professional then everything I've made so far.
Hope I will got some feedback on it.

Thanks again guys.