In this post I’m going to tell you about the time I had to review over 400 student demo reels to fill some internship positions. I came away with 5 key insights, and 1 sad truth.
Get the FREE Animation Job Market Readiness Checklist here: https://awff53f.aweberpages.com/p/2bb…
Hi Friend, Tim Lannon here from Animation Insights .com.
When I worked at Reel FX, one of the roles I had for a time was Director of the Apprentice Program. Every six months or so we would hire 6 to 12 interns (we called them apprentices) and we’d bring them in, train them to work in the various departments, and if things worked out well, we’d then hire them on as staff.
Once we got the word out about this program, we were flooded with applications, as I’m sure you can imagine. I remember one specific session I had to review over 400 demo reels.
I came away with 5 key insights, and I’ve included these insights in my course, “Reel, Resume, and Research: An Animator’s Guide to Getting a Job.” And I’m going to share those insights with you now.
#1 – You should do something that is memorable. You need to brand yourself. so have some kind of logo or a color scheme that ties your resume, your reel, your website, and everything else together so that you have a cohesive brand. And make it something that stands out from the crowd a little bit.
#2 – Make sure you put your best stuff first on the reel. You’ve probably heard this tip before, but it is especially important when you have a lot of competition. When I was reviewing 400 reels, I did not sit and watch every single reel all the way through. If the work did not catch my attention in the first 30 seconds, it was outta here. I did not have time to waste.
#3 – Make sure you go beyond the classroom exercises. If all of your classmates are applying for the same jobs you are, and all of your work looks the same as their work, and you can tell you all had the same assignments, it doesn’t help you stand out from the crowd. So you really need to develop and work on your own projects. It doesn’t have to be something super huge. It can be a short 6 second animation. But if it is unique to you, and you do a great job on it, it can help you stand it.
#4 – Big camera moves don’t hide bad animation, especially when the camera moves themselves are pretty bad. I can’t tell you how many student reels I’ve seen with large sweeping, orbiting, camera moves and it’s just not necessary, and its really hard to make that kind of a camera move look good. So stick with simple camera angles and simple shot to shot cuts.
#5 – Animation is about the illusion of life. Acting shots where the character is emoting and feeling something is what’s going to help you stand out, if character animation is what you are trying to get into. We need to see a character on screen that feels like a real living being. That’s what animation is all about and that’s what’s going to help you stand out.
So what was the one sad truth? Well, unfortunately, most of the reels I saw showed me that the animation programs that these students were graduating from, just didn’t prepare them for the industry. Their skills were lacking, the quality was lacking, their reels were lacking. They just didn’t have what is necessary to get into the industry.
That’s part of the reason why I created Animation Insights dot com. I want to help fill in the gaps in some of that animation education.
And now for a bonus tip. You want your reel to stand out from the 400 that someone has to look through? Well, knowing someone on the inside can really help your reel get seen. That’s where the importance of networking comes in.
These reel recommendations, plus networking, are just two of the items, there’s actually ten, on my Animation Job Market Readiness Checklist.
Are you ready for the job market?
Click below to get your free copy of the checklist to find out.
Get the FREE Animation Job Market Readiness Checklist here: https://awff53f.aweberpages.com/p/2bb…
