Demo Reel Tips
(please note: this is not a job listing – sorry! Just some helpful hints.) If / when we restart our job board, rest assured we will include all available details & contact info.
We’ll be adding more detailed info on reels & other topics to this page soon. If you want more info on this subject, want to see other related subjects discussed, or just feel the urge to say howdy, contact:
Please feel free to pass the url for this page on to anybody who might benefit! Here goes:
Keep reels fairly short -
three to five minutes is ideal.
Include only your best work - think of it like this - you may be judged
and remembered by the weakest thing on your reel, not the strongest - don't ask
me why, but this truly does happen.
If you have enough strong material to pick and choose from, try to customize
your reel for the company and the show you're applying for. Do a little
research. Make sure your reel reflects the kind of work you want to be hired
to do, and that the company you've sent your reel does the kind of work you're
showing.
A short letter/statement of what you're showing and what you did is
useful. Did you build the models you're showing, or are you showing us your
animation skills, not modeling? If others worked on the same piece, state which
elements you did.
Include your email address and follow up with an email. That's a
good reminder for the person to check out your reel or respond to you if they've
already viewed it. Hardly any one will drop everything and pop in each new reel
that lands on his desk - In most places, reels are viewed in groups, often
during lunch, breaks or after hours. Then everybody goes back to work or heads
out. So it really helps if you make the effort to contact and remind people
via email, that you're the guy who sent the cool reel with the dancing
bunny. Otherwise, you can get lost in the dreaded "pile-o-reels" every studio
has heaped in a corner.
Online reels
can be really useful, provided they are easy to view. It’s more convenient for
most people to click on a url than to pop in a tape, CD or DVD. But online reels
are, of course, at the mercy of connection speeds, browser quirks and other
variables beyond your control. Use them in addition to your snail-mail
reel, not instead of.
Phoning, unless you've already been contacted to do so is probably not a good
idea. Face it, everybody is busy and nobody likes to be interrupted by a call
from a stranger. Email is perfect because it's so easy to reply or forward to
the right person. In fact, emailing your contact person BEFORE you send
your reel is even better. It’s a great opportunity to make a good impression
before your reel is even seen. Plus, it saves you postage if the person replies
to say they’re not hiring or they’re not the right person to send a reel to.
Poly has to admit, she’s much more likely to check out a reel when she’s already gotten a friendly email from the sender. Animation is a team effort. Even Poly prefers working with friendly, enthusiastic, nice people. And Poly’s a robot!
Good luck! I hope this helps.
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