Demo Reels tend to be the culminating project for all of my classes. I feel that they are not only important for showcasing student’s work, but also prepping them to create their most important demo reel; the reel that will get them their first job.
Too many students are creating their first reel during the last semester of college or when they hear of an opportunity, but it is an art form/skill and needs to be practiced. Students should "try" to make or update one every semester, even though it can be tons of work. It's just that you never know when that next opportunity might open up and you want to be ready - scholarships, internships, contact work, or even full time job.
I have tons of friends who do not have up-to-date reels, which could be a mistake, but they currently have jobs. Including myself, but I keep a folder with all the new final renders just waiting to be thrown together into a new reel. The animation industry is tough; you might get a bonus on Monday and a pink slip on Friday. A bit exaggerated but . . . true and I guess that could happen in any industry for that matter. Either way, I feel it is important to emphasize its use and creation.
As I mentioned, I try to have all my students create a demo reel every semester, starting with my intro classes. It is their final project along with a vocabulary enrichment test ( I will talk about that later). I give them about 2 weeks (5 class periods - we are on a block schedule) at the end of the semester and students have to turn it in the last day of class. This seems to be plenty of time, even more than enough time, to create one. This also pressures students to finish up their last projects and start thinking about what they need in the reel. One thing I find is that students generally add extra projects they did for fun, that I did not even know about. This idea goes along with what I stress in the class that they need to 'take it to the next level'. I am always trying to get them to become more intrinsically motivated as opposed to completing the assignments just for a grade. It is not just one idea, it is more of changing the whole atmosphere of the class.
Here is are examples of one my of my student's demo reel progression. Troy is very talented and really took it to the next level. He is presently attending Vancouver Film School and you can check out he present work on his website -
www.UNI3D.com.
This is
Troy’s first reel and I think he did an awesome job. He manly focuses on visual effects with particles, fluids, and dynamics. I also have to mention that he is not an average example. Critiquing it now . . . I think it is a bit long, 2.5 minutes tops and he was just shy of 4 minutes. I also recommend that students do not use any tutorial based projects and he used a couple. The original version did not have any comments or titles, so he updated it. I think important to tell the audience what they are looking at. He also repeated a couple of scenes with just a change of camera angles, which just added to the length. Basically it is a collection of visual effects tests and done very well, especially for his first reel.
High School Mid-Senior Year –
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5780723930686942711
This is
Troy’s second reel and he definitely made tons of improvements. First of all, the intro is awesome; it is simple, but tells exactly what he is about. It is much shorter 2 minutes 46 seconds – still just a bit long in my opinion. I still think it is important to label some of the clips. Some where done in a seven hour competition, another was a car accident he was in (which he gave to the insurance company) and others you are just not sure what you are looking at. A couple clips were created for a local animation house and others you might not realize the complexity behind them. It also has a good choice for a soundtrack and synced very well. Great Job!
Summer After High School Graduation –
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9198232456916128305 
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