If you drive down the road towards my house you’ll see a very large billboard from the nice people at familyradio.com telling you that the the world is coming to an end on May 21 2011. As with most of this armageddon style signage, they also seem to have a problem with design that would appeal to a wider audience. I decided to take it upon myself to design some posters that would help familyradio in their quest to tell people the world is going to end.

In canvasing for a new job, It dawned on me that it made squat all difference if you had a nice polished resume but couldn’t back it up with any work you have done. I mean who cares if you worked for Danny Yount if you don’t even know what blending modes are?

Ok well, I am not saying I have a killer reel, but I know how to edit my stuff so it looks way better than it actually is.
In any case, I have read time and time again from various industry professionals – if you want to get a job in this industry, you need to have a good reel.

What constitutes a good reel?

Well I have narrowed it down to a few things:

1. Keep it short (less than 2 mins) – you want to keep your audience interested. Chances are there are at least 20 other people going for the same job and to watch through large amounts of video can be tiresome. Keep it short and snappy.

2. Only edit in your good bits – Don’t just throw any bollocks in, make sure you use the good bits. Stuff with clean movement that matches the tempo of the track you are using are always good. Remember, think about what you are putting together. Take pride in putting your work together. I mean you could put in the part where you forgot to matte paint out to the edges or where the track in your shot went bad, only if you want your future employee to think – “this foo is a chump! I wouldn’t let this foo put text on my timeline…”

3. Pick an appropriate music track – music always enhances the mood, but just keep in mind not everyone has the same taste as you. Pick something you know the end user will enjoy and we’ll all have a good time. I mean maybe the interviewee does like “Cradle of filth” but just in case they don’t maybe pick something a little more hip like the trolololo guy

4. Put in relevant stuff – if you are going for a DOP position then obviously don’t put in stuff that showcases your motion graphic skills. And likewise if you are going for a mograph position, don’t put in your shots of a wide sweeping plane. Keep it relevant.

5. Don’t advertise yourself – By that I mean, don’t show a chunk of animation and have a lower thirds saying “animation”. It’s pretty obvious you do animation. That’s why it’s there in your reel! Your contact details at the end are fine , but it’s more during the video. It looks tacky and it makes you look like you think the person you’re showing this too doesn’t know jack all about the work you do. And if they don’t, still don’t do it. Just wow the crap out of them and they will definitely ask for more

6. Only put stuff you have done – I mean you could put in someone else’s work, but good luck trying to replicate it if they ask you to do something similar

All clear? Then get out there and impress the crap out of people!

Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with great pleasure to unveil my new range of mograph softdrinks for the mographer who needs a little “boost” now and again..

Here is my prototype:

Again Blender is surprising me over and over again at how powerful and versatile it is. However it does have some drawbacks:

• no commercial supprot
• lacks some features of professional programs
• no money for development

But it is free! And seriously, how often are you going to need to model something that complex in a 3D program if all you need is 3d titles?

Anyways, before you marvel at my genius, check out the tutorial over at blenderguru.com . It’s frickin insane what you can do with this program.

And here is the tutorial if you’re interested:

peace!

Ok, so it’s no secret I am a little obsessed with Tron, but what better excuse than to make something that looks incredibly fun to model (and relatively simple to boot!)

It was a little tricky trying to get it to look right, but in the end I fudged it a little in After Effects. Would have done a little more animation, but I ran out of time (mostly cause I fight crime at night, and the criminals wait for no one!)

I am hoping to document this whole process so that you, the viewer, will be benefit from my vast knowledge and experience! ha!

anyways, erm.. check it!