Demo Reel Steroids: New Projects Quick

Posted October 27th, 2010 / By Jeff in Resources, Tips

Recently, my life has been consumed with one thought: demo reel. Mine, currently… is terrible. It is outdated, and while I haven’t been producing much lately, I have been learning. It’s past the time for the rubber to meet the road. I have to get some new material together quickly, but it still needs to be polished and professional to get me work. I’m not going tell you how to make a good reel; it’s been covered brilliantly here already by Matthew Carlin. What I am going to cover are a few ways to update your demo reel quickly.

REVISIT

Maybe the best way is to just polish something from your archive. This does assume that you keep backup of your assets from projects gone by (you do that right?). Dust off those KBs, MBs or GBs of old projects and give ‘em a good once over. Take a second to look at what you have done, and if fixing it seems futile, scrap it and start over. Odds are your skills have improved and you have learned new tricks since you last tackled the project. This means it will be rebuilt better and faster than you did the first time.

CONTESTS

Another great way to get ideas quick for your demo reel is to do a search for motion graphics contests. Being boundary free and able to do absolutely anything is, more often than not, a curse when you’re crunched for time. Contests provide parameters and hurdles to overcome that point you in a direction and get you started. That being said, don’t get wrapped up in the length a contest wants you to produce. If your main goal is demo reel material then all you really need is 5-10 seconds of your best work for each piece. This is one of the main reasons Nick Campbell started the “5 Second Projects” at greyscalegorilla.com, and it’s an excellent place to go for the back catalog of projects to get that demo reel quantity and quality up fast.

LET OTHERS INSPIRE YOU

Contests are great to get going, but those even still require some creative spark, and if you’re needing to crank out most or all of a new demo reel fast, you may be feeling a little drained. When waiting for one of your new masterpieces to render, why not try searching “motion graphics reels” or “motion graphics portfolio” and seeing what other people are doing. If you have a favorite tutorial guy or gal, hit up their reel and see what it looks like. Take a few minutes to flip through the channels and watch the commercials; that way you can see what people have recently paid to have done. Try to identify trends that you may want to put your own spin on.

In a prefect world, our demo reels would always be our most up to date and fantastic pieces, but sometimes life just gets in the way. If you find yourself behind the eight-ball on your demo reel, don’t panic; get to work. Also, remember you don’t need projects that have long run times; 5-10 seconds will be fine. Your goal is to show off your style and skills, not show finished pieces, so dust of an old piece or two, find a contest that sparks your interest and pull off a trick you saw recently with your own spin. Before you know it, you will have rebuilt your demo reel better, faster and stronger.

Jeff Saunders has a Bachelors Degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics from the Art Institute. He currently works in Minneapolis, MN as the Visual Art Director for Fitness on Request LLC. He has also over 3 years experience in broadcast television behind the scenes as produciton assistant, floor director, camera operator and has even moved the levels on soundboards.