Multimedia: a constant game of "tug of war"

[Crevist]

Hi I just joined this site about yesterday from deviant art and was a tad overwhelmed to see the home page seeing how so many people raised the bar for us average joe artists to reach lol .

I just graduated a couple of months ago from a program called"Multimedia design and productions" which is pretty much working with flash,photoshop,illustrator,3D max, and after effects . I have been drawing off and on for about 5 years now I feel that I'm still struggling with some concepts as well as having the will to practice.

Also the fact that now that I graduated there allot of pressure from the industry to sell myself as an artist to produce a good portfolio. I did a demo reel but it looks a tad off. http://crevist.deviantart.com/art/Multimedia-Demo-reel-rough-83455520

Any comments or advice will be appreciated :)

[Black Spot]

Most of your best stuff should come first. If you are doing animation, it’s best to include walk cycles and lifting a box; it shows you have a grasp of the basics.

I can’t see the art properly as it whizzes by too fast and moves all over the screen. The animation is very basic and gives no indication of where your talents lie.

Back to the drawing board.

[Crevist]

Most of your best stuff should come first. If you are doing animation, it’s best to include walk cycles and lifting a box; it shows you have a grasp of the basics.

I can’t see the art properly as it whizzes by too fast and moves all over the screen. The animation is very basic and gives no indication of where your talents lie.

Back to the drawing board.

That's what I did but I guess they weren't good enough.

don't they look for a bouncing ball sequence too?

well thanks anyways . . .

[RyerOrdStar]

Well, I'm not exactly in a program like yours but I am in Illustration and we've been doing After Effects for about two years now..I'd suggest trying to figure out a better narrative for the whole piece. A lot of it was confusing and as the poster above said, the art needs to be in the foreground. It was going by way too fast and that black screen buzzing in and out between every piece gave me a headache. Sometimes slower is better..

[Crevist]

Thanks I'll try and use a slower song next

[Mirana]

I agree with the others. The point of a demo reel is to SEE YOUR STUFF, not "look at all the crap I learned to do with flash!" I couldn't see much of any piece. The fade and wizzing around was obnoxious. We spend more time looking at a cut-out of a hammer and a very simple robot loop than we do on your actual art.

Most work appeared to be non-animated too. Why a demo reel instead of a plain portfolio website/blog/printed book?

[Black Spot]

If you want a flash site, have a look at this one.

http://www.iomovie.co.uk/secret.html

[Crevist]

I agree with the others. The point of a demo reel is to SEE YOUR STUFF, not "look at all the crap I learned to do with flash!" I couldn't see much of any piece. The fade and wizzing around was obnoxious. We spend more time looking at a cut-out of a hammer and a very simple robot loop than we do on your actual art.

Most work appeared to be non-animated too. Why a demo reel instead of a plain portfolio website/blog/printed book?

well our after effects teacher told us to make a demo reel of all the stuff we did over the last few years. I thought hey perhaps I could get some advice on this and better improve myself as an artist. We are doing a portfolio website this year in my program as a final thesis and I'll be able to present my stuff in a better fashion.

you make it sound like I had nothing but failure with my demo reel . . . was there no parts where I at least might have done well?

[Mirana]

Failure in execution of a reel where we can SEE THE ART. If your objective was to demonstrate you know how to use flash, then no failure. If on the actual art? That's what I'd like to SEE. I was literally *thisclose* to my screen, trying to take a look at your work--squinting!--and getting a headache from the strobe fading and pointless zooming around.

It would be like you taking your art to a job interview, and then turning the lights on in off in rapid succession while the potential employer is trying to look at them. Or holding the work in front of their face, dancing with it, and then taking it away before they can actually see the whole image. All of these done at a small size, too.

You get what I'm trying to say? What would you do if you were in the employer's shoes? If I wasn't trying to help (and thinking all this was just the "intro" and we'd get to the art soon) I would have never watched the whole thing. :/ That's bad! You need to get a JOB with these materials!

Take it for what it is. It was a class assignment to show your prof, yes...I get the workings of flash. Now you need to make something that will actually work for you and your future employers. When you do that website, think very long and hard about "What sites do I like to visit? Why? What sites do I get the hell out of quickly? Why?" And follow those examples. Definitely READ THIS BLOG POST (http://www.notesongamedev.net/resource/how-to/your-portfolio-repels-jobs/) (and share with your prof) by a game art production manager on what makes a good portfolio website.

[riceface]

the whole thing looked very amateurish, even the posters and stuff that i barely can see arent very good..

the whole thing just didn't make sense, the movements all robotic and weird. the hammer? what the heck? just a bunch of random stuff.

if i were u i'd do the whole thing over.. and i mean everything.

this is why i hate trade schools... they let anyone in and teach u the basics..

im not trying to be mean im being as real as i can.. teachers are scared to say it sucks but i will