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Reel Question
Hello everybody
I know that there is a demo reel forum, but I spend most of my time in the AE forum, and I find it
to be the most helpful place for my questions. I’m a broadcast designer with over 7 years experience.
I use After Effects, and a few other programs. I want to put a reel together highlighting some
my best work to help gain some freelance jobs .My question is does anybody think that it is a good idea to include before and after clips in the
reel ? I see a lot of cool demo reels, but nothing that shows how bad a greenscreen shot was or
how a certain effect, or design improved a peice of video.Thanks
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6 Replies
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I’d say it really just depends on what kind of work you want to do…if you’re looking for just any kind of work then sure throw it on…if you’re looking for compositing work specifically, put it on there for sure…if you’re looking to focus your career into more design oriented stuff, I’d say perhaps you might want to leave it off…Before and after stuff in a reel can be done really nicely…I can’t remember where I saw it but it was a company that did pretty much only compositing and they presented their before and after shots very nicely.
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Yes – on shots where the viewer won’t know that anything’s been done on it (compositing) this is a must. I’m actually surprised more people don’t do it. I think maybe they just don’t have the time.
If it’s done good – it’s impressive.
I also do this for my print portfolio. And people sending me reels have done this with design as well – which helps me get an idea of just what they’ve added to the piece. So I’m in favor of it.
The only ‘don’t’ I can think of is if you have too much of the before to the point of being boring. Also – if you add text like ‘BEFORE’ – make sure it ain’t ugly. 😉
hth,
// jayse
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Thank You Colin and Jayse.
Most of the broadcast design work I’ve done has been for a local news station.
Even though I get lots of motion graphics projects to work on it’s usually the same
subject. I’m open to any type of work (designing or compositing) I feel it’s time for me
to take a chance and market my skills. I was planning on showing before and after
on only 2 or 3 things in some sort of lower left box with text, that plays at the same
time as the fx video. -
For the most part, if you have accurate before and after segments, it’s a good idea provided that these shots are pretty clearly different and that they accurately show what YOU did instead of the resuling work of a team.
Michael Munkittrick
Managing Creative Director
Evolve Media SolutionsForum COWmunity leader for:
Sony DV
Magic Bullet -
And always include a credits sheet with what you did, along with what other team members did (shows you can work in a team)
// jayse
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Thanks Michael, that’s a good idea Jayse.
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