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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with an "ANTZ" Animator:

Question: What is most important for a student to include in her/his demo reel?

Show that you can tell a story cinematically. Of course you're going to want to demonstrate your technical ability, but if you can do so while expressing a cinematic thought, your reel will instantly be more engaging and more useful to a recruiter. Beyond all of the technical details, we're in the business of telling stories, and a recruiter will be encouraged to see you understand this. It doesn't have to be complex at all. On the demo reel I used to get hired at PDI, I had a short sequence of 7 shots that showed some cheesy spaceships entering orbit around a planet and blowing up an orbital platform. Most everything about it was pretty mundane, actually... but it was done very cinematically.

Question: What if all you're really interested in is modeling or lighting or some other element that makes doing a full animation difficult?

For this, I would suggest two things. First off, partner up with someone else. If you both point out which parts you did, you can both use the same animation for your own reels. Not only does this strengthen your reel, it also shows you can work in a team (which is a must for this business). My second suggestion would be to do a single frame with a really good composition that hints at a story by itself. In this case, you might also want to show the elements that went into the making of the single frame to help explain what you did.
-Nick Walker
Antz Modeler
Shrek Modeler/Layout Animator
ShrekIMAX Lead Layout Animator



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