Showreel Assignment: First Term

Showreel Assignment: First Term

Introduction

Within this assignment we have to produce a showreel showcasing all of the work we have produced within the first term being a part of the Animation course. This also has to demonstrate our understanding of the animation principles through all of the mediums we have learnt over the past term. This includes: 3D, Computer, Stop Motion and 2D animation respectively. 

This must be produced to a professional standard and submitted before the 16th December 2015. 

Initial

I started with initial research by watching other people's showreels online to observe an note any consistencies I noticed. I found that all of the ones I liked had: up-beat music, an opening and closing title slide and interesting content which wasn't repeated. I found that the reels without this content weren't professional or interesting to watch. Therefore watching a range of showreels I felt that I gained a plan of what I was going to create and goals to achieve. 

Production

Firstly I gathered all of the work I had produced over the past term to ensure they are all presentable. There was some work I had to improve to a presentable standard; such as the 3D and Computer animation work because the test renders weren't rendered at HD and the videos weren't clear. 

After I had gathered the work; I compiled them together into premiere where I then planned the order that they will be shown. I wanted to show diversity and  didn't want to repeat my work; therefore I plan for the showreel to show sections of my work which will all be mixed in a random order; that work is not 'clumped' together. An example of this could be: not having all of my stop motion work being together; therefore I broke the sections down and put my 2D and 3D work in between to make the show reel diverse. 

I had to consider both the diversity and order my work would be shown because I had to showcase the development of my work to show that I have improved over the past term. However I had to make sure that the work was not 'clumped' but was diverse and interesting. 

Next I had to obtain music for the showreel. From the showreel's I had seen, the music has to be interesting and 'happy' but not complex or too interesting to take anything away from what was being shown. This is because the music is used to enhance the video and not to distract from it. Therefore I would have to carefully choose my music; I had a style of music in mind because I find my work to be comedic and diverse. Therefore i wanted music to match this, I thought that music with an up-beat tone and happy mood would be effective. Therefore I did some further research finding appropriate music for my showreel; I found a wide range of music I could use but I could only choose one. 

These songs were found on: http://www.audionetwork.com - which is an archive of music and songs for uses such as this. This website is also helpful because I can purchase tracks for personal use; therefore I am not at risk of copyright infringement. This is a serious risk because these showreel must be professional and can be viewed by professionals within the industry. 

Therefore I decided to buy the rights to this song: 'Going For A Song' for personal use; therefore I am not at risk of copyright infringement. I added this to premiere as well as the work I have produced over the first term. I created captions for each section of the video which provides a brief description of what the video is as well as creating improved title and credit cards. This is because the other title cards i created where not as eye catching; therefore i added colour and used an interesting font. I chose the colour green and the font: 'Dimbo' from Da Font. This is because I like this style; in addition I ensure that the font was available to use and it is free to use. in addition I felt the style was appropriate for my style of work; stylised and silly as I like my work to be comedic and extreme; as shown in my 2D work. 

I then created a animated signature because it is unique to my work and I felt it made the showreel more interesting. This was followed by another credit slide which gave credit to the music used within the showreel. 

Here is a link to my showreel:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvooy5hpdko
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/148737855

Conclusion

I feel that I have met the requirements of the brief and that my showreel showcases my work effectively. I would improve the some sections such as the 3D and computer animations because they are not as strong as my other work. However this would take too long to improve and add to the showreel to be worth the time and effort. I will build from this however by improving my 3D knowledge and skills; when i have to create another showreel, my 3D work will have improved.