Demo Reel (from 17 years ago!) How does it hold up in 2019?

Описание: Recently I dug up my demo reel from 17 years ago!

This was my second VFX demo reel after 'breaking into the vfx industry'.

This thing is ancient and I thought it would be fun to talk about.

First of all it's 4:3 not 16:9 because that was still the broadcast standard back then (because we put these things on VHS tape to send out! YouTube was years away still).

This isn't my 'first' demo reel - unfortunately I don't have that anymore. But this reel I was 19 years old. I thought this would be fun to discuss, and maybe have a few laughs at.

I cut 3-4 previous reels before this one, which I faced constant rejection, and nearly gave up on ever making it into games or visual effects. Luckily I did finally make it, and regularly cut new reels as I improved. Mostly, as an excuse to continue to send out new reels to possible employers.

This was 2002, where we still used Maya 3, 3DS Max 4, Gnomon was just Alex selling his training series via VHS. Discreet, Alias, were all separate companies. Lord of The Rings #1, had just come out. I had never left Australia, or was even old enough to drink in most countries. Oh the times have changed!

There's loads of things I would change, such as the fact that it's rendered with fields (odd/even fields - which was necessary for television before we went digital). The aspect ratio switches often, since it was for broadcast tv, as well as international music videos, and feature films.

The music from this I pulled from the Maya eye candy reel from back in the day. I don't remember the actual track - but as YouTube flags this video for copyright for the music, I'll make sure to post it :)


QUICK QUESTION - Please leave a comment: What was your first demo reel like? Was it something you were proud of? Or is it something you might cringe at, looking back on it now?

Let me know by leaving a comment!


By the way - wanted to mention two things:

I have a new FREE DEMO REEL GUIDE - If you want to download the FREE guide I wrote on how to make a Demo Reel (from an employers perspective) go to www.allanmckay.com/myreel/

I also have a new 18 hour FREE Live Action Visual Effects City Destruction Class - check out www.VFXCOURSE.com which I just posted this week. If either of these help you (which I hope they do!)

Thanks guys

Allan




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