As I prepare for my future steps into the industry, I need to create and update my portfolio and my showreel. To make sure that my work is of the highest quality, we had a talk with Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits, the director at Moth Studios, who went into detail about what to include in your showreel as well as examples of what a successful showreel looks like.
During her talk, she first mentioned having multiple reels when it came to applying for roles. When first starting out as a recent graduate, you can have a general reel where it shows your skills as an animator, but also having a job-specific showreel is just as important as it shows to the company that you have an understanding of the role that you are applying to.
Each scenario of the job application is different, so it’s important to do your research and tailor your showreel to each role. This means to look into each company and to identify your audience. What is the house style of the company like? Meaning, what does their animation style normally cater towards? What kind of work/ clients have they previously done and collaborated with? If there is a specific company that you are drawn to, then try and emulate their styles of animation to show the skills necessary to show that you could be part of their team.
Margaux then went into detail about what content you should put into your showreel. She explained your showreel is an representation of you as an artist and your capabilities as an animator. Throughout your showreel you should always be putting your best work in, with Margaux explicitly saying that most of the time that your showreel with be judged based of your weakest shot, so ensure that you be very critical of your work and choose shots of animation that are memorable and leave the employer wanting more.
When you look at your showreel, you want to make sure that you have a variety of shots that represent different skills, whether that be timings, perspective, the different principles of animation, etc. Within these shots, you should put your best shot first and at the end of your showreel, a strong, memorable piece of work.
When editing your shot,s it is also important that you are keeping it short, between the 30 – 1 minute mark. The shorter the better. This will also allow you to be very critical of your work as you are not the only showreel that recruiters are going through, so it is better to keep your showreel short and snappy than longer and have the recruiter not go to the end of your showreel.
With contact information, make sure that it is very clear, putting all your contact details like your email address and portfolio link at the start and at the end of the showreel. When people go to your portfolio link, make sure that your email address is visible at all times.
After this presentation, I went and applied the advice that Margaux gave us and tried making a new showreel.
I have also created a new portfolio on Adobe Portfolio, where I have been able to easily upload all my new animation work, as well as some character concept illustrations that I made in my personal time as I still have interest in character concept design.
https://felixchenganimation.myportfolio.com/animation-portfolio