6 things that make a killer show reel to get your dream job

1. The shorter the reel the better.

Beginners often feel a reel needs to be long and have lots of different work to show scope and diversity.  Think of who is looking at them. A busy professional wants to know you can definitely do the work in as short a time as possible.  They may have a big stack of resumes and reels.  So choose your best work and keep it around a minute and a half (or two minutes tops if you just can't resist). One great shot will get you a job much more than 10 mediocre ones. Leave anything off you are not proud of. One bad section can ruin a whole reel.

2. Perfect execution of a simpler shot is better than a complex shot not done properly

When making a reel for your first industry job it is tempting to choose a project for yourself that is overly complex, because it's cool, and you think it will impress people. Complexity is the enemy of execution. If you have anything that stands out as wrong, it will count against you. So give yourself an easier win, with less things you have more chance to perfect them and for success! I would much prefer to see a reel that is more simple with well-integrated elements and thoughtful details.  These features can also be shown elegantly in a shot breakdown (introducing each layer with a wipe as a sort of behind the scenes) as part of your presentation.

3. Solid fundamentals, your lighting and motion makes sense

This is commonly overlooked but to the trained eye knowing the fundamentals makes for the difference between an amateur artist and a more experienced artist.  Often an employer is looking for a person with potential that does not need hand-holding on every single task.  Make sure the lighting direction, intensity and color match on every element in the shot. If there is motion make sure it has realistic timing. Make sure all your edges are clean and sharp. This will tell the viewer the person has thought about it properly

4. If you are a 3D artist, still take the time to composite the shot nicely

With CG it can be tempting to take a render out of Maya or Blender and put it directly into the demo reel.  But CG by itself is usually too clean, sharp, evenly toned, and not integrated properly with other elements in the shot.  Renders almost always have problems out of the gate, giving them some love in comp, splitting out the render elements and adjusting, gives you the best chance to fix errors and balance to fit the plate.  They also often need smoke and atmosphere added to give depth.  The process of compositing is something like making a painting.  The devil is in the detail, and finessing is important to selling a shot. Develop your eye so you can see the subtle differences between what makes a shot work or not.

5. Know your audience

If you are going for a specific job make sure it's tailored to that. A generalist reel is ok if you are going for generalist work, but try to make sure it's appropriate to the kind of work you are seeking. Particularly in the movie business, If its a modeling job, create a modeling reel, if its lighting focus on that. Also if they are making photoreal imagery, make sure your work is photoreal. If it's stylised like Pixar then focusing on that style is ok too.

6. Include your information clearly and don't obsess about music

 Make sure you include your name, contact information, specialties, and website at the beginning and/or end of the reel.  Clearly, no fancy fonts! List what you did in the shot underneath the shot (optional but great to do) and in a separate shot list. Make sure it contains your own work(should be obvious but you would be surprised). Don't forget to have your resume and cover letter pasted into the text of the email if that is your choice of submission, just in case a pdf or doc attachment doesn't open. Test the video to make sure it plays on many different computers, devices and software. Be sure it will play! You wouldn't want to do all that work and not get seen.

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Image credit, ILM, Jurassic World. This is on my showreel, my work being in the Creature FX department. Working on Jurassic was my childhood dream. Took a while but it happened. If it did for me it can for you.