A demo reel is a motion designer's resume. It should include their best work & demonstrate capabilities.
This is a breakdown of how I developed my latest reel, showcasing 3D modeling, 2D Animation, Music, Videos, concert & livestream visuals, logo design, music composition, and Sound Design. My demo reel contains a mixture of client work & personal projects I feel best represent my skills.
The following VIDEO is THE LATEST SHOW REEL UPDATED July 2023
The Breakdown Below is for MY previous reel-
Some elements are the same, but much has changed!
New reel is done, still in process with updating the breakdown, so there's a mismatch in the info below and the reel above!
Everything is powered up waiting for someone to man the controls. Showing up and doing the work is the way I've gotten better over time. the camera movement flies the viewer from the outside into the drivers seat at the already running work station. Time to get to work!
Wide view of Shaded 3D models
Zoomed in view of Shaded 3D models
Wide shot of wireframes
Zoomed in shot of wireframes
Top 3/4 view of wireframes
Top 3/4 view of shaded models
Top 3/4 view of fully rendered models
As we land on the monitor, we see my tag line "I make music look good", then immediately reveal a screen shot from the official artists Instagram, Nas on stage at in front of the boombox visuals I did as part of the Immanent VJ team for his MSG show.
Beginning of Alpha Matte Transition
Half-way point
Finishing as next frame animates on
The next transition 'bleeds' off using an alpha matte to reveal the next spot. a concept I'd been entertaining was Nike entering the motorsports world. Nike has connections with all sorts of non-traditional sports, so the idea was to create an interstitial for a street racing team. The goal was to capture the feel of following the racers route on a track, and pay homage to shifting a manual transmission.
I created a match cut transition here where the movement and shape of the Nike swoosh is mimicked by the position of the dancer in the following frames.
Match cut of the dancer in a pose mimicking the Nike swoosh.
Rotoscoped and motion tracked breakdancer. These frames are from a music video I crated for Snake Bones.
Adidas is one of my favorite brands, I've worn their shoes & attire most of my life. I'd come up with a concept for a winter sports line during the olympics in 2021, and animated a commercial spot for it. The animation came out pretty slick, so I included it in the reel.
I shot, produced, & directed several music videos for Akua in 2021. The next several frames highlight some of the most interesting shots from those videos. I created a series of transitions to cut various sections from these videos together. Full music videos and more information about the work I've done for Akua can be seen here.
Frame from 'God Division' Music Video
Frame from 'Bow Down' video
Transition frame from Bow Down music video
Frame from 'Bow Down' music video
Frame from Akua stage visuals
Bringing the reel to a close, the lens logo animates back into the frame, magnifying the segments of the screen beneath it. As the Snake Bones visuals animate off, the bezel of the lens rotates while sparks pulse and flicker from behind it. The sparks were created with Stardust, and a heavy application of Deep Glow to make them feel electric and vibrant.
The lens emits glowing audio waveforms, illustrating my focus on music, as it transitions from the 3D animation to its 2D counterpart and the sparks subside. The final frame animates on my name, specializations, contact info, and thanks the viewer for watching.
The reel was going to be about one minute long, so given my production skills, I opted to produce the soundtrack myself.
I rendered the rough cut and imported the video into Logic Pro to compose the music to fit with the action. Once I had the soundtrack complete, I bounced the audio so that I could synch the timing up with the animation within After Effects, and rendered it out again.
The piece was ready for final render, and showing off to potential clients!
I hope you enjoyed this breakdown and it gave you some insight to my process. Various components contained in this reel can be seen in more detail in the portfolio section of this website. If you'd like to know more about the person behind the work, there's a short bio about me at that link.
If you're interested in working with me on your projects, head over to the Contact Section and get in touch!
I hope you enjoyed this breakdown and it gave you some insight to my process. Various components contained in this reel can be seen in more detail in the portfolio section of this website. If you'd like to know more about the person behind the work, there's a short bio about me at that link.
If you're interested in working with me on your projects, head over to the Contact Section and get in touch!
