Escape Studios Blog

September's Free Tutorial - Bumping and Adding Effects

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:50:04 +0100

If you want to gain more production-level modelling skills, this is a great tutorial. It’s taken from the final part of our Advanced Shading with Maya online course and looks at the steps needed to create a realistic render, by adding bump detail with procedural textures and making use of effects.

It’s a 10 minute tutorial that will take you through the vital steps needed to bring your models to life – here’s a quick breakdown, but you can take a look at the tutorial in more detail by going to the webpage.

Tutorial Breakdown
Bump mapping with procedural textures
Adjusting surface detail
Adding and adjusting depth of field
Light fog
Render settings

Accessing this tutorial
You can access the tutorial right away; all you’ll need to do it register for our Free Resource Centre and then log in. If you are already registered, just log in here.

Only 4% of UK games industry staff are female

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:05:47 +0100

Saw this article in GamesIndustry.biz and was a bit shocked.

Only 4% of the UK's games industry staff are female. The main reason it appears, is a culture of long hours. 43 per cent of the 450 surveyed women claimed their well-being had been negatively impacted by the amount of time spent working.

32 per cent of respondents claimed to work in excess of 45 hours a week, 22 per cent between 46 and 55 hours and 10 per cent more than 56 hours a week.

I wonder if it is just long hours that are keeping women away from the games industry...

In the classes here at Escape Studios, the proportion of women in the Visual Effects classes versus women in the Games classes is far higher, but the VFX industry is no less demanding, and in some ways less work friendly. Games industry positions tend to be full-time with a packages made of pension schemes, health insurance, bonuses and sick pay whilst VFX is predominantly freelance work with not many extra work benefits.

Could it be that the image of the games industry and games as a whole is putting women off?

On a personal note I much prefer to have women working in a team. I found that the women I have worked with were far better art leads, more balanced and inclusive, and jolly good at organisation!

My dream of teaching a girls-only games class, sadly seems quite remote.

Stereographic 3D - Who's getting it right?

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:01:17 +0100

Stereographic: looks like this time it might be here to stay. But with differing techniques in post and production and delivery mechanisms still in flux who's getting it right?

James Cameron has been very outspoken about the plethora of companies slapping on the 3D monika and reaping the benefits of audiences going to experience a full 3D experience and getting something that well... isn't. The 2D to 3D conversion processes that are currently being retro-fitted to movies about to be released that have not been shot or designed to maximise the 3D experience are less than ideal. We end up with a very victorian toy theatre effect ("Captain Pugwash like" for brits who remember) that is fraught with convergence issues and can at worst be a blurry mess.

With Stereographers now on set guiding directors and DP's in its infancy we have a crossover period in which we could break the art of 3D cinematography and the storytelling it may bring to us. The conversion guys are doing so many average conversions that I wonder if the audiences will fail to find the 3D draw a long term thing? If produced correctly the stereographic medium could bring a lot of new ways in the story telling process and change forever how we deliver the moving image.

Personally, I still have issues with production techniques and how they force the eye to focus on areas of the image that I may not wish to focus on. It means I am not able to resolve the image and I get fusing problems and blurry nasties. Parallel versus toe-in, I'm still to be convinced which way I sway. But parallel makes more sense at the moment for me.

After watching Avatar on a full HD TV, in 2D on a really great LED panel, I was more blown away by the quality of the craftmanship and artwork generated by the artists than I was by the experience within the cinema in a full 3D experience - especially with the fusing errors and blurring I was suffering with.

I'm still waiting to see if we can get even better tech and production techniques to really resolve these issues, but it will all be broken if we continue with bad conversions...

Looks or personality?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:17:13 +0100

We were having a chat in the office about art in games, and it sparked off a couple of tweets from @Escape_Studios last week. Basically, we were wondering how much the visuals, or game art, matter in the whole gaming experience. Does a game really need to look that great for people to enjoy it, or can how it looks be the difference between good and great?

From what we saw on Twitter, opinion is as divided as it was in the office. In the ‘nice to have, but not necessary camp’ was @I_AM_DAVE_COX with ‘Gameplay take about 65% so looks will be 35% if my math serves me well’ (it does, Dave), and @danlefeb saying ‘Art in games is similar to art in CG movies. e.g., Pixar movies look great but the story is what makes it (re)watchable’. In the ‘must have' corner was @ZOMGitsBC ‘If the art is good, you may play it purely for that reason, you think many people would play LIMBO if it wasn't for it's art’, and @DaveyMillar ‘I think gameplay and visuals are an equal in my decision to purchase a game. But I would purchase a game if it's a looker!’.

For my part, my love of art should scream it’s all about the look, but I’ve always felt that there’s got to be some meaning, some depth, in all art to make it great, and that’s the case with games as well – making it look good helps create a world gamers can get sucked into, but if the game play is clunky and the story is boring there’s only so many times you're going to try and play it before getting frustrated and stopping.

As usual what constitutes great looking art can be subjective and sometimes a simple game with basic vector graphics can as engaging as a tiltle such as Naughty Dog's Drakes Fortune. Having said that, as a huge comics fan as well (I basically run the gamut of most nerdy interests), I find it difficult to read a good comic if the art is bad, so I guess each medium has its tipping point for each individual.

Are you all about the look or do you need a game with some personality as well?

A student's little black book of contacts - the benefits of LinkedIn

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:53:29 +0100

I spent of lot of my time helping escapees find their first job. As part of this is, I maintain a network of contacts to help students get their foot in the door. We all know how important it is to know the right people and belong to the right network - something that not every student does enough of, but could help them land their dream job.

An easy way for students to get networking is to set up a LinkedIn profile. It can help introduce you to key contacts in the industry and get your CV in front of the right people. Most companies are on there – we’ve got over 1,000 followers on our Escape Studios groups - a mix of students and industry pros from the likes of Framestore and Pixar. They are all a great resource for students who want to find out the latest info and talk about what’s happening in the CG world.

I’ve got few tips that might help you get your LinkedIn profile going:

1) Get the basics done - when you sign up, you need to add in the usual info (your name, education, interests) - the more you fill in, the more complete your profile appears so spend the time adding your details and even a picture - just remember it needs to be one you wouldn't mind a future boss seeing. This is also another great opportunity to show off your work so make sure you include a link to your showreel in the website section
2) Join the right groups - you should not only think about connecting to people from your course or went to school with, but also groups linked to your interests and career. Whether you want to see what we're up to, or check out Animation and Film Jobs which has over 9,000 members, it's worth digging around to see what groups are out there.
3) Give group discussions a go - if you've got a view on something, try commenting on the discussion topics (at the top of most group pages). It looks good to a future boss to see you're passionate about the industry and might help get you find more useful contacts to add.
4) Recommendations really help - as you get connected to more people, it's good to get recommendations added to your profile. It might be a tutor, a place where you did a placement or from an old employer, but any good comment will help boost your CV. Often the more recommendations you give, you'll find the favour's returned. So if you've worked with someone who impressed you, it might be worth saying good things about them and could help you get a recommendation.
5) Keep it fresh - an out of date profile is no good to anyone so make sure you update any big changes. It doesn't have to be a weekly thing, but if you've done some training, got a new job or new show reel, make sure it goes up there.

You can start your network straight away by connecting with me, this will give you an initial network of 400,000+ and you can build from there!

Free 1-Week Mentored VFX Training

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:56:32 +0100

So, to celebrate the launch of our Online Mentored VFX course, we have decided to go mad and give away for free the first week of the course to fifteen lucky people.

The Online Mentored VFX course is studied online and supported by our team of professional tutors. And, our online platform is fully integrated with social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, so you can learn from Escape’s community and work together with your friends on projects. What makes these courses different, is that they set you up with the skills and support you need to secure a job in the industry when you are finished.

The trial will start next week - on Monday 13th September. You'll get access to the first week's online video tutorials and our Primitive Man project brief. Once you've completed and uploaded the project at the end of the week, we will collate project submissions and create feedback videos for all the students in the trial. we will upload all this feedback for you and your classmates to see. We want you to have a genuine experience of what the mentored course is like.

The one-week trial will culminate is an live Q&A webinar on Thursday 23rd September, where all participants will get a chance to ask questions to our course advisers.

To sign up for your chance to participate free for one week, click here.

For more information on our Online Mentored Visual Effects Course, click here.

For those of you who are interested in booking the whole one-year mentored program, we only have a few last places left on the course starting on the 4th October, and you can reserve a place by contacting us here.

Houdini 11 Ready for the Masses?

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:36:58 +0100

Now that the competitive race between Maya and 3ds Max has somewhat run its course (because they are both owned by Autodesk), we look to other developers to see what they are doing to close the gap.

Siggraph always brings new announcements from software vendors and Side Effects are no exception to that rule.

Houdini has always been favoured at the very high-end by experienced TD's. "If you can't do it in Maya, finish off in Houdini!", still seems to be the mantra (excuse the pun). But have they done enough to close the gap on Autodesk's industry favourites?

Side Effects have made a concerted effort in 11 to focus on productivity. The new FLIP fluids solver offers a great deal of speed and control to automatically fracture RBD objects (see image above).

They have also made advancements in Rendering and Lighting. Artists can now make decisions on the fly with lighting interactivity in the veiwport; care of new OpenGL effects such as GPU-assisted volumes, unlimited lights with support for diffuse, speculat, opacity, environment, bump and normal maps.

Take a look at the full list of new features and enhancements here.

If you are keen to have a play - Houdini Apprentice is the free evaluation (watermarked, non-commercial file format and limited render resolution). You can also get your hands on their 'Starving Artists Edition' for $99 - Watermark free and HD resolution.

If you get chance to look at Houdini please let us know your thoughts. Is the product ready for the masses or is it still a package that you need to be at a TD level to understand?

Top Talent at UWE

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:59:26 +0100

Last week, I had the pleasure of judging the short films produced by the graduating class of 2010, BA in Animation at the University of West England. The top prize up for grabs was our new Self-Directed ZBrush Course, and the top five contenders for the winning spot were (in no particular order):

Control – Daniel Binns
Ar Bick Ma Kung – Loh Eugene
Escape – Sam Munnings
Perceptual Illusions – Fedias Hadjixenofontos
Forget Me Not – Lottie Kingslake

I was quite impressed with the talent on display and the quality of the work – which made my job that much more difficult! Each film was judged on the technical quality of the content. I specifically looked at animation, camera movement, use of lighting and shading as well as the overall length, style and story line. I felt it wouldn’t be fair to make a call on the videos’ artistic merits as that's quite subjective.

I also want to point out that I judged the films based on their content and not their suitability as showreels.

It was quite difficult to choose a winner but the film that stood out for me was Escape by Sam Munnings. The film had some fantastic camera work, from dynamic cameras to subtle pull focus, which makes for a great edit.

Sam, if you are out there reading this, I suggest you could improve it by rendering out a slightly larger version on the extreme wide angle shots, apply a lens warp then crop it back to the original size. If you are trying to add a more photographic feel to your shots, then stay away from using extremely wide shots as it will just give you the look of a bad wide CG camera. I'd suggest using a lens shader to give it some distortion instead. The overall length of the video is good, and really seems to suits its purpose. The lighting style was very nice but did appear very harsh in some places and the animation on the skater is a little too staccato and does not have enough fluidity to it.

Overall, Sam’s work has some nice touches throughout and shows a lot of promise. Well done Sam!

To view all the finalists showreels, check out the UWE BA Animation Graduating Class of 2010 website here.

4DMax scans Willie Harcourt-Cooze's face

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:23:44 +0100

I wrote about the work that 4DMax have been involved with in helping create a new brand identity for Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory. They have just sent us the result of their work and I thought you'd be interested in taking a look.

You can have a look at a number of Willie Harcourt-Cooze's head scans on our Facebook page here.

Free RenderMan Tips and Tricks Webinar

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:53:41 +0100

Hi Everyone, my name is Chris Ford from Pixar Animation Studios and I manage Pixar's RenderMan business from our studio in California. I am delighted that Escape has kindly offered me the opportunity to contribute an occasional guest blog post.

If asked, most people think of Pixar as a feature animation studio; however it is much less well known that Pixar also supplies the cinematic rendering technology used in the majority of visual effects and animated feature films past and present. Pixar's RenderMan renderer was and is one of the primary enablers of the modern revolution in special effects, and from our analysis of ongoing trends in technology and production; the growth opportunities in our industry are looking extremely encouraging. In fact I am currently tracking every feature animation and visual effects film in the global pipeline out to 2013 and beyond and there are more upcoming feature films that will require cinematic rendering skills than ever before and equally an increasing need for talent to service that demand.

It is with this impending demand in mind that with the help of Escape Studios we have compiled a RenderMan Tips and Tricks webinar for aspiring VFX artists who seek to get a head start in the production industry using our RenderMan software. Simply, there are going to be many opportunities for talented lighting, shading, and rendering specialists over the next few years.

The first webinar will be presented by Escape Studios’ Lee Danskin who has crafted an excellent overview based on his decades experience in the industry. Lee will spend the first 25 minutes walking you through some of the RenderMan secrets used in day to day production, and will finish up by giving you the opportunity to ask whatever questions you have for him. I will also be posting a list of the most frequently asked questions on this blog once the webinar has taken place so that you can reference them later.

All this will be taking place on September 9th 2010 and you can find the details and sign up here.

If you’d like to see more webinar’s on Pixar's RenderMan, please reply to this post and we will see what we can do.

Growing up with Maya

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:19:37 +0100

I had a picture sent to me from an old colleague this week (above). It was taken in the "fake" Getaway pub on the 4th floor of SCEE’s (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) offices in Soho.

It really had me reminiscing about my 9 years working for Alias – Alias|Wavefront, pre Maya...

Yes folks, there was life before Maya!

Actually its predecessor from Alias, ‘Power Animator’ used to come in 3 modules; each module was £7500! So companies like SCEE used to spend £22,500 on software alone per artist... Oh, of course you had to run it on an SGI (Silicon Graphics). That would only set you back around £40K.

Can you imagine today just contemplating that? There was no student edition; this stuff was for the elite – those with money or those who had no other choice but to borrow it to follow their dream. So lots of thoughts about working for Alias – too much for a single Blog. But the picture had me thinking about all the amazing people, the technology and how far we have come from the very first embers of CG as we know it today. One vivid image for me to mention here is the production of ‘BINGO THE CLOWN-O’. Dear Chris Landreth suffered for his art by having to put baby Maya through its paces during pre-alpha to V1.0 release.

The short is based on the stage play Disregard This Play by the theater troupe The Neo Futurists. It uses surrealistic imagery and dialogue to tell the story of an ordinary man who is surrounded by characters who insist that he is someone named "Bingo the Clown" even though he is not.

I am bias about this production because I worked for Alias, but it still makes me proud now. It was a new era for CG. I watched BINGO again yesterday, and it still does it for me... Take a look here if you have never seen it, I hope you enjoy it.

The Future of Games

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:02:09 +0100

I have just finished reading the "Videogames: state of the art" article in this month's issue of 3D World magazine and was reminded of just why I love being a CG artist, and how vain I am seeing my name in print.

A key concept that comes across from the article is what a flexible bunch games artists need to be. Never mind dealing with getting the artistic basics right, the humble games artist has to understand a huge number of technical processes on the road to getting his or her work finalised in the game.

With the advent of directx11, mega textures, Geomerics' Enlighten, integrated editors, for seamless workflow or new implementations on deferred rendering the games artist is entering a renaissance of visual fidelity.

As Beau Folsom from realtime worlds suggests, every adoption of new technology has an impact both in terms of production times and memory costs. As always learning how to get the best bang for buck is an important skill.

Close to my own heart, at the end of the article it mentions life drawing. It doesn’t matter what advances in technology there are, the quest for an artist to master proportions form and colour is what matters in achieving stunning graphics.

Free Evaluations of modo Production Now Available

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:55:03 +0100

Luxology are now giving away modo Production Evaluations for free. The Production Evaluation gives you access to more much more content than you would normally get with the free Basic modo Trial – so it actually gives you can a chance to properly test drive modo.

With this evaluation, you also get free videos, documentation and content files so you can check out all of modo’s 3D modelling, painting and rendering capabilities.

Here’s a short list of what’s included:

modo 401 software (direct download)
modo 401 Spotlight video series
modo content files and access to asset-sharing site
modo 401 online documentation
30 day temporary licence
Licenses for BOTH the PC and Mac
modo File I/O Software Developers Kit
Rhino translator

If you’re interested, give us a call on +44 20 7348 1920 or email us.

More modo information can be found here.

Inception Zero Gravity

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:16:12 +0100

For me the best movie so far this year has to be Christopher Nolan's Inception. it will be interesting come Oscar time to see if the Academy and the world at large agree. It is a fantastic combination of amazing direction and cinematography, a gripping script and amazing VFX. The best VFX are the ones you don't see and only afterwards do you think "How did they do that?".

For me the bit of the movie that hits this mark is the zero gravity sequence in the hotel, and particularly when the sleeping bodies of the lead characters are stacked up and wheeled into an elevator. I could not fathom how it was done and what was real and what was CG. So when I had lunch recently with Paul Franklin, the leading light on the movie for Dneg and a recent addition to our Advisory board, I had to ask.

The answer I got was somewhat surprising and much simpler than I expected - as all the best things in life are. Instead of creating fully CG backgrounds and characters, they relied on expert wire work and a moving set that consisted of a corridor and hotel room that they were able to turn to mimic the effect of zero gravity. When it came to the sequence I mentioned with the lift, they simply hung everyone in parallel and rotated the room and camera to mimic the effect of stacking the bodies. Because the actors were not expected to lie in such awkward positions for hours and stand ins were used, it was necessary to replace some of the heads for shots close to camera.

It just goes to show that even now with all of the technology at hand, sometimes you get a better result from doing things the old fashioned way and then using CG as a way of making things believable. I'd like to congratulate Chris Nolan and Dneg for their outstanding work and for creating a movie that had me and thousands of others sitting on the edge of our seats.

Autodesk Entertainment Live Tour goes to Manchester

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:00:28 +0100

We're excited to announce that we'll be heading to Manchester with Autodesk next month for their Entertainment Live Tour event.

Autodesk’s experts will be demonstrating the Autodesk 2011 products and how they can be used in a modern entertainment pipeline. You’ll get to see Maya, 3ds Max, Mudbox and MotionBuilder in action and pick up tips and techniques on how to optimise your workflows. You can always chat to the experts afterwards over a beer or two – that’s where you’ll find us if you want to catch up with us.

The event is taking place at the Malmaison Hotel, Picadilly on the 28th of September. It is this year’s only Manchester event, so if you want to attend, register today to avoid missing out.

Check out more information here.

CVMP - Call for Short Papers

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:18:07 +0100

Those of you who see themselves as techno geeks and like to keep up with the latest research and developments in media production will want to check out this year’s CVMP conference.

The event has a great line up of top R&D speakers from companies like The Foundry and MPC, who will be talking about best industry practices, new technologies and advancements. Looks like there will be some interesting and serious topics covered. They are planning to look at scientific research and industry practices and how these can improve and change what is being done today.

If you think you have something to contribute you can even submit a Short Paper on the CVMP website - deadline for this is Monday 4th of October. If you are interested in attending, there is an early bird offer on registrations, if you register before 17th October.

Check out more information here.

California Dreams

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:21:49 +0100

As part of our ongoing commitment to the US, we have recently been on a whistle stop tour of California visiting all of the leading lights in the VFX and animation industry. Lee and I were lucky enough to visit the likes of ILM, Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony Imageworks and Tippett Studio. It was like walking into a living museum of the best VFX and animation has to offer, from the original costumes and matte paintings from the Star Wars series to the giant Luxo Jr outside Pixar's HQ. We were completely in geeky film heaven. Lee's excitement at seeing models and maquettes from some of his favourite movies was very obvious. For those of us who know him, well there is no volume control!

We have put together an amazing group of people to start our US advisory board and we'll be releasing more information about them over the coming months. Interestingly enough it seems that the US industry suffers from exactly the same problems with recruiting production ready staff as their counterparts in the UK. Based on the global nature of the industry now, they have just as much need for talented fresh blood. All in all it was an excellent trip and we look forward to working closely with all of our new advisory board members.

I have included a few pictures for you to enjoy our geek out road trip! You can take a look at them on Facebook or on Flickr.

4DMax Helps Creates New Identity for Willie’s Chocolate Factory

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:55:59 +0100

Our friends at 4DMax are 3D data capture specialists and have been blazing a trail recently with their work scanning heads, bodies, objects and environments for some very high profile VFX movies. We’ve tried the technology here at the Escape Studios’ offices using the heads of a few weary volunteers to see how the technology works. The results are amazing!

For this project 4DMax has been helping to create a new brand identity for a well-known UK company—Willie's Chocolate Factory. They spent a day with us at Escape Studios putting this project together. They scanned the head of Willie to help create the facial and head images that will be associated with the new identity for Willie’s Chocolate Factory. Contact 4DMax if you want to find out more about the work they do.

Meet Ognyan Zahariev Aspiring Games Artist

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:40:38 +0100

We recently had a chance to catch up with Ognyan Zahariev an aspiring games artist and Escape Studios graduate. Ognyan is heading to Codemasters to start his career next month and has taken some time to share his thoughts on life after Escape Studios and joining the workforce in the games industry.

1. So Ognyan, how did Escape Studios compare to your other educational pursuits?
In terms of quality I cannot compare Escape to any other course, workshop or university. The Games Course was really intensive and it is amazing how much one can learn in just three months. I believe that it is the experience of the tutors and the constant upgrading of the courses that makes the difference.

2. What was the most memorable thing you’ve taken away from Escape Studios?
That would be the long nights spent in the studio or at home working on the projects and the never ending inspiration. For the last part I give credit to Simon – our tutor and the way he designed the course. The topics for our projects provided both freedom and guidance in terms of what will be expected from us in the industry. I also made a few good friends that made the experience even more fun. Greetings to my Brazilian buddies!

3. Tell us about your upcoming new job and why you are excited about it.
I am really happy to say that I signed with one of my favorite studios - Codemasters. After the interview I tried to avoid keeping my expectations too high as I didn’t want to be disappointed in case they didn’t hire me. Inevitably I kept dreaming about it and in the end all the hard work through the years paid off. I will have the chance to work on some amazing projects and have the luxury of working with some of the best in the industry. What more could I ask for?

4. What is your new job title? What does it entail?
My job title is “Experienced artist”. I have to design art assets, model, texture and render. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and what makes me happy. Having a chance to do this in such a place and one day have a published title with my name in the credits is a dream come true.

5. What inspired you to become a games artist and what advice would you give to an aspiring one?
I have always been fascinated by art. I used to draw all the time while growing up. As a teenager I used to play games for fun and it always amazed me how much imagination was put into a certain project and how much potential this industry has. At university I studied Computer science but I chose only design and art courses as there were no appropriate games art courses in Bulgaria back then. I learned everything I couldn’t get from the university by myself but Escape definitely took me to the next level. I am equally amazed by VFX and I think that both industries offer different challenges but nowadays there are more similarities between them.

My advice to the aspiring artists is to never give up because of frustration as persistence is the key to success no matter how cliché it may sound. All the times that your machine crashed and you lost your work or the times when you didn’t like the result but you kept on working hard will pay off in the end and you will find yourself getting paid for having fun while producing some amazing art!

6. Who is the most inspirational person you’ve dealt with in building your career to this point? Why?
I cannot think of a single person. There are many people that influenced me and I am inspired by numerous things on a daily basis. I have been inspired by the Old Masters like millions of other artists before me. I love the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. I grew up with all the Disney movies and I am grateful to my parents for this. I have also had the pleasure of working with some great artists in Bulgaria and I learned a lot from them. More recently I definitely have to point out the influence of Simon – my Escape tutor. His attitude and the way he spoke of the industry during the course was very motivating. The time we spent with Lee Danskin was amazing as well!

Two showreel tips

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:40:57 +0100

Those of you who follow us on Twitter will know that we had our first ever realtime Twitter feedback session on Monday. I am told I should refer to them as Tweetups or Twitter parties, but if truth be told, it was a simple, honest, online showreel clinic! We asked our followers to send us links to their reels, and Lee Danskin, our Training Development Director, provided his usual professional feedback.

It doesn't matter how often I watch Lee do showreel critics, I still get a kick from listening to him. First of all, he has a pretty inimitable style which always brings a smile, and secondly, I am amazed at his attention to detail. But that's not actually the point of this blog post... What I actually wanted to share with you are a couple of tips which keep coming up time and time again. They are pretty simple, and we’ve mentioned them before but they make such a difference that I thought I'd take time to write them up again.

Tip 1: Make sure you include your contact details and your current job role, as well as the one you’re applying for, in the actual reel. Many people think that a covering note is enough, but to be fair most letters, CVs, covering notes and emails get separated from the reels. Your future employer isn’t going to spend much time trying to guess which role you’re going for, so take the guessing out of it and make it obvious. Then, let the reel do the rest.

Tip 2: Pick an industry. Recruiters’ major bugbears are generic reels which aren’t tailored to the positions you’re looking for. It’s no good applying for a VFX role and having loads of animated pieces, or going for a compositing job and showing off a car chase you made for a game. You need your reel to demonstrate that you’ve got the skills relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Simple stuff, but often overlooked. The employers we work with spend hours watching dozens and dozens of reels for each position they need to fill. They haven't got the time to figure out where you might fit in. So make it explicit! If you’re going for a rotoscoping role, stick it in white letters on a black background right at the beginning of your reel, and then have all your different roto models in there. You may end up leaving out many things you are especially proud of, but if they aren’t relevant for the job, there’s no point having them in there.

Thanks to @kevingeorge, @Erenius, @adrianspencer, @TimeLordTotty, @chris_dyke, @realsimjoy, @bbratt, @wdcstudios and @MajaFuente3D for submitting their reels, and apologies to all those we didn’t get round to viewing. We’re planning on doing more of these sessions in the near future, so keep an eye out for them and get your reels ready.