The secret of a great animation reel is simple - it must be completely free of mistakes. As Aardman animator Matt Rees puts it: "you are only as good as the worst thing on your reel".
3rd year Bucks animation student Dave Berry has been working hard on his animation reel, polishing the exercises set in my friday afternoon animation class and turning them into demo-reel-ready material.
Above is an excellent version of the "flour sack suicide", a relatively simple exercise which which tackles the problem of weight (ie how to make stuff feel heavy), and also performance, that is to say making an inanimate object come to life.
You can find the rig, which is a free download, here. And here are some thumbnail sketches to get you started.
Dave has also gone to the trouble of adding some simple textures, lighting and a camera move to make the shot feel finished. Nothing too complex - for animation purposes you want to keep things simple, lest you end up getting judged for the wrong things.
Congratulations to Dave on a very skilled piece of animation.
----Alex
(PS If any Bucks students feel they don't have enough animation in their lives and want to come along on Fridays from 2-4 pm in G1.13...come and join us!)
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