How to make a VFX Demo Reel?

Hey Everyone!!
Hope all of you are enjoying your holidays :grin:
I have seen many tips about how good the demo reel should be, or Tips for making awesome demo reel. But I didn’t get much resources on how to actually create a demo reel? or which software to use? :nerd_face: and all of that queries.
So, can anyone please help me learn how to create my demo reel? :upside_down_face:
Any help would be appreciated :grinning: Thankyou :relaxed:

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what engine are you using? for Unreal i tend to setup Sequencer shots for the effects and export them to hi res video, for things in engine i use OBS to record my screen while i demo the effect. Then i just bring it all into After Effects for an intro, title, fade in/out etc.

Hope that helps!

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I’d suggest you to record the effects you made first. In Unity i setup the scene i want my effect to play and then build it to record it with NVidia Geforce Experience (make sure to get rid of the recording notification before if you don’t want it to popup in your vid). Then i just put them together and edit them in Vegas Pro (or any other editing softwares).

Here’s my demo reel for example: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zRZ1L

Not sure if you need any music on it tho, most people tend use songs in theur demo but i was told it wasn’t necessary at all so i didn’t use any.

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no music, never, don’t do it, period.

seriously you’re being hired for your fx work not your taste in music, it’s just another headache to get right and 90% of people looking at your work probably have you muted and their own music playing or talking it through with a colleague anyway.

Oh thank god i didn’t do it then. But some people from Ubi in the jury when i graduated said i should have used a song lol so i was a little bit confused.

I use FRAPS to record and Premiere to edit, but only because those happen to be the softwares I’m familiar with. I’m sure Movie Maker or iMovie would work just as well!

Make sure to double-check your export settings, with modern codecs there’s nothing stopping you from making videos that are small in file size with hardly any noticable artefacting. I tend to see too many videos that are grainy and stuttery despite their 1GB+ file size…

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And dont use an obscure codec that wont play in vlc or media player.
I dont mind music on a reel unless its obnoxious. Though thar doesnt mean you can make weird edits based on the music. Its very likely the one reviewing the reel will have it muted.

I record with camtasia and edit in it or premiere, depending on the need.

If you are recording stuff from a PC I’d recommend using OBS Studio from Open Broadcaster Software. It’s better than FRAPS and it’s free.

You don’t really need Premiere or Vegas for your reel since nobody is going to judge you based on your wipes, fades or transitions. You can edit your reel together easily enough just using the Movie Maker software that comes free with Windows 7/8/10.

Using music is up to you. You never get penalized for not having it, but some people out there might always judge you by the music you chose to use which is never a good thing.

If you are recording stuff from a console things are a little trickier, but when I need to do it I use a Black Magic Intensity card for capturing the video on my PC and then use OBS and Movie Maker as before.

Hope this helps!

Thankyou all! For the help :smile:
I’ll be working on my demo reel, and hope to post it soon :wink:

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