Reel Time Real Talk - Part 1

Speaker 0 00:00:01 Hi, I'm Aaron Swarovski. Speaker 1 00:00:03 And I'm Austin Shaw. Speaker 0 00:00:04 This is between the key frames. Ready? Austin? I am ready. Good. Okay, we're back. We just had, uh, a real big episode with Justin Cone. We finally got that out there, so we're up for recording some more good stuff. It's good to be back. Austin, out of post and into production. Here we are, we're gonna do realtime real talk. We're gonna not only do what Austin did before, which is like hacky hack, hack hack. I think people really like that to see in it. The advice in created real time imparted and what's the word I'm looking for? Speaker 1 00:00:49 Um, I don't know. <laugh>, I don't know either. Speaker 0 00:00:52 <laugh>, it's early on a Sunday morning. Everybody should know anyway. They like seeing you talk about it and actually do it. It's, it's talking the Speaker 1 00:01:01 Talking process. Speaker 0 00:01:02 Yeah. Walking the walk at the same time. So it wasn't just like, this is what you should do. It was, this is how Right. You, you do that. But then in addition to doing that, we're also just gonna talk about reels. I think it's really important, um, for p for people to see how many reels we're getting and what our impressions are of them. And overall takeaways. Maybe some suggestions, but maybe, I think people probably wanna know from me, like, as a studio owner, when you get a reel that looks like this, what are your thoughts? And then from you, especially as an educator and, and also a freelancer, like your point of view on it from your vantage point. So I, I think it'll be some like really interesting conversations around these reels that we're gonna review. Right. So let's ch You have any thoughts? I did all the talking. Speaker 1 00:01:50 No. Yeah. That, um, just to reiterate, the doing some real reviews and giving feedback, right? Yeah. From, from our different perspectives and mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Yeah. So all I will share screen and we'll, we'll check out the first submission. Speaker 0 00:02:06 Cool. Speaker 1 00:02:11 All right. So our first submission is from Isy. And let's give their real a play down. All right. First thoughts. Speaker 0 00:03:19 Well, I think this person's really strong with typography. Obviously has a more contemporary point of view. Like that layout is really cool. The animation fields are really experiential because there isn't like a lot of brand names. I don't know if it's, um, personal work or commissioned work. I think this 3D is a little weak. I, I like seeing it in there and knowing that this person is interested in doing that, but putting that in the context of all this other very strong work makes it stand out as not quite there yet. But if I did see it on their website or something, that would make me excited as a business owner, cuz I'd know that they were into doing that. And this 3D piece is actually like a great piece, Speaker 1 00:04:02 Right? Speaker 0 00:04:03 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I liked also like the magazine covers how they were presented in the context of the reel. I think that was really cool and thoughtful. Speaker 1 00:04:11 Right on. What do you think about this first open? Speaker 0 00:04:14 I think it's great. I mean, I like a nice short, simple, just show me the work. Uh, right. What are your first thoughts? Speaker 1 00:04:21 Yeah, no, I, I I think it's a good strong open, like in these shots. I think this one feels a little bit weaker to me. I do like, I like this moment, right? When we go into this kind of grid happening, I can see making something like this working, the rocket working. If maybe we started really tight and the camera pulled Speaker 0 00:04:47 Back. Yeah. Dramatic Speaker 1 00:04:48 Camera pulling back other, but I could also see, you know, cutting it, Speaker 0 00:04:53 Just cutting it. Speaker 1 00:04:53 Yeah. And this is nice. This is fun. This is experimental and feel, and also I, I don't know this for sure, but what it feels like, because there's, they're square, let me see if I can pause it. Yeah, there we go. That these maybe were like social experiments and mm-hmm. <affirmative> and this is a ni if, if so it's nice. This is a nice way of laying out some, some social feed sized projects in an HD format, which could be challenging, but Speaker 0 00:05:19 It's really challenging. And I would say that's what this person does really well, is they're clearly taking different aspect ratio things and presenting it. Cuz as we know, everything's not a television commercial anymore, or a TV main title. We're delivering all sorts of things, all sorts of ways. But this 16 nine aspect ratio real is still the standard. Speaker 1 00:05:39 Right, right. You know, for montage. Yeah. You know, it's all tv, its just not all 16, nine tv. Right, Speaker 0 00:05:47 Right. It's all mo motion design. Right. Speaker 1 00:05:51 I think, I think this 3D is not as strong. Um, yeah. I mean I do like the, the the distress qualities to it. Yeah. And I like this sort of, but, but just as the spinning 3D piece, same thing here. This feels a little bit, it's interesting from an experimental, but not quite as strong as I Speaker 0 00:06:10 Like the colors and I love the type on it. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:06:13 To me, this one probably could do without, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's no camera movement, so it's, it feels a little more like a junior 3d. Speaker 0 00:06:21 This kind of stuff is cool. I say pepper, that Speaker 1 00:06:24 Stuff. Yeah. This is Speaker 0 00:06:24 All over the Speaker 1 00:06:25 Real contemporary illustrated. This is cool. Yeah. This is very fun. Cool. Same Speaker 0 00:06:31 Super strong typography skills. Speaker 1 00:06:33 And there's some nice editing, some nice match moves. Yeah, I agree. This is I think, a stronger feeling 3d. So if, if they wanna showcase their three, I mean, this could go earlier than earlier Right? Replace one of the not as strong 3D shots. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:06:51 In general, I felt like it was okay if it got shorter too. There we are. Absolutely not. Because there's Speaker 1 00:06:55 Like a, we're almost at a minute, right? Speaker 0 00:06:57 Yeah. I think you could be 45 and perfect. Like just super strong stuff. You don't have to use shots from beginning to end. You can cut in and out of them and have them be on screen westtown, Speaker 1 00:07:09 You know, and even up in that first, you know, that mini montage of that project. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:07:13 That's good. Fun pacing. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:07:17 Right. And just that rhythm between like, here's some strong typography, here's some more experimental, uh, or just mm-hmm. <affirmative> just Yeah. More graphic work. Having that flow I think is works. Speaker 0 00:07:29 Yeah. So from a like an art director standpoint, I, I would say this person's on the stronger side with certain sensibilities. With specific sensibilities. But on the motion design side, while the type is really strong and there's a lot of strong decisions being made for a layout, I would say like mid-level. Mid-level Speaker 1 00:07:49 Maybe. Right. Right. And this, I think on this shot too, I mean, this is interesting. It's a little busy. Yeah. Could these have, like, Speaker 0 00:07:58 That could be two different things. Again, I, we don't know. No. Speaker 1 00:08:01 Yeah. Could there be, could these be layered in space a little more? And, and yeah. And with a, even a subtle camera move, if they are at different Z depths, you're gonna get some nice parla. So there could be opportunities. And that's the kind of thing too, especially, you know, you could always rework a shot and make it, you know, even if it's a finished project, but you're like, yeah, I can make this shot better and it could really help sell it. I mean there's, Speaker 0 00:08:26 You know, it's interesting that you say the para, the para and Z depth, I'm not getting like a lot of depth from there. Like actual, not like depth, like as some bigger concept, but like actual depth. So it's like something that could potentially start to be explored at some point. Especially if, and that's those is interest in 3d. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:08:46 Right, right. And even in the after effects space, like two a hundred percent. Right? Totally. Yeah. Just, just 3D layers. Make some depth, move a camera. Yeah. All of a sudden we feel a lot more cinematic or cinemagraphic. Speaker 0 00:08:59 Her work was great. I don't know that if we expressed that enough. I feel like she really, it, it was a good strong first impression. Speaker 1 00:09:11 All right. Our next submission is from et tn. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and there is a fair amount of 3D, I believe on this one. Yep. Let's give it a play down and then we will loop it without audio Speaker 2 00:09:33 Ren. Speaker 1 00:10:01 All right. So I'll get first impressions on this. Yeah. I think there is a nice variety, like a lot of the work is a more stylized 3d, um, yeah. Kind of that fun, playful, but then there were shots like these that are a little more the range sophistication. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:10:21 Hard surface technology. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:10:22 Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Um, I will say, and then as I'm watching it, I'm feeling the, the editing. It's, it's good editing. Yeah. There's things are, are moving along. I think overall, like pretty strong. I would say my critique in terms of some of the 3D would be, well, I don't know if I would lead with that shot. I mean, this is fine, but then we, yeah. I don't think that's the strongest shot in the piece. Speaker 0 00:10:49 I agree. Speaker 1 00:10:50 Right. So I would, I would think, what's the strongest shot? Let's get that right up front. What's the next strongest shot? Let's get that second. What's the next? Right. Like just, you know, best of the best one after the other. The other thing I'd say with some of the 3D is that it feels a little bit like it, there could be another layer of either comping or just kind of polished. And I know not everything needs to be super textured, but mm-hmm. <affirmative> a little more texture. Um, I feel like I'm missing in some of the 3d. Speaker 0 00:11:23 Yeah. I feel like as we get later in the reel, we start seeing that fit and finish that you're talking about. Right. Certainly in this Speaker 1 00:11:31 Piece. Yeah. Like the depth of field in there is really nice. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, some of the, we Speaker 0 00:11:36 Really like this. Uh, the typography when it's used is used really well. Um, and that's sometimes hard in a 3D reel. Right. 3D focused reel. It's nice to, to think that this person has good type intuition in my ask. Speaker 1 00:11:54 Right on. What else? What other impressions do you have Speaker 0 00:11:58 Watching? Yeah. I mean, this is, this is like a, to me, like an early mid-level 3D artist and this person in a team with a couple of strong leads would grow leaps and bounds very, very quickly. So they could be a very desirable candidate for a team <laugh>, you know? Right. Especially if your studio really focuses on this. Look, the thing about having such a, I think a specific look for your real, having a lot of character stuff in that kind of, I wanna call it puffy 3D <laugh>, Speaker 1 00:12:34 Right? Speaker 0 00:12:35 Yeah. It, you know, that there's a lot of that work being done. So I would say focus on sending your work to them. I will say your opening and your closing is great. It's fun, it's simple. It's not too long, but there's so much color in your reel. I wouldn't put that on a black background. I'd put it on a, a colored background. I would, I would keep the vibrancy and lightness and joy and happiness of your reel up. And to me, the black tries to push it to be cinematic. And your work, some of it has cinematic qualities with like, maybe your lensing choices and your composition. Like, I, I wouldn't necessarily inher inherently call that like puffy 3D work, super cinematic. So putting it on a black background is a little, you know, pushing it in that direction. That makes, so this, the interesting thing about that shot is like, technically it's challenging. You're doing which one great camera move, which No, the great camera move with the train. Speaker 1 00:13:32 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:13:33 There's a lot of really good going on, but I see what you're talking about where with the texturing and, and maybe it's a comp thing, it's not really a Speaker 1 00:13:42 Thing. That's what I'm thinking. More of a composite thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That layer of Yeah. Comping, I was gonna say, when you were talking about camera, I think there's a lot of nice camera work in here too. Yeah. Right. So that's great. Um, yeah. Um, and the more as I'm watching it, I think it, yeah. How's Speaker 0 00:13:56 Personality? Just Speaker 1 00:13:57 A, a reshuffling of maybe some of like, there are some really strong shots in the back that probably if they came up front, I think could really just in a sense that first impression set the tone. Like all of this, I think it's actually gets Speaker 0 00:14:11 Stronger. So fun. Yeah. As that's what I mean, Speaker 1 00:14:14 Like this, I like this, you know, that's really fun. So super Speaker 0 00:14:17 Cute. Speaker 1 00:14:18 Might just be a little bit of a, a reshuffling. Speaker 0 00:14:21 Yeah, I agree. I do think you're right. Opening on that overhead of the grass feels off to me and I'd move this kind of in the middle. I wouldn't have that. But everything else feels strong. You know, the fact that you're doing fabric too is a really big deal. I would wanna know how you did that. If I were, if this real were submitted, I'd be like, what would you do that with? How'd you accomplish that? So having that in and maybe earlier is a good thing, you know? But this is great. What the, the typography there is really fantastic. Playful. Which one? Here? Yeah. Just playful. You're like, oh, this guy's fun. You know? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:14:58 Integrating like type with 3d, not always the, the easiest task. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:15:03 Cool. Speaker 1 00:15:04 All right. Nice work. Speaker 0 00:15:06 Nice work. Speaker 1 00:15:11 All right. Our next submission here, this is from Thomas. I will give it the play down with audio and then we will talk about it. Speaker 2 00:15:31 A team. Team. We got it. Speaker 0 00:15:51 First impression is very strong. I think this is a good example of has the goods to back off the length that, to back up the length that it is, you know, like there wasn't any piece that I was like, Ugh, why is that in there? And there wasn't any piece that was up so long that I was like, why is this, why is this up? So Speaker 1 00:16:11 Why that's Speaker 0 00:16:12 Gone, Speaker 1 00:16:13 Right? Yeah. Speaker 0 00:16:13 Yeah. Um, Speaker 1 00:16:15 I was gonna say, I think this is a good example. Like some of these shots that comping, like the last room we were looking at, like the level of comping and polish here, I think is pretty consistent throughout Speaker 0 00:16:26 Uhhuh. <affirmative>. Totally agree. Like, I, I know what I'm getting if I bring this guy in, you know, without question, it definitely a senior artist, right? Clearly has Speaker 1 00:16:37 Been this, this kind of stuff, the atmosphere, the sort of subtle gradations and lighting, Speaker 0 00:16:43 Right? I mean, to be fair, uh, in that like, kind of, you know, a puffy 3D work, you don't necessarily it necessarily always want that, but, but you're right. It was maybe missing that, that that added layer of something like Speaker 1 00:16:58 That last 5% Speaker 0 00:16:59 Percent. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe 10, but yeah, maybe Speaker 1 00:17:03 10 Speaker 0 00:17:03 <laugh>, maybe seventh. Okay. So back to Thomas Speaker 1 00:17:06 Here. Like a 7.5. Speaker 0 00:17:08 Yeah. <laugh>. So I, I also love his opening and closing just simple type name url and we're done. Like, it doesn't have to be a whole thing. Right. Especially when the work clearly does, does the job of communicating where they're at. Speaker 1 00:17:23 I was gonna say, what I like about, about, uh, their type treatment here too, and just the over is that it is such a 3D kind of almost that that sports vx heavy 3D that has a specific kind of look and style and, and that this is quite different, which is nice. Which shows it's almost a way to imply how OneNote I'm not OneNote. Yeah, I can do that. I can do a little more gritty. I can do a little more just graphic design. Typography. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:17:52 Yeah. And I think if you go through the real, your certain impression is sportsy, which is this kind of 3d, um, sportsy kind of stuff. But if you look, look, there's stuff like that that is kinetic motion design. Yep. Editorial in there, even shots like that. That's really cool too. Then you're back to this 3D stitching, which is impressive to show. So I, I would say it is a pretty diverse reel, especially considering, you know, Thomas have been working in, in the sports arena, golf and football and all the things. So, you know, for me, at my studio, I would think they would transition very well into, into a more general studio environment where the work could be anything from telecom to <laugh>, you know, to maybe something a little more funny to corporate. I would say this person has a lot of range. Speaker 1 00:18:53 Yeah. As I'm watching too, I'm just kind of letting the edit kind of get absorbed in that. And it's, yeah, it's strong, right? It's a strong edit. The shots typically have a nice contrast, a fast and slow movement throughout. Here's the other thing too. 32 seconds. It's a 32nd reel. Right. That's doesn't talking doesn't have to be Right. And yet it feels longer in a good way. Speaker 0 00:19:16 Yep. In a good way. Right? Because it feels comprehensive. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:19:20 And, and there's a lot of work. I mean, some of these shots, they're only up for a couple seconds, but there's a lot happening in each shot, right? There's no, what I call, um, I mean, I'm constantly working with students and, and trying to get them to cut what I call dead frames. Like where there's just nothing happening on the screen. And there's no dead frames Speaker 0 00:19:38 Here, Speaker 1 00:19:38 Right? No dead frames. There's not even, there's no dead motion either, right? Yeah. It's all, uh, it's all active. Speaker 0 00:19:44 Yeah. So like, if you are cutting a movie, right? And the person's running <laugh>, let's say, and the camera's following them, and then like the camera stops and they kind of slow down, but you wanna like, get to a close up shot of them running. You don't like, let them slow down. You cut while it's still in motion and the camera's still in motion and match that cut to the thing that's happening in the net shot. Like that keeps everything moving. So it's a very simple thing, but it, it is something we see a lot, you know, and I, I just think you're right. This is a really great example of 30 seconds, no matter where you're at in the career is more than enough to, to give a preview of what your role Speaker 1 00:20:29 Is like. Right. And in, and in a way, like if you, if you lean into the less is more, as long as what's there is really strong. That's, that's so that's a better impression. That goes well, I wanna see more. I want to actually now go and look at what they have on their site. I want to dig into their Instagram. Um, this, the reel does not have to tell everything. And it, and it really shouldn't. The montage is really meant to just get people taste a taste and go, that tasted good. I want more. Speaker 0 00:20:58 Yeah. Yeah. It also shows us that, you know, um, of your work, what the good work is. Speaker 1 00:21:05 Right. Your ability to curate, edit. Speaker 0 00:21:08 Yeah. Awesome. Great real, Thomas, you want a job Speaker 1 00:21:13 <laugh> to Aaron Speaker 0 00:21:16 More Real time, real talk on the next episode of Between the Key Frames.