Nostradas's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Animation Reel 2012-13]

3 stars for an unfinished demo reel. You have great potential but if you can't finish a mini animation, what makes you believe a company would hire you based off of this? Granted your ending animation was best as I like the idea of beaming someone in the head with their own shoe, you get brownie points for that (3 stars).

You have strong potential but when you are presenting anything, it should be your best, especially with a demo reel. Taking courses at Full Sail can turn you into a callous prick, but those that heed the advice given can truly excel in their craft.

Keep at it, add some sound effects, and for god sake, change the music in each clip, adding some ambient noise would help.

3/5 solely because this piece is unfinished. A better critique will come after this is fleshed out more.
I'll be awaiting round 2.

Are you using After Effects, Flash, or another program? Photoshop/ Illustrator can help a lot with your final deliverable. Sound track pro and/or Garage band can add more to your short animations.

Mackswell responds:

Thanks and I realize i'm not giving potential employers a tremendous amount to work with. But to reiterate, I'm not an animation student and I've only recently picked up animating again (i used to make cartoons in high school). This semester I've been taking private readings to build up a portfolio and my main goal was to build technical skills and animate sort of whatever came to mind. I have a project in the works but I wasn't able to finish it before the end of the school year so I'm saving it til post-graduation.

I have a little bit of studio experience and I'm not relying on my demo purely to get hired--I have been doing a lot of art and design on the side. It's an important part of my portfolio but it's not the only thing I'm showing.

To the notes you gave me though, I agree. I really didn't have time to add sound effects although I wish I would have. I was working under a pretty pressured time limit to compile this so I wasn't able to be as creative with it as I would have liked. I'm hoping to eventually apply to a film school if I can make enough money in the next year or so.

I used Flash, AE and photoshop and then cut everything together in final cut pro. If I get declined from the studios that I applied to I'm going to try and create some finished shorts for my future reel. Maybe I'll do some freelance on the side too

appreciate the feedback