21 replies to this topic

[Linklater]

I'm an animator/artist and have a new demo/portfolio.

Check out my new demo/portfolio - it's got a bit of lifestyle added in for good measure! Hope you like

www.linklater.ca

Thanks!
-tim

:: Tim Linklater

:: tim@linklater.ca

:: Linklater.ca

Edited by Linklater, 27 May 2009 - 06:02 PM.

[Binky]

I think it's important to make sure that you're not coming off as overly self-important. Your strategy with the interview/hot seat could work, but you really have to finesse it to convey the right intent and attitude. As you know, this is an industry of largely faceless players, who speak through and are known by their work. Now, your work seems solid enough, and that gives some credence to your self-interest, but I think you'll have to really craft the opening minute of your demo to avoid confusion and rejection because this fake interview tactic is by no means standard and I think the initial reaction may be poor.

Personally, I was pretty skeptical through the first half, and then warmed to it a bit in the second half, but by that time I was wishing you'd just show the work instead of telling me about your snowboarding habit or whatever. So maybe if you can find a way to introduce the idea very carefully and then keep it from getting in the way of our appraisal of your actual work, it may be a winning strategy.

[dan_hin]

i really liked the illustration but I was put off by the overall design of your reel and the performance of your site.
specifics:

- lost audio sync three times while the video was halfway through a buffer

- Took forever to buffer, so I was basically left looking at a picture of you in your home - not your work

- when i clicked on a thumb of your illustration, it took about 8 seconds to load the image

- you're using a design for the site which actually i found really good, from the titles (even though the shadow was a little cheesy), through to the navigation. this was ruined by the default flash skin, and made it look like the video was an afterthought. My suggestion - do away with the skin altogether or display some custom buttons.

Dan

[Linklater]

I think it's important to make sure that you're not coming off as overly self-important. Your strategy with the interview/hot seat could work, but you really have to finesse it to convey the right intent and attitude. As you know, this is an industry of largely faceless players, who speak through and are known by their work. Now, your work seems solid enough, and that gives some credence to your self-interest, but I think you'll have to really craft the opening minute of your demo to avoid confusion and rejection because this fake interview tactic is by no means standard and I think the initial reaction may be poor.

Personally, I was pretty skeptical through the first half, and then warmed to it a bit in the second half, but by that time I was wishing you'd just show the work instead of telling me about your snowboarding habit or whatever. So maybe if you can find a way to introduce the idea very carefully and then keep it from getting in the way of our appraisal of your actual work, it may be a winning strategy.

Thanks! I really appreciate the critiques - Everything you said was def. noted and appreciated!
-tim

[Linklater]

i really liked the illustration but I was put off by the overall design of your reel and the performance of your site.
specifics:

- lost audio sync three times while the video was halfway through a buffer

- Took forever to buffer, so I was basically left looking at a picture of you in your home - not your work

- when i clicked on a thumb of your illustration, it took about 8 seconds to load the image

- you're using a design for the site which actually i found really good, from the titles (even though the shadow was a little cheesy), through to the navigation. this was ruined by the default flash skin, and made it look like the video was an afterthought. My suggestion - do away with the skin altogether or display some custom buttons.

Dan

Thanks Dan, I'll look into the performance - everything is pretty small but again - I'll take another look. I'm going to note all of these points - really appreciate it.
-tim

[jasfish]

I liked it a lot. This was cool, different, and you seem like an alright guy. Showed your personality a bit and I didn't think it seemed pretentious at all.

My one critique would be it might be nice to add a demo reel of just work. What you've got was cool, and I wouldn't lose it, but some people might want to just see the work. Your reel showed a good range of work .. and it's a good way to show people "about" you .. but a quick hitting work-only reel might be a nice addition.

My two cents.

Good luck!

P.S. Performance was really slow for me too .. took awhile for the pages to load. We have a dsl line here.

Edited by jasfish, 01 May 2009 - 02:26 PM.

[Linklater]

My one critique would be it might be nice to add a demo reel of just work. What you've got was cool, and I wouldn't lose it, but some people might want to just see the work. Your reel showed a good range of work .. and it's a good way to show people "about" you .. but a quick hitting work-only reel might be a nice addition.


P.S. Performance was really slow for me too .. took awhile for the pages to load. We have a dsl line here.

Thanks a lot! Good idea on the only work demo in addition - makes real sense. I am looking into the slow pages - don't want it slow at all. I appreciate the critique as well as the compliment - I knew this sort of demo was different and wanted to mix it up a bit but never wanted pretention anywhere near this so I appreciate your comments.

thanks!
-tim

[Bago66]

Didn't work for me, said I needed Flash? I work in Flash a lot and have a couple of full Flash online portfolios that work fine on this machine, so I don't know what is happening. What version did you publish at?

[supaidaaman]

Your site crashed on me at work and home during your demo reel - im using the latest firefox on xp and vista64. Maybe its a firefox thing....Just a heads up!

[Linklater]

Didn't work for me, said I needed Flash? I work in Flash a lot and have a couple of full Flash online portfolios that work fine on this machine, so I don't know what is happening. What version did you publish at?

It has a flash detector so if you don't have the latest flash player - it will detect and tell you to download it...its in flash 10 - so it takes just a minute to update..should take you there.

-tim

[Linklater]

Your site crashed on me at work and home during your demo reel - im using the latest firefox on xp and vista64. Maybe its a firefox thing....Just a heads up!

thanks!! i am calling my host to see what the heck is going on - I have had a lot of folks tell me its all good playing well and all but a few (see above) say it isn't ..The only bottleneck is my host - so they are going to deal with it. I work all in firefox so it wouldn't be this but appreciate the idea.
-tim

[frie]

wanted to open it with firefox. Didn't work (told me the flash thing) Opened it in Safari - it worked.

[mete_shop]

couldn't watch on firefox. needless to say, but if i can't view your site on a brand new macpro with the latest firefox update, there's a problem.

[dretzkanet]

Didn't have an issue loading it on safari.

I actually liked that this reel had a different format than most. Felt like I had a clear idea of what precisely you do by the time it was over. Saves your potential client time to not have to look at your resume or bio separately.

Good Work

[Linklater]

Didn't have an issue loading it on safari.

I actually liked that this reel had a different format than most. Felt like I had a clear idea of what precisely you do by the time it was over. Saves your potential client time to not have to look at your resume or bio separately.
Good Work

Thanks! Glad it loaded well..thanks for the compliments too- I wanted to try a different format after being on the other end of viewing reels for years ..so thought I would try this approach..
-tim

[theurbanchild]

It loaded fine on my pc.
Props to you tim.
That was a nice watch.

[Linklater]

It loaded fine on my pc.
Props to you tim.
That was a nice watch.

Merci! Thanks man -

[monovich]

loaded up right away for me. I read the thread first so I was sorta braced for impact on the interview thing, but it didn't really bother me. A lot of faceless nameless resumes go across your desk when you put out a call for reels, so I could see this working, especially since you have good work to back it up and you don't appear to be a jerk or an ego-maniac.

A few things I didn't like.

1. The "um" in the interview. "Um"s don't convey wit and intelligence that well.
2. The audio quality of the interviews was super echo-ish and bad lowfi. It took the sheen off an otherwise well polished reel.

cheers.

-sf

[Firebetty]

Hey Tim, really nice work. I think you're onto something with this new format. It shows that you took the iniative and made an effort to try something new, and also that you've got production experience.

Everything loaded fine for me on firefox's latest update.

With that said, there were a few things that I feel need critiquing (maybe for next time- or if you feel like doing more work to this, this one):

1. The "grunge dots/electrical diagram transition" into the video of you talking is really noticeable and got repetitive. maybe a different color each time or something would help? maybe making some of your interview segments black and white with color transitions may make things a little less repetitive...(just throwing it out there)
I guess I'm also wondering how that ties in with the "brand" of your site?

2. the same went for the talk bubble showcasing each "question." I'm not suggesting wild differences, but, maybe just making two or three versions of a similar thing. And again, it seems disconnected to the overall brand you've got going on. I love the small type over the color bars - very clean...but the wood brown, with the talk bubble with the diagonal lines with the large colorful type vs. the small clean type...I'm not getting a unified concise image.

Overall though, I really love this idea...I think it's very creative and shows a ton of initiative! Good Luck!

[antoinelee.tv]

cool reel I like the format it shows your work and shows you

very nice job