A showreel is your chance to stand out and show creative studios what you are made of. Whether you want to build your portfolio for a promotional opportunity, a career change or create your first ever showreel, Escape Studios have collaborated with recruiters and artists from their industry partners, such as The Mill, Framestore, Blue Zoo, Creative Assembly and more, to create this showreel guide. It”s packed full of first-hand advice like what recruiters look for in a showreel, the best way to grab their attention and how you can stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression.

Escape Studios also reached out to some of their successful Escapees (alumni) and asked for their top tips on how to create a quality showreel to land your first job and how their studies at Escape Studios helped them do just that! This special guide includes playable videos of recruiters and artists, and a brand-new showreel checklist at the back, to help you with building your perfect showreel.

Blue Zoo Animation Director Will Cook says in one video: “The main thing I look for in an animation reel is if the characters move. It”s all about the body mechanics – if you nail the mechanics in a showreel, you are a pretty good animator, and all the rest can be taught at a studio like Blue Zoo.”

Will draws on his experiences of watching applicants” showreels to offer some dos and don”ts. “To impress me, do something that hasn”t been done before… what is exciting to see is multiple shots in a sequence, two or three camera cuts in action shots, as that shows you know about story and camera work,” he reveals.

For all the budding 2D and 3D VFX pros, DNEG CG Build Supervisor Chris Cook says: “You need to show you have good understanding of the VFX pipeline as a whole. If you”re making models, we”re looking for you to show that you also understand how a model will be textured and shaded further down the pipeline. It”s very important you can show us you can work with other departments in mind.”

Mike Bithell, founder of Bithell Games, advises game artists to include a breakdown of how you”ve put your work together, to show potential employers how you”ve done it. “It shows you can work in a team and you understand process and production.” he explains.

REEL Talk not only offers tried and tested advice for showreels across the whole VFX industry, it also describes specific, technical must haves and must nots for each separate creative sector, to help you tailor your showreel to the area you”re most passionate about!

Download Escape Studios” REEL Talk guide and find out more about Escape Studios as a recognised first-class education provider for the creative industries.