Anyway, I just watched this thing for literally the first time in a decade and man is it a piece of shit. I'm lucky I even got an interview out of this, let alone a job offer. I wanted to be an effects animator so bad. I mean, I should have titled this thing 'Smoke, Shadows, and Shitty Animation'. Check out the horrible writing, brutal poses, and floaty as fuck animation. Like seriously, this is really embarassing to post, so I hope you're happy. Look at when he stabs the dagger into the log - lolol SO SHITTY!!
Going Home 1999 from John B on Vimeo.
So keep an eye out for how the poses just melt between one another. Timing? What the fuck is that? By the end I didn't even give a shit about keeping them on model any more. If young me submitted this reel to old me today I would probably watch it, snort laughter to myself, then call a couple of buddies over to make fun of it for a while...then send young me a form rejection letter and call it a day.
BONUS - I've saved some rejection letters I have from 2001 from various video game studios I sent stuff to when the place Nigel and I were working closed down. He got a gig in SLC, and I managed to BS my way into a place in CA. Most of them are boring letters, but I think I have like 10 of them. I'll put them in another post.
Oh, keep an eye out in my film for some guest animation from Nigel. See when the kid steps out of the brush - yep, he did that for me one evening as a trade for some bubbles in a beaver shot he was animating (I think). Anyway, it's probably the best thing about my pile of garbage film. Also, I even got Tony Todd (yes, the Candyman, Lt. Darrow from The Rock, and the Fallen in Transformers 2) to provide his voice for the main character in my film...and this is what I made. Jesus Christ. Tony (or TTT as we called him, because that's the way he signed all his letters and emails) is still the coolest guy in the world for helping me, some no-name kid in Canada, out with his film and one day I'll get to thank him in person. I don't even think getting Optimus Prime and Megatron would have been cooler.
What Went Right - LOL
What Went Wrong - Watch the thing.
MORE BONUS - I found an FX reel I made in 3rd year animation to show around. The color scene that you can barely make out what's happening in is all hand painted cels with a watercolor background. It's a bunker firing machine guns towards the camera, then a rocket blowing them up. Yep, you guessed it - it sucks too!
FX Reel 1999 from John B on Vimeo.
Enjoy, fuckers.
JB
