The curious craft of demo reel titles

Demo Reels – they can become the most challenging assignment you will face as a working artist, and you’ll face it several times over the arc of your career. With no client but yourself to answer and a million directions to be taken, all Demo Reels share one element in common: the Opening Sequence. If you want to get noticed, you must tell people who you are, what you do, and why you’re the best for the job! In this Workshop, we crack open one of the definitive Demo Reel title cards – or in this case, title sequences of all time. Join us as we pry Sekani Solomon’s stunning opening title to his 2020 Demo Reel and discover why AND how he built this beauty.

What’s covered in this Workshop?
Concepting the intro
With a Reel full of varying styles, Sekani ties his work with this series of moments that feel more like a short film than a Title. In this video, we talk with Sekani about why he chose this series of vignettes as his positioning and branding statement.

The Art of World-building
Sekani’s reel takes you deeply through unique worlds that all fit together. In this section, let’s dive into how Sekani built these worlds, the assets he sourced, and the methods used for modeling elements in the reel.

Lighting and materials
Here, we explore how the look dev progressed throughout each shot and why Sekani chose each lighting setup. We’ll dive into materials used and find out how it all came together in comp.

Make it move
This piece has subtle but beautiful animation details and slick match cuts that propel us on the journey through the intro. This section will be devoted to the animation workflows used.

Bringing it home
In this video, we cover how Sekani brought it all together. Were there any Premiere workflows used? Did Sekani have the shots in any other order? What passes did he render and why? What compositing wizardry went on?