Tips for creating a Harmony showreel

Looking to enter the job market, but aren’t sure where to start? We’ve collected some tips on how to create an effective showreel that showcases your strengths in Toon Boom Harmony.

Showreel length

Don’t make your showreel too long. You want to show what you can do without taking too much time from the viewer. The recommended length is between one and two minutes long.

Intro and Outro

Keep the intro and outro short. The intro and outro cards should include your name and contact details, but should not be on the screen for longer than needed. Do not make these cards overcomplicated, they can be decorative but are just there to provide details and should be clear.

Keep the editing simple

When putting a showreel together, it might be exciting to try out editing tools and add effects and transitions. Remember that you are advertising your animation work, not your editing work. Good timing and cuts can add to a showreel, but overdoing the motion graphics can draw attention away from your work.

Start and end strong

Choose content that shows off your skills in the best way possible. Start the showreel strong with something that will catch the attention of the viewer, have solid content in between, and then end strong again. This way the strongest content is closest to the intro/outro cards that contain your details. 

Tailor your showreel

Tailor the content of your showreel according to the following:

The skill being shown: 

Don’t fill your showreel with many different skills unless that’s the job you are applying for. Keep your rigging and cut-out animation showreels separate.

The company you are applying to work at:

Before applying, research the company and make sure that your showreel fits their trademark as much as possible. If you are short on a specific content, create more.

Do not include work that you feel is weak or that you are not proud of.

Including sound

Music can really bring life to your showreel and should definitely be included. However, think about the following when adding sound:

• Are there any shots where you want to show lip-sync and need the dialogue to be heard? Bring down the volume of the music so the dialogue can be heard clearly.
• Is the music you’ve chosen being used fairly? It may not matter as much for private showreels, but anything being shared online may be flagged for copyright. It’s always safest to find free music to use

Using collab work

You may have a shot that you really like, but you created it with others. If you want to use a shot like this in your showreel, make sure you add exactly what you did in the scene when it plays. For example, if you did the clean-up or key posing for the scene, mention that. 

Leaving this ambiguous gives the viewer a dishonest idea of your skills, and if the shot looks very different from the others in the showreel, this can be detrimental to your chances.

Using work from jobs

If you’ve done any animation for companies and you want to include it in your showreel, make sure what the permissions for use are. Usually if something has not yet been released, you cannot use it in a public showreel, but may be able to use it in a private one. Make sure to double check any NDAs you signed, or speak with the company you did the work for.

What should I put in my animation showreel?

The following are general suggestions of what to put in an animation showreel (for paperless and cut-out). This can change based on the job you are applying for.

• Strong character acting scenes 
• Lip-sync scenes with acting
• Movement that shows a lot of change in character movement
• Scenes that show good manipulation of the rig (cut-out only)
• Walk and run cycles

What should I put in my rigging showreel?

The following are general suggestions of what to put in a rigging showreel. This can change based on the job you are applying for:

• Screen recordings of the rigs being manipulated in Harmony.
• The turnaround.
• Close ups on noteworthy features on areas like the face, joints, etc.
• Deformers.
• Master controllers and other controllers.
• Any animation that was created with the rig.

If you have more than one rig in the showreel, keep each rig’s videos together so as not to confuse the viewer. Label each rig to make it clearer.

What should I put in my compositing showreel?

For a compositing showreel, the best thing to include is a comparison of the animated scenes before and after compositing has been applied. This can be done with cuts or transitions. 

How can I create my showreel?

There are quite a few free softwares available for video editing. Some of these include Davinci Resolve, Canva, iMovie (macOS) and Clipchamp (Windows).

Where can I host my public showreel?

If you’re unsure where to host your showreel for job submissions, the following free sites are known for their professional layouts and easy-to-use organization:

Of course you can also use sites like Instagram and Tiktok, however these are better used for interacting with other artists and may not be the best place to host your professional showreel.

Alternatively, you can create your own website (like many artists do) and have more control over how to showcase your different skills. 

How do I create a private showreel?

A private showreel is a showreel that is sent directly to a company, or one that requires a password to access. This is usually because there is content in the showreel that is not allowed to be shared publicly, but is allowed to be used in private showreels.

For these showreels, you can try these approaches:

• Send the showreel via email attachment, or WeTransfer.
• Create a Google Drive folder that has strict access permissions and grant permission when a potential employer wants to view it.
• If you have your own website set up, you can create a password protected section for specific content and only give the password to potential employers who need to view it.