How Long is your Reel?

So, I've seen a bunch of reels and I've made a few myself. My own reels are almost all under a minute. In and Out. No extended cuts. Simple and to the point. But does there come a time when a minute is not enough? I posed the question to a few friends and most agree. Get whatever message you want to convey in a minute.
How long is your reel? Do you agree? What reasons do you have for having a longer reel?

Been a few weeks

Well, its been a few weeks since I last updated my blog. I've updated a few things on my site and resume. Haven't done that in awhile. I don't like updating the info, but its necessary. How else will people know what I've been up to? I'm working on getting some animations polished up and hopefully posted in the next week or two.
Working on my own stuff can be kinda awesome and daunting at the same time. You can only blame yourself for failing. But then you can also only credit yourself for succeeding. And you can never know with out putting yourself out there.

Ideas!

So, I've actually been playing with this in my head for a little, and I think it'll make for a great short animation. It's pretty much a modern take on a classic dance scene starring Fred Astaire and some dancing shoes. Having a background in dance, I've always had an admiration for Astaire's handsome footwork. So smooth and confident.
Anyways, here are some images of what I'm thinking of doing as far as the style of the shoes go.

These are a pair I saw on that were nice and clean with some great color (black is cool too, but I'm really feeling the color). You can see more angles on this blog: http://www.indigofan.com/tag/shoes
I am also playing around with the idea of woman's shoes.

Aren't these shoes darling? I thought so too. Maybe I'll do a dancing pair of shoes.
If your having trouble trying to figure out why just shoes, here's what I've been watching over and over: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsddz_the-best-of-fred-astaire_fun I wish musicals would make a big comeback, the choreography is always awesome to look at. And when you have dancers like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to stare at, its always a great show.
Well, that's all I have for now.

Lip Sync

So, I started this with the intention of actually finishing it. It's not, but I think its a pretty good start. Again, this isn't finished, just showing you what I got so far.

Comments are very welcome!

P.S. I will be doing some body animation. I'm taking a break from this animation and working on some walks. Feel like I need to brush up on that.

Go Google Yourself

Have you ever Googled your own name to see what would come up? I have. And the first 2 results are my website. But underneath, its this other woman from New Mexico who is involved in some sort of political fraud. I thought my name was pretty unique. Kupfer isn't a very common name in the US (maybe in Germany). I guess I was wrong. Cause Ms. Elizabeth Daisy Kupfer seems like a shady person.
For all of you who don't know me, my middle name is not Daisy (thank goodness).
Just something weird I ran across while searching the interwebs.

A new month

So, I attempted to try and do the 11 second club for October. Didn't really finish the lipsync let alone the the animation. I'll finish the lipsync part and do some body blocking, maybe tomorrow...or maybe Wednesday. Tomorrow is election day. Gotta get out my vote and maybe visit my parents in the process.
I was animating a few minutes ago, but animating while tired doesn't really turn out good animation. I'll probably go back and fix some of the lip shapes when I open the file again. It's really a push to do this on my own. No one is paying me to produce a product and I have no deadline except the ones I set myself. I think that's why I'm not doing more...I have no personal deadline. I'll have to set up a schedule. It's funny how you forget these things. Producers are the ones that tell you when they expect things done by, and how much there is to do by whatever date. When you do it all yourself, you forget that you kinda have to act like the producer/director/writer/everything. I'm an animator. None of those other things usually concern me. And that, I think, is the issue.
This time I'm doing it right. I'll download the clip from 11 sec club, block out how long animation should take, then block out animation. And this time I'll do it in time to maybe submit.

More drawings

I've got some more of those drawings. If something is blurry, its because I'm taking pictures of them with my phone instead of scanning them in. None of them are completely done. Still got some ideas for them. Just putting them out there so you can see what I'm working on.