So I have recently graduated... What I'd love to know is, as an employer, what sort of things do you like to see in a show reel? I mean if an employer has 50 reels to view, what will make it stand out apart from good execution?

I've heard a lot of do nots, such as no spaceships, fight scenes etc, but this does somewhat confuse me. As an example, some of the most inspiring stuff I have seen of late has been in BSG, very high end space stuff, same with the clone wars. So is this a myth, or chalked up to someones taste in cg? Is it ok to have a couple of nice starship vfx / fight scenes yada yada in my reel? Not at the cost of character work but to break things up.

The NZ job market is more geared toward people being all rounders for the most part, this does make it a lot more difficult as I feel I need to demonstrate all facets of computer graphics and animation, and at a high level. Is this indicative of the wants of international studios also or is it more expected overseas to be a specialist?

Due to the economic down turn, time is something I have on my side as there dosent seem to be much in the way of entry level positions about.

Cheers, any thoughts would be great.