Hello all,
I uploaded my first submission (AE template) and got a hard reject.
The things I didn’t do -
Put a watermark on the preview video because the help documents said AE template preview videos don’t need them.
Upload a release form because all footage used in the preview video was from Pexels.
What do you think the cause for the rejection was?
Would appreciate some feedback.
Thank you very much.
Try to do it better 
Hi, it’s a pretty good start! A well-animated, and mostly adequately designed project. If it was submitted years ago it could have gotten approval, but probably now it was rejected cause of the high competition in openers and especially the glitch category.
This means that your project needs to be exceptional - super polished, with innovative ideas and new approaches. Yours currently is okay or good in many areas, but it needs to be excellent to have a chance in this very competitive category.
Specifically in this current project, I might swap the intro lock animation for another logo placeholder - as a customer, I would want my logo in the beginning too not just some abstract non-changeable animation. Also, the glitch effect used is very “typical glitch effect” looking. To continue with this project I would seriously try to play with unique ways of glitching. Cause the current implementation of this effect has been done and overdone a gazillion times and doesn’t give you bonus points for originality.
So overall you can make a better product in the same style, or you can make a similar level product for other less saturated categories of projects. Maybe not an opener in glitch style, but perhaps an opener in 3D style? Or a logo reveal with AI concept. And so on. Do your research and figure out where there’s less competition with an active demand.
Good luck! 
Hi, I really appreciate the reply!
Cool, I will look into less saturated areas to dive into and also redouble my efforts to be more creative.
Thank you for your constructive criticism! 