First rule: Never cast your friends unless they do have acting talent. That's one of the traps of indie filmmaking that because the budget is next to nothing people tend to cast their friends, family and the guy next door... acting is a profession contrary to popular belief and not everyone is...
If you don't want too much 3D and cgi you can go for matte painting and real terrain mix with props. If you tell me the specifics of your project I can help you.
I actually liked it very much. Don't think it needs anything to be added to it. If you don't have any other intentions with it I would love to make a storyboard for it and then well, lets see how it goes and if it can be made into an animation because I think it would be sad to just trash it, it...
Personally I think it's a great demo reel. But I agree with Crackerfunk that it's quite hard to evaluate a director's work based on a reel. It's easier with actors, cinematographers and editors. But it shows what kind of works you have done up until now and it can make people be interested in...
You have many possibilities depending on how long the scene is and how important it is (and how much money you have for it). The most radical solution is to build a whole fake room where you have complete control over everything from lighting to material. The other option is that you use more...