Month: May 2024

You can learn anything as you go
Software, is just software. If you have something you want to try and achieve, something that you think is cool and will excite you, don’t let not knowing how stop you. You can learn anything online or by asking those around you, and even if you don’t, you can find your way there through experimentation and play. There are fundamental practices to animation yes, but also there is no one right way to do it. All animation is viable and all routes to an end point are valid.

I often worry that not having an art background will hinder me, but I I feel more empowered now to use this as a strength and not a weakness. I can learn technique and I will get better at animation the more I work at it, but it’s all the extra skills and experience I bring to the table that will make me unique and employable.

Just make the damn thing and put it online

I get bogged down in “should I” a lot. Turns out I should just do stuff. Its easy and hard both at the same time. As someone who works alongside studying, the concept of having time to just make art that I want to make feels quite unachievable, but I’m not going to pressure my self. I’m going to focus on the grad film and do my best up until that is finished, then once we graduate, If I get a job straight away, fab. If not I will be kind to myself and continue trying to exercise my creative muscles alongside working elsewhere.

I have a couple ideas for small films I would be interested in making, but I think almost more valuable in the early stages would to just be practicing animation exercises and fundamentals, go back to the core principles we explored at the very beginning of the course and apply all the knowledge and skills I have accumulated since them to create bigger and better versions.

I’m so glad I went to CAF, it feels like an invaluable step in the early stages of my career and felt hugely validating in this life changing decision I made. Having the film screened, talking to young queer people about my work, being a part of the Skwigly filmmakers talks and having the opportunity to meet so many incredible filmmakers made me so excited to continue down this path that I have only just begun walking down.

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Skwigly Podcast – https://www.skwigly.co.uk/podcasts/skwigly-caf-2024-2/

I have been making an ongoing list of studios in and around London who I may try contacting for work/internships. I’ve made note of specific people to contact as well as the type of work each studio specialises in.

I’ve made note if certain studios offer internships, work experience or any other training opportunities/support.

At the moment the studios I’d be most likely to approach are: Passion Pictures, Ritzy, A+C, Blindpig, Not to Scale, Lupus and AKA. While I don’t feel like i will necessary get work at any of the above, it cannot hurt to reach out!

Business Cards, Stickers, Showreel, Website and Social Media

Self-promotion is an area I struggle with quite significantly. Whilst I find conversation and communication simple, things that require regular planning and attention, I find doesn’t come easily.

From both visiting lecturers and from events at Cardiff, I really found just how important it is to have strong promotional materials but also to maintain a consistent and effective presence online. Every single person who I have met working in the industry has expressed this, and not only that but whenever I see someone who’s work I admire, the first thing I do is look them up on social media. After taking part in the Skwigly animators brunch at CAF, people came up to me after the fact and asked where they could follow the film or my work and I felt immediately that the content and resources I had to offer were not up to par.

Currently in my arsenal I have business cards, stickers that we made for Disparate Threads, to hand out at Cardiff, a LinkedIn page that I made at the beginning of the LIAF project and a dedicated art Instagram that I do not post regularly on.

By the time the showcase comes about I have a five point plan I want to implement:

1. Seasilk specific business cards to display
2. Seasilk specific stickers to display – in conjunction with Isobel and Eleonora
3. An effective showreel of approximately 25-30secs, focussing on character performance and movement
4. An updated LinkedIn page, containing the showreel as well as an updated CV
5. An instragram presence with far more animation work on, rather than just illustrations from over a year ago.

The most important of these undoubtedly being the showreel, as this will form the basis for any work I am able to get in the future. I have never made a showreel before, but feel like the editing skills I have been developing, especially over the course of making Sea Silk will really benefit this process. I also had a short tutorial with Rory about selecting certain shots from my previous films that would help support my initial handshake with the industry.

I was initially worried that my work would not have enough substance or variety in order to make an effective reel, but even in just collating clips for the presentation, I feel more confident at the shots I have at my disposal. I’ve been investigating music options that will help sell the work and hope to ask, Olivia Underwood, the composer I collaborated with both for the final film and for my writers project, if she has any music that I could use.

Once this has been made, I plan on building my LinkedIn Page around it, along with some skills and career information, transferring my relevant experience from theatre. I hope to make the page for more indicative of my current skillset and use that as a primary reference page for potential employers.

I do not want to be a producer, I’m pretty certain on that. Having worked in production in theatre, which albeit having the same name is actually a slightly different beast, I know that I have an abundance of transferable skills that’s means if I wanted to I could have quite a successful career in it. However, one of the reasons I started this masters was because I wanted to move away from more production and practical based work and more into creative storytelling.

However, saying that, the thing that is the most important to me right now is to continue to learn. To learn about animation process, filmmaking and about the industry as a whole and whilst I would be most keen to begin working in a creative field, I would be incredibly content with taking my first steps in production in order to better learn about this industry. When chatting through my CV with Cecilia Hay from Passion Pictures, she joked “are you sure you don’t want a job in production” and I immediately said I would do it. While she was not offering me a job in the slightest, she did take my card in case any running or production assistant jobs came up in the future and I would be more than grateful for any opportunity that arises.

So while I do not want to be a producer or necessarily work in production, I would absolutely pursue it as a way to improve my own skills, learn more about the industry whilst working in it and using it as a platform for getting any creative opportunities and making as many professional connections as possible.

In my initial stages for job searching, post-graduation, I will of course be apply for and searching for creative animation roles, however I also plan on dropping round London based studios, CV in hand with a decade of production experience under my belt. Something that every single professional has instilled upon us, both during the course and during talks/networking opportunities at Cardiff Animation Festival, is the importance of ‘soft skills’ and I absolutely intend on using my experience in theatre, my confidence and my ability to communicate effectively to make myself far more enticing as a potential employee.

In my time working professionally in theatre I have: managed teams, created production schedules, managed budgets, overseen practical builds and installations, sourced materials, managed hires and purchases on a large scale, been responsible for buildings (opening and closing), managed email inboxes, acted as a company liaison, managed events and been involved in recruitment, to name a few immediately transferrable skills.

In addition I am also trained at working at height, hold an IPAF certification, am trained fire safety, first aid at work, disability awareness and hold a qualification in British Sign Language level 2. All of these will assist in my employability within production should it be an avenue I choose to pursue.

Something that has been hugely beneficial in my consideration of my future in animation was the chance to go to Cardiff Animation Festival in April. My LIAF film, Disparate Threads was selected as part of the Slice of Life screening.

Having the chance to have any film, let alone the first film I ever made and directed, was an incredible opportunity and I was humbled by the wealth of talent I was programmed alongside.

I took away so many things from the festival, but four in particular stood out.Networking

Networking

It seems so obvious, but it’s so important to do. Even as someone who is extroverted and used to communicating with people, I find networking difficult as it’s easy to feel like an imposter with nothing to offer. During Cardiff I really pushed myself to speak to a variety of different people; professionals I admired, fellow filmmakers and other attendees, and when the first two people you meet over lunch are the festival director and Joanna Quinn, it feels like a strong start.

We went to quite a few networking events at the festival and using those as a basis kept up with several industry professionals over the course of the four days and then subsequently on social media. People such as Steff Lee, Nia Alavezos, Matt Partridge, Tina Nawrocki and Harriet Gillian, are just a few examples of people I spoke to regularly across the four days and have caught up in the time since. Having just had the talk with Passion Pictures and expressed interest in working with, I’m hoping to follow up with Matt Partridge who works as a director there.

It was also really exciting to meet with other filmmakers, learn about their processes and inspirations and what drives them as artists, it was especially comforting seeing people who have only been in the industry for a short time but are making work they are proud of and passionate about. I especially got on with Nam Crame, who directed a short documentary ‘Rainbow Junktion’; we bonded over making work about underrepresented communities and queer art.

Everyone has imposter syndrome, but we are all just animation fans who love making cool stuff

I’ve learned that imposter syndrome never really goes away, especially as you take steps into the next stage of a career, but people around so many people across the four days made me realise that that’s okay. That people will see my work on its own merit and not whether I’ve completed the correct steps to get to where I am. Seeing people be so excited about animation and films really inspired me to just keep on trucking. We were all a bit worried about taking four days away from the grad film practically, but I am so glad we did. I came back to it feeling motivated and inspired by everything I had seen and everyone I had met. Every single person at the festival was just so excited to be there and share the joy of animation and this really bolstered me to push through feeling like an imposter and to just enjoy all that I can.