Professional Practise 3: Visiting Professionals Notes

 Professional Practise 3
Visiting Professionals and Talks Notes

• Over the past several months, we have had professional come and give talks as part of our course and I have been making notes on most talks. I have decided to collect them all together, here, for future reference.
• I found that I was able to make networking connections and learn many things about my role in the industry and how I can improve myself going forwards, because of these. It also allowed me to feel more confident in my work. I will continue to contact these professionals in the future and continue to access networking events.
• Here are my notes!

Professional Practise 3: Formal and Informal Presentations

Professional Practise 3
Formal and Informal Presentations

• This week:
• I presented my informal presentation in the studio, in front of a part of the class. I found this incredibly helpful for putting my formal presentation together. Michaela told me to include the year journey into my formal presentation, to demonstrate how my experiences this year have influenced my plans to graduate.
• I think that if I were to present again, I would go into more detail and explanation about my branding. I should also practise speaking more fluently, as I do pause a lot in the recording and final presentations.
• Here is my informal presentation from this year:

• Here is my formal presentation:

Professional Practise 3: Developing Freelancing

 Professional Practise 3
Developing Freelancing

• Updating Commission pricing
• In order to update my commission pricing, I wanted to fully calculate how much I would be spending per month if I were to live alone. With the help of my parents, I went through the general costs of the car, insurance, rent, etc. I put together a final cost sheet, which gives me a better idea of my daily and hourly rates, so I know how much I should be charging for commissions when I finish.
• Here is my costing sheet:

• Branded Invoice:
• In addition to updating my commission pricing, I updated my Invoice to be much more on-brand with the rest of my work. I decided to keep it simple, still, with just the added brand colours and Ozwald logo. 
• Further improvements:
• I think I would try to add the green colour in the future, or try to lay it out similarly to my CV, however I think this works well for now, because of it's simplicity.
• Here is the updated invoice:

• Developing an upload schedule for Social Media
• In order to develop on online schedule for Social Media, I needed to understand the times where my audience are most active. I also need to understand the best times globally to upload to social media. I found this website which analyses the overall traffic for Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more. 
• Here is the link to the website: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/
• This website also covers the changes to social media due to COVID-19. This is particularly important if I want to understand the best times to post and grow my online presence.
• Here is what I found:

• In order to develop a more detailed understanding of engagement, I additionally looked at my statistics on Instagram, which shows the times your followers are most active. I found that my followers are most active on Sundays and Fridays. On these days specifically, they're most active at 6pm. They're also most active at 6pm on Wednesdays.  If I wanted more global engagement, I would post based upon the times listed from SproutSocial.com.
• Here are the statistics for Instagram:

• Based upon these statistics, I will continue to post every Sunday at 6pm, however if I have additional work to post in that week, I may post based upon the global engagement times, which would be 9am on a Friday. 
• Developing personal work
• In order to develop my personal work, these past few weeks, I've been creating fan-art, mixed with personal art. I think this is a great way to develop my following and grow my online presence. Some fan-art I have done is for Disney and Video Games. Here are some work I've done over the past couple of weeks:

• Overall, what went well:
• I have developed an efficient and well thought out upload schedule for posting work to social media. I have also understood now my daily and hourly rates and therefore can charge accordingly with commissions.
• What could be improved:
• I think I need to be posting more animation content to my social media, which will be something I will focus on after finishing work for University. I would like to do more animation studies and try to build my skills that way!

Professional Practise 3: Applying for Danish Studios

 Professional Practise 3
Applying for Danish Studios

• Overall, what went well:
• After researching further Danish Studios, I have decided to try applying to multiple roles. In the emails I try to come across professional, but friendly and engaging. I think that I did a great job of showing my personality.
• Here are my applications and descriptions of the work.  
• AFilm - Copenhagen
• As they were only accepting applications by email, but not for any particular roles. I have sent an CV and a link to my portfolio to their job email.

• Copenhagen Bombay - Copenhagen
• Copenhagen Bombay don't have any current job opportunities, however I found their contact address and tried emailing them about internships.

• Ja Film - Aarhus
• Ja Film states they are open to Interns, so I have sent them an email enquiring about this.

• Nørlum Entertainment - Viborg
• Whilst they don't have Internship Opportunities, I sent them an email enquiring about entry positions!

• Skjald Animation - Denmark
• Skjald is a 2D Animation Studio. They frequently accept freelancing positions, therefore I have sent an email enquiring about this.

• What could be improved:
• I need to heavily consider the studios I am applying to and whether I need to tailor what I will be saying or presenting to them, based upon the studio itself. I felt that some of the studios were more formal and open to contact than others, so this is something I will need to take into consideration when making future contact.

Professional Practise 3: Updating my Showreel

 Professional Practise 3

Updating my Showreel

• Tim Dillnut Showreel Notes
• I contacted Freelance 2D Character Animator, Tim Dillnut, enquiring about his recommendations for showreels. I told him I will be graduating in July, so he gave me some great advice on how I could put together my showreel. 
• Here is the list he gave me:

• I think I already tick a lot of boxes with the work I have produced so far at University. In addition to this, I think I cover some of the senior roles, such as Variation of 1s, 2s and 3s, various types of characters and differing styles. Despite this, I still need to further refine my work as clearer visual examples of these, after graduating, through a series of tests or my own personal projects. 

• Edd Benson Showreel Notes
• I additionally contacted Edd Benson, a Junior 2D Animator currently working at Blue-Zoo Animation. He offered a lot of advice, despite being a 3D Animator and sent me towards a YouTube video of a showreel talk and review. Whilst this is mainly for 3D Animation, I feel that I could take on board a lot of the advice. 
• One great piece of advice from the talk was, "Don't make a reel of walk-cycles" which I think applies also to showing a variety as much as I can. This is why I would like to separate character animation and show a variety of shot types and movements. 
• Here is the talk he directed me towards:

• Edd also gave his own advice with, "something high energy," which would grab a studios' attention. I decided to include some acting animation to start with, from my COP Module and Aviation Aggravation. I wanted to separate this with The Monstrous Children Documentary animation and inbetweening I completed for Kingdom of Masks. I think this starts out the showreel with high energy and instantly would grab the viewer's attention. This timed with the music also works really well, so it works as a great opening to the showreel.

• Creating my 2D Animation Showreel:
• I liked the idea of using the music creatively in the showreel. I understood that this might not be something a lot of employers/studios listen to, however, for the purpose of my general, online showreel, I thought it would be best to try this method. 
• In addition to this, I wanted to expand upon my previous showreel from last year. I am still proud of a lot of the work I produced and I think that they do feel relevant in my current work. 
• In my showreel, I needed to include my branding. I tried this by adding a red box at the bottom for a subtitle, indicating my role. I additionally changed the title to include my website colours and the end of the presentation utilising the red again. 
• Unfortunately, we needed to limit the showreel to 1 minute, therefore I had to cut down on the work I put into it. I was going to try including my work in progress scenes, which would fade into the final shot, however I had to scrap this because of the 1 minute time limit. I will adjust my showreel in the future to include this. 
• Here is my end of year showreel:

• What could be improved:
• I think there could be more examples of character interactions in my showreel, as there are little to no examples of this. I would need to animate something after University work finishes, as a study, to help add this missing element.
• Some further acting examples would help solidify my skills much more, so this is something I would like to work on in the future.

Professional Practise 3: Researching UK Studios

 Professional Practise 3
Researching and Applying for UK Studios

• I had previously found a website which has a list of Animation Studios based in the UK, located here: https://onelightvfx.com/studio-list/complete-list-of-2d-3d-animation-post-production-and-vfx-studios-in-england/.
• I decided to look through this list of studios to find potential roles I could apply for and send in my CV and Portfolio to them!

• Team 17 - Wakefield
• As I live close to the Team 17 Studio in Wakefield, I will be keeping an eye on the positions opening there. I think it would be a great opportunity to work in a games studio and they usually make 2D games, or are looking for 2D Concept Artists.
• Aardman - Bristol
• Aardman are currently looking for a 2D FX Animator for their newest series. As someone who has done a lot of 2D FX for multiple projects this year and over the past couple of years, I think it could be worth trying to apply for!

• Blue-Zoo - London
• Blue-Zoo frequently have entry positions open. They currently are only looking for experienced Harmony animators, however. https://careers.blue-zoo.co.uk/vacancies/192/toonboom-harmony-animator-experienced.html
• A Productions - Bristol/Remote
• Storyboard Positions: https://aproductions.co.uk/jobs/storyboard-artist-beas-block/
• Studio Runner: https://aproductions.co.uk/jobs/studio-runner/
• I have applied for their Studio Runner role!

• Lolly Studio
• Lolly Studio were looking for a Illustrator/Animator with a strong sense of Character Design. I have applied for this role, as it doesn't specify how much experience is required. 

Professional Practise 3: Fresh Egg Collective Studio Branding

 Professional Practise 3
Fresh Egg Collective Studio Branding

• Last time, Joseph and I decided to keep the idea as a Collective going forwards. So far we have interest from Rachel, Caitlin, Emily, Stacey, Amy and Rhys to take part in the Collective, however everyone has noted that they want to wait and see what positions they will be in post-graduation, due to the current Pandemic and external circumstances with whether they will be remaining in Leeds or returning home.
• We have, however, agreed that we would like to work on another film post-graduation as a starting point for the Collective. This would allow us to better understand each others' work ethic and how we can develop our presence going forwards. As part of this, I designed a mascot and the group chose a colour scheme we could work with.
• Here are some initial mascot designs:

• The favourite mascot of the group is the one at the very top, with the half-egg head and yolk body. I decided to develop this into a final mascot:

• We also put together a Discord, so we can continue to communicate after University has finished!

• As further research for the Collective, as we decided on the possibility of creating another film together after Graduation, I found several books which explains the budgeting process for a film or studio. The first book, "The Animation Business Handbook" by Karen Raugust provided some great information on salary averages, budgeting for a film, creating merchandise and animation in international markets. I found the sections about film budgets the most interesting as it spoke about online film budgets. However, I would note to take this book with a grain of salt, as a lot of the statistics are taken from 2001, of-which the industry has changed enormously since. 
• I additionally made notes on "Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making and Selling a Short Film" by Mark Simon. I found this research more beneficial, as he had produced his own films and animations for festivals. He, additionally owns his own studio. I focused on the sections about budgeting, copyright and festivals.
• Here are my notes: