I know the 2d pipeline, in a strict studio sense, but no real idea of how quickly stages of production should take when working in a professional team. When I’ve asked around, it’s always project-dependent and working on a 90s short feels more in tune with advertisement and commercial work deadlines than a movie. I’d love for Brinemouth to become my new artistic identity, and potentially get featured on WIA, AWUK, and It’s Nice That. Even submitting it to festivals feels like a big step in my future career. 

I’ve looked a little deeper into junior roles in TV/episodic and commercial/advertisement, and I’ve realised I need to tailor my showreel and curate my portfolio much more than I initially anticipated. In the next few months, I will create short, funky animations to post on my socials in Animate and Soho in a 2D puppet/cut-out style. I sometimes struggle with staying on model, and working with rigs will be a great way to solve this problem.

I also think that making a short fake promo in the style of a ketchup or soft drink commercial could be beneficial to have when I approach studios like Nexus, Passion and Blink (I’m a HUGE fan of Passion’s Drawn Together Starbucks ad campaign, and would love to work on similar projects in the future). 

On the other hand, I need to keep improving my frame-by-frame character animation; I plan to finish my one-minute film, BLT, so that I can submit it to festivals in the Autumn. I’ve also volunteered to help as an animation assistant on my friend’s graduation film at Gobelins; I hope I can sneak my way in to making connections with her friends and classmates in France. By doing all this, I will keep my showreel fresh, with more technical and tailored shots for my job applications. 

Ideally, I’d have Brinemouth Apocalypse Club polished and fully comped for when I go to Annecy and for the showcase next week.  To prepare for these, I’ve refreshed my website, Instagram, LinkedIn, and business cards. I’ve removed a lot of my older work that doesn’t represent my skill set now, or isn’t the type of work I’d like to be hired for. 

One shot in particular had become a sticking point when I shared my reel with DNEG and Moth; I had a 2D character jumping out of an industrial pipe with a 3d camera move. I intended to showcase my ability to animate a complicated character’s move whilst they were moving very fast, but because the 3d background was left untextured, the shot felt jarring compared to the rest of my reel, where the shots had completed backgrounds and had been fully comped with lights, shadows, chromatic aberration, etc.  Rather than reanimating the character and texturing the 3d pre vis (I am not a huge fan of 3d software and this would take me a significant amount of time to do), I decided to work from scratch and put a 3d shot into my graduation film, which I feel is much more successful as the animation is smoother and the 3d vehicle works within the context of the shot.

I’ve been looking into studios that hire full-time juniors, as this is my primary goal. I’d love to be an animator working my way up to 2D lead, and using my TV series pitch ideas as passion projects. I’ve begun to make speculative applications to the studios whose work I most want to do myself, but realistically, I should be throwing whatever at the wall and seeing what sticks. I’m eager to get my foot in the door, no matter what.

I’ve continued attending networking events (WIA, She Drew That, Festivus, Oh Studio, and UAL’s graduation fair), and Alice C and I will go to Festivus again on the 11th, where we should see some familiar faces. Outside of traditional studio/commercial roles, I’m also attending ‘Drawn Alive’ on the 13th, an indie animators’ collective started by my friends from my BA. They’re developing a couple of TV show pitches, and I could jump on board voluntarily to get my name out there. There’s a whole world of indie animation on YouTube, and I’ve been offered work from a couple of channels. 

I will also go to Annecy this summer for the first time, which is honestly a little daunting but a great opportunity to meet new people. Having looked into how the festival is run, I’m worried about how I can make the most of the screenings whilst balancing MIFA and networking. After speaking with friends and other animators, this feeling of FOMO is intrinsic to the Annecy experience, as there’s just too much to do. I’ve felt similar when I’ve been to InMotion in the past; I’ve made a little schedule of must-dos at Annecy, and anything else is a bonus.

I’ve also volunteered as a host over two days at Playgrounds InMotion in September. This will be my third time at the Barbican, and I’ve always left inspired. I’m hoping that attending these events will rejuvenate my creativity after a little post-graduation film burnout. Also, I’m really looking forward to learning a little more about how a festival is run, a peek behind the curtain. 

Additionally, over the past few weeks, I’ve been searching LinkedIn, Instagram, and the spreadsheet, looking for graduate, junior, and internship opportunities. I’ve applied to Seed (speculative application), the internships at Blue Zoo, and to the animation assistant role at Studio AKA. I’ve been eager to work for AKA for many years now. I’m a huge fan of their director Manddy Wyckens, and have been following her art style for a while now. I was super eager to apply, even though I knew I wasn’t a perfect fit, having little experience in Animate. But I thought that I had nothing to lose from applying and everything to gain. Although these applications were unsuccessful, they’ve helped me identify gaps in my showreel and what roles the industry is actively seeking at the moment.