Let's say I send some demo reels to some studios. So uh...what happens then? How do job interviews at studios work? Should a guy completely new to the industry such as myself apply at studios out of town...or even out of the country (I live in Canada BTW)?
Thanks for any replies.
If you send demo reels, the usual advice is to never expect to see said reels again. The usual format now is to send out such material on a disc in a easily viewable format ( jpegs), or to apply on-line and supply links to a website showcasing your work.
VHS tapes used to be the standard for viewing reels, but I think that they have been superseded by CDs now.
When you send samples out, send copies only, NEVER send originals either in print or dubs. Even if you supply return postage, there's no guarantee they'll keep that with the samples and actually return the items to you.
What happens to them when they get to the studio? Usually the process is that someone in HR looks at the material , when the studio is looking for new talent. Granted that most studio rely in established talent that they have worked with before, so active searches for new talent are not constant. You'd do better with a word-of-mouth introduction than a cold-call.
If the studio sees something it likes in your reel, then they will call you.
If not....they have no reason to call you.
Interviews will ONLY happen with people they are serious about hiring.
Realize that this process is completely subjective. Its not personal, and its not like filling a cookie-cutter position.
If you don't not have what t
he studio is looking for, you are simply of no use to them. There's no obligation to hire because you went to X-school, or have a degree or whatever. Your talent is your only cachet.
Its a fickle process, not necessarily fair and can be biased..........but that is the way it is.
You can apply out of town for positions in other studios.........but you face other obstacles. One being that you are an untried commodity, and unless your samples are really mind-blowing......its less likely that you can breach the "distance" to land a freelance gig, or a in-house salaried position.
With few ( nor no) job credits to your name, and coming from a studio hot-spot ( Vancouver) an out-of-town studio would wonder why you cannot land gigs locally. Most studios prefer to have newcomers and new talent close at hand to govern their work and manage mistakes. That's hard to do at a distance.
Keep in mind that Canadian studio frequently gain tax incentives for hiring local talent ( who are Canadian citizens living in-province) and that can be a hiring factor as well.
Vancouver is busy right now, there's a lot of studios with projects in the door, and a lot of different venues. Its not at max-capacity for work though, so gigs will be competitive and you need to bring your A-game to get in the door.
If you are just out of school, and your abilities are at anything but top-notch you can expect a lot of challenges finding work in Vancouver ( or elsewhere)
Persevere, be patient, flexible......keep improving and you can get a shot. Once you do, you work it so you get another, and another and so on.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
Wait, so you're saying that studios won't hire me if I just wave my degree at them? BUT I PAID SO MUCH MONEY FOR IT! I MUST HAVE ALL THE JOBS!
But seriously I'm well aware about the whole demo reel and that degrees are just fancy pieces of paper, nothing more. The rest of my life depends on me getting a job soon after graduation, I'm putting in as much effort as possible to get a really good demo reel done.
Thanks for all the info, but I was thinking of literally how the interviews work. Is it like any other job interview or do they include other things as well?
And as for staying here, if Vancouver is in demand right now I sure haven't noticed it. BUT then again I don't exactly know where to look for the gewd jorbs in this city.
AND AND another question, where's all this demand for animators in Vancouver I keep hearing about? Rainmaker seems to be the only one looking left and right, everyone and their dog is applying at Pixar Canada (And I don't know 3D too well...yet) and all the other jobs are either for experienced animators or vidya games!
Although staying at home will certainly save me money on rent.
There's a lot of places always looking for skilled "animators" that can do 2D, 3D, FLASH as well as pre-prod stuff like layout, storyboards, design/concept design, flash builds, rigging, etc.
Projects start up all the time.
Most of them use talent with animation training, but not necessarily as animators.....ah ha, there is the catch. That is why prospective talent need to be top notch to break in.
The studio are NOT always going to advertise these positions and will frequently contact people that have worked for them previously.
Interviews work much like any other job: if they like what they see on your reel, they call you in to find out more about YOU.
Seldom are they formal, usually the decision to hire is all but made and most of the "interview" is showing the prospect around the studio. In animation, you either have got it, or not.......so their very little vetting in the choosing of talent for the job(s)
As for the job market........yep, they are going to specify for experienced talent only, and games will dominate that demand.
New talent have a disadvantage--but really that is part of the process. The schools won't tell their students that only about 10% of their grads will break into the biz because, frankly the schools are a business that needs to put butts in seats to keep THEIR doors open.
Only the most talented or dedicated students will make it into the biz.
( and yeah......where you went to school means diddly squat in all of this, sorry)
Now, hearing that...are you thinking you have been suckered?
Dunno, and I cannot say.......because I have not seen your work.
It bears repeating that talent is the ONLY cachet, the only asset of value in this.
If your talent is mediocre......forget it. You'll paw at the glass forever in frustration and wonder why they don't give you a chance.
A LOT of animation grads give up, and that's okay.......as its part of the process. The jobs goes to the talented, and the persistent who continue to develop and never give up.
Some folks with decent artistic talent can get work doing flash builds and stuff--work that doesn't really stretch them artistically, and they do not always last in that pigeon-hole because its tough to crack out of.
The "sexy" jobs are in design, storyboards, and actual character animation itself ( and directing, art leads etc.).....because they demand both intuition and artistic ability.
But frankly, there's tons of experienced artists around ( certainly in the local Vancouver scene) that can demonstrate both those traits and they get hired before anyone else. That's why someone new to the game really has to stand out.
And I will not bullshit you.......most talent coming out of the schools do NOT stand out.
The secret to breaking in is therefore fostering your talent to a high degree, while biding your time for the opportunities.
There are "cattle-calls", where studios get projects in that demand so many bodies that the usual roster of experienced hands doesn't fill the slots.
Any time two studios get large projects in, one of them always seems to be starved a bit for talent right away, and THEN is when a newcomer gets their shot. Once in, its correspondingly easier to land the next gig on the next project and so on.
Flexibility is a key trait. If you can do storyboards, there's always a call for good 'board artists. Same thing with design. Animation is a niche-craft itself, and surrounded by other niche -crafts tangent to it.
I've worked in and out of the Vancouver market for the past 25 years, doing everything from animation, assisting, clean-up, inbetweening, design, layouts and a lot of other stuff. I've worked in-house at Vancouver studios and freelanced for them from other parts of BC and other provinces.
Its a do-able career, but you have got to have the talent to go along with the skill-sets.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
THIS is what I was looking for!
Mr. Davis, do not worry. My heart has been set on being an animator since high school, I refuse to quit after putting so much of myself into developing my skills and I've had a lot of time to think about it...instead of telling studios why they should hire me I need to show them why they should hire me! I need to prove to them that I'm better than all those other chumps!
Do I regret putting a whole bunch of money (That isn't even mine) into VanArts? Hell no, I'm learning a whole bunch of things that I would have never figured out on my own! That's the whole reason I went here!!
Well, y'know........I've heard all this before :rolleyes:;) and I will say that the odds are not often stacked in the newcomers favour.
Van Arts is a good school, I have colleagues that teach there and they certainly know their stuff.
The single biggest skill you can learn--inside of school or out---is the ability to compare your own work to the professional stuff you see (and undoubtedly consume) and to analyse where you are lacking--and then work to improve those areas.
You cut out a lot of needless BS and time-wasting because you cut right to heart of the matter. Studios are not going to hire you to draw ( or animate) YOUR characters, but instead they want you to work in their stable, on THEIR characters. So don't spend much of your development time working on your own thang...no-one is going to care about that. Instead, work on samples featuring established characters.......and for God's sake make sure they are flawlessly on-model.
That's going to be the best gauge as to how you'll adapt to the style of whatever project the studio will hire you for.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)