Today, my goal is to research how to properly make a CV, Showreel, and Cover Letter and present them as professionally for organizations in the future.
Initially, I didn’t start these throughout my second year. This was because I was prioritising the completion of my schoolwork as I had to do 2 courses, each with their own separate projects and blogs to explain my research, development, and methodology. All of this was incredibly stressful so the fact that I have to create my CV as a part of my increasing workload was just too much for me to handle so I put it aside. It wasn’t until April 22nd, 3 weeks before the submission deadline, that I finally started progress as by then, all coursework due for submission would have been completed by now.
CV
I decided to create my CV in Microsoft Word, using a template in the software as a guide. There were some sections in the CV template that I have no answers for so I had to get creative or had to ask my tutor, Henry, for help such as writing what school projects I’ve done in the experience section as an alternative for my work experience.
I’ve used this website as a guide on what I should write on my CV:
https://www.alexanderrichtertd.com/post/the-almost-perfect-cv
I’ve also researched CV templates so I can use them as reference on how to present my CV’s professionally and found this website for guidance:
https://enhancv.com/resume-examples/animator/#resume-carousel-preview-3MIP2y1xg4tZOrFlbc2JyFhGkoO2ajB6XONOmB43
The last step I needed to finish my CV is a photo. However, my hair is currently long and I’m going to have it cut so when I take a picture of myself my employers won’t have to question why my appearance in real-life is different in my CV.
Link to finished CV:
Showreel
When I started my showreel, I had to ask Henry for help as I didn’t know how to make one at all. He told me that the time length of a showreel will depend on how much work we have, in my case about a minute, and to use what video software I’ve used to create my animation videos. I’ve decided to use Adobe Premiere Pro as it was the one I’ve been mostly using.
The next step was to import my best animations but a part of me felt that I didn’t have enough. In fact, I was originally going to update my box carry, mouth movement and pole vault animations during the Easter break as I considered them my best animations, reinforced by the feedback I was given by my tutors Alec and Mike. However, I couldn’t find the time; I was busy with model work for my group’s “vertical slice game” project and my personal life, and even when I tried to attempt it they were either having issues that were too complex, which would force me to backtrack and delete the progress I’ve made, or felt that they took too much time. In the end, I had to use what I have currently which included my projects from last year, such as my scene for my group’s short horror film and my scarecrow model.
I decided to use this showreel as reference:
After watching this showreel, I noticed that there were some still models included as part of the video. I tried to record some of my models but the process of exporting an mp4 file from Blender would take too long so I asked Henry for help. He told me to use a screen recorder so I downloaded the most common one I know, Bandicam, and used it to record my Mothman.
Link to Bandicam: https://www.bandicam.com/downloads/
Afterwards, I had to look at a video to learn how make transitions for still images uploaded into Premiere, in order to make my showreel appear interesting. This was done by clicking on the “stop-watch” symbol in the selected video file.
The final step was to add music, which must sound calming and not too distracting. I was also told to use royalty-free music to not get a copyright strike. After much research, I found a website that has royalty-free music and downloaded one I liked. After I imported the music track, I re-edited the video files to match the beet the best I could:
https://www.bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
When I first exported my showreel I found out that the file was too big to uploaded into Discord or my blog post, even after I used “Handbrake” to compress the megabytes and change the file into an mp4. I asked for help on Discord and they told me to upload it into YouTube and copy and paste the link.
After I created my YouTube account, I uploaded my showreel as unlisted video as I didn’t want anyone other that my employers to see it and copied & pasted the link into where I needed it like my NI Screens Placements’ Essential Criteria page and this blog post:
The first version was nice but I had to upload an updated version of my showreel that includes other accounts like a Gmail, LinkedIn, and Art Station. This is because the reference material had its end credits include links to different accounts, which was needed if I wanted to be seen as professional and to show my art portfolio to my employers. Although the latter two were confusion to make, I was able to get help from Discord to see if I’m doing it right. Afterwards, I copied and pasted the links into my showreel and uploaded them into my final version of my showreel.
Cover Letter
For my cover letter, I decided to use what I have written for the essential criteria for my NI Screens’ placement forms as I treated them as if I was writing a cover letter; they basically want us to explain why the company should hire me.
Initially, I didn’t take the placement as my biggest worry was it was stressful and the fear of moving to a new area in order to do my placement year. This is because I’m going to the Philippines this December for the holidays and for personal reasons. One day, a couple of previous placement students came back from their internship to answer any questions we have about placements. I asked one of them if working for a company was stressful and they told me that, unlike school, it’s not as pressuring as the company they worked at was supportive towards their employees so I hope that the potential studio I’ll be having my internship at won’t be so pressurizing and will be reasonable enough about my December holiday.
When NI Screens finally showed their placement forms, I asked my classmates at school about what I should do. They told me to go for it because if I was rejected it shows that I at least attempted to do so. I was also told to try to go for multiple placements just in case I get rejected and I decided to go for the placements for Flickerpix and Paper Owl Films as the rest are either located too far away or had requirements need that I don’t have.
I decided to look up Flickerpix to see what I can write for my Cover Letter. In the “About Us” page, they described themselves as a studio that creates animations with emphasis on heart and humour. I did the same for Paper Owl Films and discovers that they mostly did 2D animation whereas Flickerpix uses mixed animation like 2D, 3D, and stop-motion. I was unsure if the cover letter need to be tailored to a specific job within the company so I asked my classmates about this in Discord and they told me that “the company may have multiple job roles open so it’s a good idea to be specific about which role you’re interested in and that the cover letter should have the necessary skills to that specific job role as well.
I used this website as an idea for what I should write on the essential criteria page:
https://www.alexanderrichtertd.com/post/not-a-cover-letter
After I finished what I’ve written for the essential criteria, I copied and pasted it into a Word document, using a cover letter template, then spell checked and rewritten some sentences. Lastly, I inserted links to my showreel and portfolio as proof of my skills. Afterwards, I finished the creation of my cover letter.
Link to finished Cover Letter:
Portfolio
During the creation of my portfolio, I used Art Station to upload any artwork I’ve made at Ulster University as I felt my best work were mostly artwork than animation. I even included some of my personal work in the portfolio. I asked if I’m allowed to include fan works in the discord general chat and some students agreed, stating that it’s a good way to show companies that you are practicing drawing in other styles.
Link to my Art Station portfolio:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/obLG0w
Link to my LinkedIn profile:
https://www.tealhq.com/post/linkedin-on-resume#:~:text=From%20within%20the%20Resume%20Builder,your%20resume%2C%20just%20like%20that.
Conclusion
Overall, this was a stressful task to complete but it did help me out when making videos in Premiere Pro. If I were to do this again I’ve probably start making my CV, showreel and cover letter early to prevent myself from rushing to complete them, to make things not as stressful that it is now.