For this assignment, our aim was to create a CV, cover email and a show reel in preparation for job placement, and to help in getting employed in the future. A lot of thought had to be put into this as these would be very important for my career search and would be the best way of showing potential employers my experience and what skills and qualities I have within Animation.
A CV is very important as it is gives me a chance of making a good first impression to my potential employer. A good CV should be clear to read and understand. It should be short and explain to the employer my education, experience and what the benefits are of employing me. I wanted to keep my CV to one page as many employers don’t have time to read through huge amounts of text. Therefore it’s important to get my points across from the beginning in a clear and thoughtful way so I can appeal to the potential employer. Employers could look through piles of CVs a day so it’s vital to make mine standout. To do this I chose a professional, but eye-catching template in order to highlight my CV and hopefully catch the eye of the employer.
I included my history of education, the animation software I have experience using, my contact details, and a paragraph about me and my work history. I included my contact details at the top so that it would be one of the first aspects the employer sees. For my work history I made sure to include my responsibilities within the job, but kept it to a brief description. I kept the colour scheme to purple and white as I felt it was a good look and made the document more appealing to the viewer.
When it came to making a cover e-mail, I had to do some research on what a cover email was and what to put in it. A cover e-mail is simply a letter of or email of introduction which accompanies the CV. A cover email can be tailored to the current job that is being applied for. In my cover e-mail I was creating it with the animation company ‘Sixteen South’ in mind. I had already known of this company and took interest in it a couple of years ago. The cover e-mail would only be half a page and would outline mainly why I want to work at ‘Sixteen South’, my relevant experience and why I would be suitable for the role.
I went on to their website and did some research into what TV shows and movies they have worked on or are currently working on and found a show called ‘ODO’ which I thought was really interesting. I talked about it briefly and expressed my appreciation for it in my cover letter. I included a little bit about myself and my experience with certain computer software which I feel would make me suitable for the position. I made sure not too much as some of this information is also in the CV. It’s important not to copy information from my CV otherwise they will just read the same content twice. I made sure to come across friendly and positive in this as it is likely the first thing the employer reads from me, and I want to give a good first impression. As this is just a cover letter, it’s not necessary to out too much text in it, so I kept all my information short but sweet. Lastly, I thanked them for their consideration.
After that I worked on creating my show reel. I left this to last as I still had another assignment to finish and work from that assignment would be included into my show reel. A show reel is a short video which showcases my previous work and most recent work in a one minute clip. This is used to show any employers my finished projects and is also a great way of showing my experience. A show reel must be kept short in duration and show only my best work. Employers could watch through hundreds of show reels, and don’t want to spend too much time on any one show reel. That’s why I kept my show reel to within one-minute and showcased my best work to date. When creating a show reel, I learned that its best not to include any unfinished work. Employers only want to see the best and when the video could be less than a minute, there isn’t enough time to include unfinished work. Another important consideration is not to include any unreleased work. While this didn’t really apply to me, it’s still important for the future. If I were in a company working on a project, unless approved by superiors, I can’t put any work from any upcoming projects on my show reel. This could be a breach of the contract as I’m leaking unreleased work to the outside world and could face repercussions. Another important aspect is when showing group work on my show reel, I must annotate on which assets or parts I animated. When it comes to music its beneficial to edit the music to the show reel. While some employers may just mute the sound, others may watch with the sound, and it makes much more of an impact if the music beats match with cuts in the show reel. Most importantly I had to include my contact information at the start and the end of my show reel. This ensures that I will be able to reach if needed by the employer.
For my show reel I included all my finished projects from last year and what I had some so far this year. As well as work from my university course, I had also been taking a weekend animation course online, and the work from that was also placed into my show reel to showcase the variety of animation I had been working on. All my clips are short and straight to the point as there were limitations in overall duration and I wanted to squeeze in as much as possible. For the music I acquired a royalty free song from a website called, “freestockmusic.com”. The song I chose is called ‘Eternal Springtime’ by FSM Team.
I compiled my clips together on premier, adjusting the length and making sure the best bits are shown. I imported the mp3 file of the music and edited it to match the tempo of my show reel. At the end of the show reel, I wanted the last clip to end right at the exact moment claps are heard in the song so that it ends with a clap. At the beginning of my show reel, I added a title template which has the show reel title, my name and my email address. The text was animated so that it pops up from the middle of the screen, going from minuscule text to large text in a brief second. It was important to include the contact details as the start. I noticed this when I watched other animation show reels for inspiration. For the last scene after the clap in the music which syncs with the last clip cutting to black, I included my details once more to close out the show reel. Along with this I included the music artist’s name and the song used.
The best places to look for animation jobs is online, more specifically LinkedIn, Artstation, Indeed, Glassdoor and other online job sites. I was able to find different animation job role positions on these sites. Some of the vacant roles included, Junior VFX artist, Junior model artist, Gameplay Animator and Graduate Junior 3D Generalist. I mainly researched junior or graduate level jobs as that would most apply to me.
Finding and applying for jobs may be only half the battle. If you have impressed the employer and secured an interview, it will feel daunting and scary but there are ways to prepare. It’s important to dress appropriately and arrive to the interview on time. This is a great way of conveying great first impressions. Before the interview if one is feeling nervous, various breathing exercises can help calm and de-stress before entering the interview. It’s also important to listen to the questions carefully, and try to stay calm and collected while answering. At the end of the interview it can be beneficial to ask the employer any questions you have when the time is appropriate, to answer any doubts or queries you have about the position.
In conclusion, interviews can be stressful and scary but it’s important to remain calm and just talk about yourself and your relevant experience for the job.