- For this assignment I had to write a CV, write a cover email and make a show reel showing my best work to date.
When creating a CV, it needs to be laid out in a way that is simple to comprehend and gets across all of the most important things about yourself. It should be set up in a way that draws the employer to your strongest points first. For example the section displaying your academic achievements and experience in the field you are wishing to be employed in should take up a prominent majority of the CV, this makes it the most eye catching and exaggerates its importance.
The CV should be laid out into very clear sections which are easy to decipher and differentiate. On my CV I laid out two large sections on the right. On these I detailed all of the animation and film experience I have across school and university, describing the projects and assignments I have taken part in. I followed this section with a list of my places of study and my academic accolades achieved throughout this time, such as GCSEs and A Levels. Above these two sections, I wrote a very short paragraph describing myself and what interests I am pursuing.
The CV should also include additional information that could be useful. For example on my CV, on the left I made a smaller section on the left for other slightly less important information. Here I listed the software I am well versed in using. This could be useful because if you are applying for a position that happens to utilize this software, it i good for the employer to know right away that you qualify for it and will need little to no extra training. In this section I also mentioned my current employment/ type of work I do outside of University. Finally, a very important aspect of the CV which I also included in this section is methods of contact, such as emails and phone numbers. This is self explanatory as the employer will need to be able to get in contact with you one way or another if they are impressed by your portfolio and want to bring you in for further interviews about the job.
A cover email needs to be a simple, concise and convincing. A cover email should only last for about a moderately sized paragraph of around 300 odd words. This means you keep only the vital information needed. If you were to make it any longer you would find yourself just to be rambling on, which will bore the employer and present you in a non professional and perhaps incompetent light.
The cover email should quickly but competently include a bit about yourself and the experience you have which would best show you qualify for the position you are enquiring about. It should include why you personally want to work with the studio in question and why you personally think you are right for the role.
Appropriate research on the studio you are talking to should be done and also mentioned in the cover email, so as to emphasize how genuinely interested you actually are in landing the job. By complementing previous work done by the studio and showing an understanding for what they produce, this will also show the employer that you are approaching them with a serious and respectful attitude, which will work in your favor as they will view you as very professional. Let the employer know how you came across the position, whether you did research yourself in hopes to find their studio was hiring, or even if you just saw it advertised on a job website.
You should go on to detail what exactly you believe you have to offer the studio by matching you qualifications to the requirements laid out by the job description. This will show the employer your enthusiasm and willingness to apply your knowledge to the role which will help to convince them to consider you. Without talking about too much irrelevant work, only discuss your best work, essentially the work that you would include in your show reel. This is useful so when they watch the show reel which you will link in the email, they will see first hand exactly what you described to them. It is important that you are very specific in everything you write about to make it as clear as possible to the employer what you can bring to the table, so as to keep a hold of their attention and therefore strengthen your chances of being chosen.
A show reel is a great addition to a CV and cover email as it allows you to show the potential employer what you consider to be your most quality animation/projects, so that they can see first hand what you are capable of bringing to their workplace.
Something to look out for while writing the cover email is referencing points from your CV but not directly copying it, as this makes the email just a formally written version of your CV which is useless to the employer as they want to know why you personally believe you are suited to the role, as apposed to you just listing your qualifications. Also, when talking about yourself, you should never be negative, but also do not exaggerate. So essentially if parts of the role involve you working on something that is one of your weaker points, don’t talk down on your ability to do it, just talk about how you are capable of doing it, but at the same time don’t give yourself high praise and exaggerate, because then that gives the employer false expectations so if you get the job then are given work to do in that area, you come across as a liar if you struggle to do it after insisting you are great at it.
To end your email you should give a final very quick summary on why you think you are a good candidate for the role and tell the employer that you look forward to hearing from them and thank them in advance for considering you for the role, then end the email with something like “Kind regards” or “Sincerely.”
A way in which a show reel can be enhanced is with purposeful editing around the music. If transitions from clip to clip match the beet of the music then it makes the reel flow a lot better and engages the viewer a lot more.
A show reel needs to be a short compilation of what you consider to be your best work. The format needs to be taken into consideration when editing it. For example, if a long animated clip is being used then split it into a couple of parts so that the show reel flows better and doesn’t just come across as your work playing in order one after the other. An example in mine when I followed this is when I used my body mechanics clip. Instead of playing the Super Saiyan transformation followed by the Kamehameha all at once, I split them into two separate clips while editing and separated them with other clips from different projects. This keeps variety when being viewed and keeps the employer who is watching it engaged, which is also inadvertently showing them that you understand how editing works.