I wanted to send my CV to TAUNT Media Belfast as I love their independent short films. I knew that if they were to look at my CV and I wanted to get their attention I would need to show character through layout and stylistic choices, which is why I chose colours and a format similar to a poster. To try and stand out from the crowd I wanted to incorporate current trends of Belfast’s creative scene, so I looked at YEO Magazine for inspiration on how I might present my CV.
The bold font, colours and large images reminded me of Brutalist Graphic Design posters. I looked up how to make a poster like this on Youtube and thought I could adapt it to fit the format of a CV. I used ‘Helvetica Neue LT Heavy Extended’ font which is simple and bold.
It is important that I ensure my CV is legible and that I haven’t sacrificed how readable it is to try and make it fit a certain style. Using a clear layout, I ensured I kept the CV format simple and aligned by using a grid to create a boarder and using left alignment for all of my text. In any paragraph, my font only ranges between two sizes and subheadings are simply capital letters that don’t change sizes. I rounded off all of the box’s corners in photoshop and I had a lot of fun changing the colours around – I tried to pick colours that complimented my icon image. using the different effects on the layers, I was able to make the darkest shadows a shade of blue and the lightest colours were yellowish – this neutralised harsh contrasts which is more visually pleasing and focuses attention on the text. I used bullet points to keep the contents brief, stayed positive and avoided using superlatives to ensure the hiring manager gets a raw picture of what experience I have gained. I was going to add a few more filters to my CV but I didn’t because it would have looked to much like a poster and I wanted to maintain a professional appearance that doesn’t distract from the content. I looked at all of the examples given to us and my favourite one was Rebecca Blair’s as I felt like it was a nice balance of personal and professional which made me feel like I got to know her.
I wanted my showreel to be eye catching at the beginning. I used two animations I worked on over the summer to communicate my style because Taunt Media might appreciate a stylised clip. I used the same font as my CV for design consistency and my final showreel lasts 32 seconds. My showreel covers most grounds of what I am capable of so that I won’t have to edit it too much if I want to send it around different companies. I wanted to include my best work first, so I began with clips from my final cinematic. Then I moved on to some principals of animation and used a ball bounce animation I submitted to the Berkeley College course. I also used another animation I submitted to that course that captures secondary animation. I added a walk cycle loop three times to get the timing right as placeholders until I finish animating the ones I want to use. I really wanted to put emphasis on the fact that I am willing to learn a range of skills in different areas of animation – hopefully this will make me more desirable to employers who are looking for adaptable employees. I included some still images of assets that I think were the best of all the assets I made for the Ancient Temple. I was going to include more of these but I didn’t because it would be counterproductive to include work that could be improved, and still images slow down the momentum of the video. I did include a still image of my thumbnails which I may have held on screen for too long, but I think it was a good choice to include some traditional drawn work. Putting sound over it was my favourite part since it blends everything together, especially if it is on beat. I wanted to use music that was fast paced but also not annoying that went with both the animated content and still images. I added some clips at the end of my slug from last year running into the can to end my showreel.
If I’m completely honest, I panicked at the thought of reaching out to Taunt as a freelance artist because I realised that I’m out of my depth and I don’t really know where to begin. I think I’ve been avoiding the prospect of freelance work entirely because the thought of being thrown into more financial instability as close as this September scares me. Nevertheless, I’m glad I had this realisation because now I know that if I want to have opportunities to get ideas out there, I need to get it together and lift a finger and also that I need to accept I can’t have reward without risk. I found a placement year job advertised on Indeed with Sumo Newcastle and began writing a cover email. I ensured I kept it sincere by beginning the email with “I hope this email finds you well” and ending it with an appreciation of the time they have spent looking at my application. I also began the email with a nod to a game that Sumo released named “Hood” and linked it to my interests in animation and spoke about the Ancient Celtic Temple as I thought that ties in nicely with their game based on a medieval environment. I read over their website and the job advertisement a number of times and picked out bits and pieces that peaked my interest – many of their values matched my own in terms of team work and the importance of social aspects in the work place. I outlined what I could offer them in return and spoke about the skills I have developed so far and my desire to continue learning. I’m really interested in their work because they are interested in character and environmental art, two areas that I would love to learn more about. I think I did well at picking out points to talk about for this cover email, though I could have spoken more about specific tasks that Sumo gets placement year students to work on that I would want to learn more about.
The links provided in the weekly content folders is very helpful and I will definitely set up an Artstation account. Using Indeed to find jobs is my go-to although I think companies prefer not to use it for placement year job advertisements. The best place to look for jobs locally would be to regularly check company websites and social media. If I do get an interview, I will make sure to know off the top of my head all of the different areas of practice I am confident in and be able to recall information so that I talk fluently about relevant information when questions are thrown at me. In an interview I will be professional to present myself as confident and ambitious.