This week, I began to prepare for my portfolio/showreel and to aid with this, one of my tutors had done a presentation talk giving advice and tips on how to make an effective portfolio. In order to prevent me from forgetting key pieces of information, I decided to do some note-taking from this talk. Below, I have added these notes for context, but also to correlate to some of the progress I have made with my showreel.
Notes from Aodhan’s lecture
– Best work only
– Hone in on career focus- match it to company of hire
– Easy navigation, makes it easier for employer to view
– Feature finished works
– Have contact information clear
To do this effectively, it is important to:
– Include name, contact information and profession
– Best work at beginning and ending slides
– Pick appropriate music that matches the theme
– Crediting each shot is essential
– Don’t make it too long (2 minutes max!!)
In conclusion…
I found that Aodhan’s presentation on making an effective showreel/portfolio was really informative. It helped me to understand what goes into a portfolio to make it good enough for an employer. As there is a lot of competition, it is a necessity to do the best possible – which is primarily through your showreel. Moreover, the whole class itself was quite a refresher of things I should keep in mind for making my own showreel and starting from now, I will begin gathering pieces of work that deserve to be added.
Finalised Cover letter
The Cover letter itself
Here is the mock cover letter I have come up with for Paper Owl Films. At the present, they don’t have any vacancies presented on their website or any job sites and although it might seem pointless to go ahead and make a cover letter, I feel that it is important to prepare ahead. With some research, I found a managing director from Paper Owl Films and decided to add his name for the sole purpose of keeping the whole thing relevant. Moreover, with context, I rehearsed the slides shown in class in last week’s session as a guide for my cover letter and going over each bullet point really helped me to include everything I needed to. Throughout the document, I did my best to put across my passion for this role, and the studio themselves in hope that it would reflect how much I wanted the job. I learned in class, that it is vital to be flattering which is already second nature for me to be polite. In future, if Paper Owl Films releases a position for animation I will ensure to send this cover email to whoever is taking the applications and honestly, hope for the best. If I decide to apply for other studios as a backup plan, I will simply edit the cover letter to suit the requirements.
The cover letter itself took no longer than an hour or so and I am honestly quite satisfied with the level of professionalism I have displayed in this document. Ultimately, I have decided to focus mostly on Paper Owl Films as a mock studio as they are one I would apply to if possible. Throughout my cover letter, I did my best to explain how I would fit best for the role, whilst also keeping it relatively short and professional at the same time – this was quite difficult at the start. I ensured to include some names of the projects I have worked on, displaying the amount of dedication and passion I have, as well as thanking the employer for their time. Furthermore, I feel as my first time actually writing a cover letter, this turned out rather well, and I will probably use it after this module is finished.
In addition to the cover letter, I took my tutor’s advice on creating possible reply email formats. For context, this includes post-interview gratitude and an asking for feedback response. I will use these to respond to any applications that I may encounter in the future. With these responses, I solely want them to be polite and emphasise my thanks to the interviewer/employer as I understand the processes involved with interviewing can be exhausting and getting an opportunity like this would be something I would really appreciate. Moreover, I tried my best to express this gratitude with my polite demeanour and being respectful as a whole.
The email responses
Portfolio beginnings
Below I have accumulated some of my best work from the last couple of years. Most shown here are from projects that I have done for coursework and the reason I chose these over personal projects is due to how they are more structured and team-based pieces. This not only shows the outcome of me working in a team but also gives the viewer an insight into the more professional based work I’ve done in the previous two years. I have inserted (in no particular order) these artworks.
Videos I will include in my showreel
Summary for the week
Overall, I am quite glad to where my progress is going so far. Now that I have finished my CV and cover letter, I can now move onto the beginnings of my showreel. Since I now know what I will include media-wise, it means I can get started with the editing, all I really have to do now is to put these works in order and find a suitable soundtrack to go with- all is well, basically. Next week, there will be more progress on this!