Jeremy
Cantor – Animation Director – Insomniac Games – 9.27.05
The best piece of general advice I can give to someone when submitting a demo
reel is this: Imagine that the people who are going to review your work are the
busiest, most disorganized and most inconsiderate folks on the planet. You want
to make it as easy and painless as possible for them to look at your materials.
Try to avoid anything that might contribute to them being less able (or less
willing) to review your submission.
Cover Letter:
1) Make it short and to the point.
(See previous paragraph).
2) If you are applying to a
particular department, indicate this so we know who should be looking at your
reel.
3) If you were referred by someone,
definitely mention this.
4) Include a list of references.
Most of us have had at least one or two bad experiences with colleagues in the
past. If you don't steer your prospective employer toward folks who like you,
they might stumble upon someone who doesn't.
5) Avoid adjectives. It always seems
a bit suspicious when someone butters up their cover letter by mentioning how
wonderful they are. Stick to the facts. “I have 10 years of experience” is
fine. But “I’m the best animator on the planet!” sets up ridiculously high
expectations that then must be met by the work itself, thus encouraging the
reviewers to be that much more critical. Convince us of your talents with your
animations, not your words. This is a great quote: "When your work speaks
for itself, there's no need to interrupt".
6) Check your spelling, grammar,
punctuation & typos. Some applicants seem to think that “artists” won’t be
judged on such details, but keep in mind that your cover letter is often your
very first introduction to a prospective employer. Do you really want your
first impression to suggest that you don't check your work and that attention
to detail is not a priority for you.
Resume:
1) Try to avoid listing irrelevant
experience in the previous employment section. We don’t need to read about
you’re the part-time retailing job you held in high-school. In fact, it’s not
even necessary to tell us where you went to high-school, unless it was some
kind of special school-for-the-arts.
2) At the bottom of the page,
however, do list skills/hobbies/interests that might be relevant (or otherwise
attractive to your potential employers). If you're applying for a job at an
interactive studio that makes fighting games and you've studied karate,
indicate this. Acting/mime/dance/gymnastics/etc are good skills to mention when
applying for a job as an animator. You never know what might be relevant. Maybe
your potential boss is looking for a new rock-climbing partner. Believe it or
not, sometimes a little detail like that can actually have a big impact on
whether or not you get the job, and it always helps to have something non-work
related to talk about during your interview. Well rounded people are
interesting people to have around.
3) Accentuate but DON'T LIE! If you
were a lead game tester, it's okay to call yourself a "Quality Assurance Manager". If, however, you were a grunt
animator at your last studio and you once made a suggestion to a co-worker and
they followed it, don't call yourself an Animation Supervisor.
Demo Reel:
1) VHS (NTSC) is the safest format
if you want to be sure that your reel will be reviewed. Every studio has a standard VHS player. But
they might not have a 3/4 deck or a PAL converter. Don't send DVD's, CD's,
floppies or zips unless you've called ahead and confirmed that they can view
such formats. And if you do send a disc, make sure you LABEL it as a DVD or
CDrom. It is very frustrating to pop a disc into a DVD player only to discover
that it doesn't play because it's actually a CD.
2) Put your best stuff first. Because
of the volume of reels we review, if we're not "grabbed" in the first
few seconds of a reel we tend to watch the rest in fast-forward mode until we
see something that looks interesting enough to stop and look at in normal
speed. Don't let us miss your best piece.
3) Don't repeat animations. Please
don't assume that we wanted to see that particular piece again. We do have a
rewind button on our VCR. Also, repeating animations implies you have a limited
quantity of work and it looks like "filler".
4) Keep it short. 3 minutes is a
general target length.
5) Avoid lengthy intros, unless they
contain impressive and entertaining animation. Get to the meat of your reel as
soon as possible. (see #2 above)
6) Include a reel breakdown! Unless
EVERYTHING on the tape is 100% yours (and you indicate this), it is essential
that you include a descriptive list of your contributions to each shot. If you
don't, we are assuming that you are claiming that everything is all yours. If
you have collaborative work on your reel, it is dishonest, annoying and
potentially plagiaristic to not include a reel breakdown.
7) DO NOT PUT OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK ON
YOUR REEL! This should be the most obvious thing in the world but it happens. I
once received a reel without a breakdown that had work I recognized because it
belonged to a friend of mine! After requesting a reel breakdown, the dishonest
submitter admitted to "having had little to do with" certain pieces
on the reel. Since this information was not initially volunteered I had been led
to believe that he was claiming to have done those pieces himself. We do not
make a habit of hiring deceitful people. Also, do not include any tutorials or
demo/stock scenes which came with the software on your reel.
8) Don't send inappropriate work. A place
that creates children's educational software does not want to see blood and
guts. Don't send a creature-shop a demo reel full of spaceships and camera
fly-throughs. This shows that you didn't take the time to find out about the
company to which you are applying. Why then should they take the time to find
out about you?
9) Label your tape clearly and put
your contact information in the body of the tape. Sometimes tapes get separated
from their resumes. Make it easy for us to re-organize our piles.
10) Pop your tabs. Remember, we are
busy, disorganized & inconsiderate. We might accidentally hit the
"record" button instead of the "play" button on our remote
control.
11) Rewind your tape. We WILL charge
you $1.00!
12) Include drawings on your tape
ONLY if you truly think they will help your case. We will certainly be more
inclined to request an interview with someone whose tape has borderline-quality
animations but contains exceptional figure drawings at the end. Strong
fundamental skills are a good indication of someone's overall aesthetic
sensibilities. However, don't include bad figure drawings just to demonstrate
that you've taken a figure drawing class. You don't necessarily have to show
good figure drawings in order to get hired as a character animator. Just don't
go out of your way to show your weaknesses. It tells us that you aren't a good
judge of your own work and will therefore need a lot of supervision.
13) Show "acting". Let's
face it, walk/run/flight cycles alone will not get you hired as a character
animator anymore. In fact, these days, don’t even bother including walk-cycles
on your reel unless they additionally demonstrate some personality (or unless
you are applying for a junior-animator position). This is mainly because basic
motion cycles can be too easily copied from a variety of sources and they
typically don’t help to demonstrate actual animation skills. In order to get
hired as an animator, your work need to convey emotions and thoughts through
body language. Example: Don't animate a kid eating a bowl of peas. Animate a
kid who hates peas but his mother is making him eat them anyway. If you can
effectively tell such a story through timing, posing and facial expressions
alone, you will get hired.
14) If possible and appropriate,
show some style variation. If you can do cartoony style animation as well as
realistic human motion and lip-synching, make sure you demonstrate all of these
skills on your reel. However, consider carefully whether or not it is
appropriate to show the entire spectrum of your skillset. Smaller companies will
often want to see that you can animate as well as model and light and rig and
draw and design interfaces, etc. Larger companies, however, will prefer to see a
strength in one particular area. The perfect demo reel will demonstrate a
variety of skillsets while making it obvious that you are especially strong
(and experienced) in one area that shines above the others. It should say, for
instance, that you clearly belong in the animation department, but you could potentially
fill some other holes if absolutely necessary. In the film biz, a singular
strength will tend to help you land a job, but versatility tends to help you
stay employed beyond the current production cycle.
15) Avoid large, cumbersome packages
that are difficult to catalogue, file or shelve. They are often bent or
disassembled in order to fit them into boxes or bookcases. Which of course
brings up: Don't send original artwork. It WILL get damaged.
16) Don't show abilities that you
don't want to be asked to perform.
17) Wireframes with solid motion are
better than fully textured renderings with mediocre motion. (You might
accidentally get hired to do lighting!)
18) Be careful when including work
that isn't supposed to be publicly viewed yet. If you are showing clips from a project
that has not yet been released, you are telling us that you'd be willing to
show OUR work before it's released as well. Make sure your interviewer knows
that you've cleared it with your current/previous place of employ first.
19) Be careful when including
animations of your potential employer's characters. I've heard that Disney
absolutely never wants to see any of their characters on a reel. You're opening
yourself up to the same level of scrutiny that goes on in dailies every morning
at that shop. If, however, you truly think you can animate their characters as
well as they can then, by all means, go for it.
20) Choose your background music
wisely. Avoid songs/styles that might be deemed annoying or offensive, such as
Death Metal or Gangsta Rap.
21) Be careful of including
lip-synch pieces that contain potentially offensive language. Most of your
reviewers will indeed be gamers or film buffs and won’t have a problem with an
animation lip-synched to an obscenity-filled Tarantino soliloquy, but it’s
better to be safe than sorry. Use audible “bleeps” or choose milder source
material.
22) Include some personal work on
your reel. It helps if we can see what you can do on your own as well as what
you can do when collabarating or being directed.
23) Be honest with yourself. If your
entire demo reel is limited to demonstrating that you've managed to pull off a
couple of walk cycles, you're probably not quite ready to offer your services
as a character animation supervisor in a full fledged animation studio. Only
apply for a job that you truly feel you're capable of handling. However, this
doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have done that particular job before.
In most cases you WILL in fact be expected to rise above your current skills.
Aim high, just don't bite off more than you can chew.
Interview:
1) Research the company you’re visiting. Typically,
you’ll be asked: “Why do you want to work here?”, and of course, the best
answer is: “Because your stuff is awesome, and I’d love to be a part of
anything you might be doing in the future!” But only make such a statement if
it is true and you are prepared to field follow-up questions that may require
you to provide details, like: “So what specifically do you like about our
products?”
2) When
asked “Why do you want to work here”, your first answer should NOT be “Because
my commute will be really short,” or “Because I hear you guys pay really well,”
or “Because my rent is due and I really need a job”. These may indeed be your
main reasons for applying, but keep such thoughts to yourself and answer the
question with something related to your creative preferences instead.
3) Be on time. Remember, first
impressions are lasting impressions.
4) Dress appropriately. You don't
have to wear a suit, but error on the side of over-dressing rather than
under-dressing. Don't worry. You're not going to insult a prospective employer
if you are better dressed than they are. Chances are you will be...after
all...they already have the job!
5) Project a positive attitude but
don't go overboard and act like a used-car salesman. Show that you are
interested in working there and compliment their work. Just try not to make it
too obvious that you're "buttering" them up or trying to sell
yourself with your words rather than your work.
6) Bring another copy of your
reel/resume. Remember, we’re really disorganized. We might not have your
materials handy.
7) Bring some additional work. Don't
let us believe that your reel comprises everything you've ever done.
8) Be very careful when speaking
negatively about a former job/boss/co-worker. This is a small industry. There's
a chance your interviewer knows the person/place of which you speak.
9) Watch for trick questions.
"Oh...come on...you can show us those shots from that movie that isn't out
yet...we won't tell anyone!" Or: "Hmmmm...I see you have 3 months to
go before finishing your current project...we could really use you sooner...are
you sure you can't just abandon your current team and join us now?" If you
do it to them, you'll do it to us.
Follow up:
Keep in mind that it often takes a while before a demo reels gets reviewed. If
you haven't heard anything for 2 weeks or so it is okay to call and make sure
your submission was received. But don't be a pest. After an interview, it is always
a good idea to send a (genuine) follow up letter thanking your prospective
employer for taking the time to meet with you, but do not contact the company
repeatedly. If you don't get hired and you really want to work at a particular
company, resubmit your materials in 6 months or so. Studios needs and criteria
change all the time. Your skills/style might not have been appropriate for last
year's project, but they might be right for the new one.