2023: Grad Film Proposals and Preparing for the Future

As 2023 has rolled round, its time to think about my future as an animator, and make a project that’s both feasible but also sets me up to apply for jobs and work as best I can. My final project is built around this (name TBD), which sees two siblings fight over the world that they exist in through the screen of their TV.

From my previous posts over the last year, I’ve made it clear that I want to work as an animator, specifically in the animation process rather than in pre-production. I’ve also outlined the shift in the industry from frame-by-frame to a puppet cutout style. However, frame-by-frame is my passion, its what I love to do (even when it isn’t always consistent), so with this in mind, I’ve decided on making a film with sections that are rigged, and sections that are hand-drawn to advance both areas of my portfolio without limiting myself. Lucy Lill, a visiting practitioner, described my ideas as a WandaVision-esque project, as to allow for these two styles to mix, I’m mixing up 3-4 possible art styles to show that I can adapt to different companies and the various styles of art they use. Up until now, I’ve largely stuck to anime as my basis, so branching out and experiencing new styles will allow me to replace some of my previous work and add cleaner, and more diverse clips.

In the holidays leading up to this, I began looking at various studios that interest me, and began taking note of the directors and projects that specifically interest me as per the advice back from the BlinkInk studio visit. I’ve created a spreadsheet where I make note of all of this, if I feel I’m suited to the company and also notes on the types of clips I should be including in my showreel. As Margaux mentioned in her talk the other month, Moth Studio isn’t interested in overly clean Sakuga compared to the more minimal style that they like, so submitting a showreel that’s trying to please all just isn’t possible. As the project gradually gets closer to completion, I’d like to prepare tailored showreels for each company. I’ll make a separate post as I compile more studios to apply to and make more notes on what I’m looking for.

I’ve been steadily building up my CV through LinkedIn, and it now helps that I have a credit to my name in a television production. Only a few days ago, UKTV Gold finally broadcasted their documentary “Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful” alongside two colourised episodes of “Hancock’s Half Hour”. Through our former tutor Steve Roberts, I got to help back in the summer to colourise one and act as a production runner, so hopefully these experiences will help me break into the industry in some form.

I feel I’m steadily building up a good portfolio and putting myself into a position with stronger work to submit to potential studios. If I can get a little bit more experience and more projects under my belt, I hope to crack the industry this year with junior positions or internships.