MAXI DIAZ Animation blog
Hello! Today I bring a very interesting article that sheds a lot of light on one of our main concerns: Get our next job in the industry.
To be clear about our objectives, what better starting point than to have the wise opinions of all those professionals who are currently hiring, people who today are at the head of the main animation studios in our country and who, like us, also had to fight to gain a place in the industry .
Let's start this article with the opinion of Christian Dan.
What do you value most in an animation reel?
What I value most in an animation reel is the good taste for acting choices. Of course, a good demo should have the perfect balance between good physics and good acting, but I can forgive a shot that is not entirely well polished but in exchange for having chosen good acting choices.
In the end, learning to polish is a matter of time and practice, but knowing how to act and make your character unique is something that must be demonstrated.
How do you value the recommendations?
Undoubtedly, the recommendations are valuable when hiring a candidate. Sometimes we cannot show our work on the reel due to confidentiality issues, or sometimes the candidate has just graduated from school and has little material but of good quality. If you add a recommendation from someone you trust, it helps a lot when choosing.
What are the most common mistakes you usually find in an application?
One of the most negative things is to make a bad choice of the shots that will be part of your reel.. Sometimes you can find good shots mixed with lower quality shots, even very bad ones. This makes me think that the candidate doesn’t have sufficient criteria to identify what is wrong from what is right. It also makes me think that the candidate doesn’t have the good taste that I would like him to have.
Another common mistake is to want to show a lot of material, even if it is not good. In the end, the supervisor is going to keep the worst of the demo, not the best. So, you better learn to filter.
What advice would you give to a person who can't find work in animation?
Without any doubt my advice would be to continue animating. Finish shots. Don’t try to cover more than they are capable. Better to make several short-cut shots but with great polishing and choices of acting instead of many shots that are very long that limp on all sides. Animate,, animate and animate. And above all ask for a lot of feedback.
Manu, What do you value most in an animation reel?
One of the things that I value most when I see an animation reel is (as long as it is indicated) the time that has been dedicated to performing the exercise or shot exposed. I think it is very important to know how to solve an animation in times of production since in a studio it is difficult to have all the time we have at home to work it out. There are definitely better and worse animations but you cannot evaluate an animation just by finishing it without taking into account the time you have had to make it. I have met both cases many times, animators who have spent months in their house solving a 40 shot and with a very high-level finish that when they entered the studio they were not able to solve it even in a week. Or on the other hand, reels in which you could see that the finish was not wondered and yet when entering the studio and spending more time it turned out to be optimal.
As for a reel or rather an exercise itself, I greatly appreciate the timing and poses, I think that the rest is eventually learned with practice but I see potential in an animator is if the poses posed and the timing proposed in an exercise it's nice.
How do you value the recommendations?
When I make a recommendation I take it very seriously and I am critical and sincere, I think it is fair. Therefore I trust that the rest does the same as me. Answering the question then I could say that I heed the recommendations .
What are the most common mistakes you usually find in an application?
The most common mistake I usually find is the lack of understanding of what is being requested in the application. For example, in an application for Mid or Senior Animators, there are countless junior candidates who apply even if they have not had previous experience.
What advice would you give to a person who can't find work in animation?
Quality training and practice. With the rise of 3D, there are many schools that have emerged and offer to train you as a professional when many of them are not trained and do not even have trained teachers. Therefore my first advice would be that you do not get into the first school you see or the one closest to you from home. Find out, inquire, ask for references, look at the teachers' curriculum , etc..
And on the other hand, practice everything you can and be receptive to the feedback you get from people. Today the social networks are full of people who will give you feedback from your plane when uploading it, listen to them and not only do what they say but try to understand why they are saying that, because that feedback will improve the shot.
Tell us Marta, What do you value most in an animation reel?
First of all, ,, the most important thing for me is the quality of the animation. We have to see that the animator knows the basic principles and knows how to apply them: timing, silhouette, arcs, anticipation, overlapping… If the animator does not master these principles, probably any animation director will close the reel within a few seconds of opening it. ,, Of course, originality and variety are also valued in the shots (body mechanics, acting, close up, general plane, realistic, cartoon…), but only if the animation is perceived as natural and credible. Another thing that I value is that there are no shots of a bad taste in the reel. I think it's great that your best shot is a guy kicking a kitten, but don't put it on the reel, Please 😀
How do you value the recommendations?
Recommendations from trusted people are decisive. No one better than a co-worker to know how he works, if usually delivers the work in time, if has a good attitude towards feedback, if he is committed, if knows how to work in team, if he is generous and helps others… The recommendations, rather than to see if someone animates well, are very useful to skip the whole process of finding out if a person will adapt well to the team; If a friend recommends somebody to you, you understand that it will be so. Then you have to see the reel and judge the animation, of course, but the person behind that reel is as much or more important than the reel itself. And if someone knows this person and speaks well of him or her, you can say that this person has already passed the part of the selection.
What are the most common mistakes you usually find in an application?
It is very common to find reels that don’t have enough quality. This may be because the animator is a beginner and still cannot judge the level of his own animations. Therefore, it is best to ask for help in the forums or on social networks, or to a friend that you know will be honest with you. Show them your reel and listen to the reviews with humility. If the criticisms of two or more people concur, do not hesitate to correct your shot; If is only one person and has more knowledge than you, trust him and get down to work. Short your ego, it will not open the doors of the industry. Quite the contrary, ,.
What advice would you give to a person who can't find work in animation?
Currently, the possibilities of entering the industry have multiplied in such a way that I think that any animator can find its place. It's no longer like when there were only Disney and the "nine old men." . Today the animation surrounds us, is everywhere, and the industry is eager for new talents. If an animator fails to get into any project, I can only think of three reasons: that he does not give enough quality, that he does not want to move from a specific area (either by family, by friends or by roots) or that he does not have a list wide enough of companies to send the reel, including from other countries.
If you don't give enough quality, you have to persevere, ask for a lot of feedback and correct the animation until it runs out. If it has not already been done and the economy allows it, it is a good idea to take a course that has good references, either face-to-face or online, to ensure good learning.
If you do not want to change the city, province or country, it is much harder to find a job, but it is not impossible. What should be done is to greatly increase the level of animations to capture the attention of the closest companies, or try to work as a freelancer for companies looking for remote animators, which there are. But you have to keep in mind that animation usually leads to an unstable working life, and that being willing to move can make things much easier when entering the industry.
If what happens is that only two or three companies are known to send the reel to, it is necessary to look for listings in specialized pages to expand the range of options. You can also enter Linkedin and contact by contact, ,, look at which companies they work for. There are hundreds! Leaving some public message that you are looking for work can also be useful, as someone who knows what your company is looking for people can see it and get in touch.
And above all, persevere, persevere, persevere, persevere.
What do you value most in an animation reel?
Of course the quality of the animation. From my point of view, a complete reel should include an example of acting, an example of physics and if they are not included, ,, examples of quadruped and facial animation, with a single example of each would be enough, ,, you should not enclose any content at all costs .
If the reel only includes school exercises, I value more a small sample of some personal work, since from my experience I know that it is more realistic with what I will find later.
How do you value the recommendations?
Much, if the recommendation comes from someone I know, it is what I value most.
Not only must the animation quality be taken into account, but also what kind of person is the animator, Do you know how to work in a team? Are you a problem generator? How do you accept feedback? These kinds of things are as important or more to me than quality as an animator and are things that can not see in the reels.
What are the most common mistakes you usually find in an application?
Misspelling in the curriculum, having difficulty seeing the reel they send me, or making it very long and boring, but today there is a lot of information and I think that people are increasingly prepared, I do not usually see many mistakes.
As I said before, you should not make the mistake to put a lot of content at all costs, put only the best you have, fill it with old videos of mediocre quality makes you a disservice, if you want to include them for whatever, put them always in the end, at the beginning only the best and if possible all the videos with the year of execution so that there are no misunderstandings.
What advice would you give to a person who can't find work in animation?
Perseverance, if you really love this world, keep trying, if you are not lucky in one place, try another, it is the law of supply and demand, based on trying, someday you will get it. However, I sincerely believe that this is a vocational profession and not everyone endures it, I have seen good professionals leave the road, because we do not fool ourselves, it is a very beautiful profession, but sometimes it is also hard.
Fran is currently working as an Animation Lead at Ilion Animation Studios and was previously Animation Supervisor at La Tribu Animation, Animation Supervisor at Blue Dream Studios Spain, Animation Director at Pasozebra Producciones and Animation Director at Kandor Graphics. Let's see what your opinions are to end this article.
What do you value most in an animation reel?
In the case of newly graduated students who are applying for junior positions, ,, I look especially at polishing and technical finishing. I don't ́ mean that creativity and generating ideas are not important in a reel, but I think that during the production it is easier to guide someone with his plan at the concept level than having to be aware of unifying all the small details of the finishing level
How do you value the recommendations?
It depends mostly on the credibility you give to the person making the recommendation. I have found very pleasant surprises, animators that perhaps by the reel I would not have had them but they were recommended by trusted people and they worked very well, and also, unfortunately, the opposite case, probably because they are friends, the recommendations don’t work quite well.
What are the most common mistakes you usually find in an application?
As much as it is repeated in different places, I think that the length and variety in the reels are still the most common problems. In the case of junior positions we tend to put everything we have and in many cases, especially in the case of series, it is a very repetitive material. I think it is interesting that each plane provides something different. In short, put only the best you have. I prefer a short reel with the best shots that leave me wanting for more, than a lot of volume with shots of different qualities.
What advice would you give to a person who can't find work in animation?
Keep drawing plans on your own, Each time they will get better and will have more material to put in the reel which will increase the odds.
So far this article on what are the keys to getting your next job in the industry. I want to thank Christian Dan, Manu Gonzalez, Marta Segurola, David Ordieres and Fran Dapena, who have dedicated part of their time to give us such valuable advice that will certainly help us take our next step in the industry.
Thank you very much to all!
Maxi
