Animation in University

Hey guys. Jeez its been a while since i last came around, but its good to be back . Anyways I'll get to the point.

Are there any animation students out there? Because as I hope to become one myself I'm wondering what kind of attitude, work, etc I should take to university interviews. I'm simply quite confused on how to go about it.

If there are any of you animators (or any film students too) out there, would you be able to reach out a hand and give your experiences through the dreaded university interviews, so up'n'comers like myself have a better idea on how to approach it?

Many thanks and erm....don't quite know how to close this........erm...... ....Red Dwarf rocks.

Oh man.. I haven't heard anyone mention Red Dwarf in a long time... hehe

Hi SuperSoupy,

I can't shed any light on an interview for you. I went to an art college where the admission requirement was a portfolio, test scores and GPA. I can suggest you approach the whole application process with your best work and a good attitude (that's stating the obvious). I do know that regardless of the area (2-d or 3-d, even traditional cel)you plan on majoring in, traditional life drawing skills are held in high regard. If i were you i'd consider padding my portfolio with these rather than copies of Disney characters, etc. Master drawings (your interpretation of the great 2-d works) are always appreciated as well as lifeforms in action. If you can manage some abbreviated walk cycles, etc., to add, that would show initiative. i'd also suggest that you do all your research on whatever college's program you decide to apply to, just like a job interview, the powers that be appreciate someone who has taken the time to do this.



I love Red dwarf........

Bird says much to be recommended, including the idea of solid figure drawing samples instead of characters, if 3-d is what you want to do. If cartoon animation design is what you'd prefer, well, you know, follow that track.

I've said this before elsewhere and I'll say it again: having been in the business a solid number of years now (over 2 decades - sheesh, where does the time go?!) on the east coast, one of the things which has struck me is a potential missed opportunity. I don't regret anything by any stretch, as being independant is more my twist, but one constant I've seen over and over again is in interviews of Hollywood techs and artists, they usually recall starting their careers with some words along the lines of, "so I was sittiing around feeling sorry for myself and the phone rings and it's so and so I MET AT USC and he said they had a job opening on a project he was working on for a guy who could...." The first part of that statement applies to alot of graduates, but the second part, where he gets the phone call from a guy in a near-Hollywood-based college he was friends with there, is the one which usually comes from guys who went to one of the big film-dept colleges in California. It isn't always that way; guys I've known from New york have called from California with things which were happy, but if you want to get GROUNDED into the Hollywood productions, it's not JUST what you know, but ALSO who you know. Really, I generally try not to get quite too declarative and qualify things as opinion, but this one really has a pattern to recommend it.

If you want to do indie work, of course, anywhere is home. However, New York or California are your best bets. Lots of people not on the coasts don't care much to hear that, but those places do remain still where the strongest media centers are, and where those are situated so are the best resources and networking opporunities.

As far as getting in, loving it helps, so do whatever you would do as an expression of your love for it, and if that turns out to be something you create and you show it to them, they'll usually recognize the love, and that goes a long way, since you can spot the lovers from the guys who just "don;t want to work" (ha!) a mile away no matter what they say. "I love it" via voice means little. "I love it" manifest in the work says it all.

A minute of some kind of animation of course is helpful. Demonstrate weight and balance in your animation as well as your drawings; that is a BIG one in CGI. Demonstrating an ability to multi-task textures and modelling and animation, the big three, can be helpful also, though if you are a mind-blowing animator, forget the rest and be a star!

Just food for thought. Happy chewing, and good luck!

Yeah great points guys much appreciated. I've done a short cartoon and a film or 2 just to show brief knowledge in the subject. But I'm not sure how much portfolio work (in terms of traditional drawing, etc) would be enough to take to the interview? Y'see i don't wanna bore them with too much stuff, or look like a fool with to little work to show.

How much would you say would be a nice amount?

Oh, and DR Visual youre first post was in this thread. cool. nice to meet ya.

haha, by the way love to hear that you love Red Dwarf, bird.

Dr_Visual_FX!

I know your work and have had the pleasure of reading your posts in other forums. You're experience will be much appreciated here!

PS All you FX/CGI folk: got your guru right there......

haha, by the way love to hear that you love Red Dwarf, bird.

Click to expand...

Brilliant series. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy....ya-haaaaaa.

Yeah. Unfortunately I haven't seen much of Hitchhikers, but apparently there's a full movie of that (and Red Dwarf too!!) being made as we speak. So I'll still be able to discover its joys

Thanks, Bird, and you're no slouch either on the communication scale, but a Guru I'm not. I'm struggling up the mountain to enlightenment like all the other shmoes. All I can do is offer to lend you my climbing gear!

Soupy,

On the issue of what schools per se are looking for in terms of volume, I can't really say anymore, its beena long time and things may have changed. logic suggests you bring a bunch of things and put your best on top; don't sandwich the lesser stuff in an attempt to have a good first and last impression; the chances are they'll never see what's on the bottom. The flip side is you never know what they WILL like ON the bottom! Appropos that in the professional world:

How much is too much? Maybe never. Old story; once upon a time I went for an interview for an animated show in NYC (been thinking on it of late as one of the voice actors, Jerry Orbach, just passed away) and I went in for storyboard artist. I had a HUGE portfolio back then and it was filled with all sorts of art, plus an animation reel (like they needed to see that from a storyboard artist and no, they didn't ask to see it and didn't - not the job, pre-and-post only, the animation proper being done in Japan). Anyway, the art director looked at all my best stuff and seemed to like it, but I was dying as the show prouction looked great and he wasn't getting very excited. Then he asked if he could see some sketches. I had some and he looked at those; scribbles of creatures and things. Within seconds; "can you start tomorrow?" Literally. At that point I hadn't learned to always include sketches along with finished pieces, (especially on series work, because in production nobody has time for geniuses, they just need people who can communicate with a scribble, because that's often all anyone has time for.) and only included it has "padding" for my "too much" portfolio. So bringing "too much" in that instance for me got me my first series job, taught me a lesson about what an aspect of the industry needs and paved the way for many networked friendships along the way. Not really a "turning point", but an opportunity which paid off.

I get stuff submitted occasionally and when it's sparse, I always feel the artist has far to go, or are not always as successful as perhaps they might need to be, or take forever, which I can never afford. In ANIMATION, however, it's all about good first impressions on the reel. Keep it tight, especially for a large studio - the big places have the time and WILL take forever to get something "just so", so it's much better to have 20 seconds of some AMAZING character moment it took you three months to do (never lie about how long it takes) rather than 5 minutes of stuff guaranteed to demonstrate you don't do what they do - take forever to get it right. If you want to stay more independant and freelance, then you'll have to learn multiple disciplines, and you'll have more personal satisfaction but it comes with the added difficulty of being nowhere near a nine-to-five reliable job, and you'll spend the first few years at least putting powdered soup into your hamburger every night so it tastes like a different meal after the first four weeks.

Unless you get lucky, and I hope you do.....

No "guru talk" , just some observations from one of a billion very, very tiny corners of the industry. I hope they help for what they're worth.

That is some great food for thought, thankyou Doc.
My sketchbook work does say a lot about my interests. So really sketches can say more about you than say a final outcome? My art teacher has said that a 'sketchbook done correctly will speak for itself'. Trouble is, he didnt explain what correctly meant in terms of sketching. So I've found myself just drawing my interests and immediate surroundings.

I'm not sure if they say more about you or not, though it's possible depending on whether you sketch your main interests or sketch things which aren't things with which you are familiar to broaden your skills for final pieces, or do both to keep you hand in one and develop more broadly at the same time. If your sketches are "loose but tight", if you can make a few scribbles which by their line show they were done in a blink and at the same time immediately communicate the idea being expressed powerfully and with no ambiguity, then THAT is a good kinda sketch to have - the one which communicates while at the same time wasting no time!

As you draw, learn to make figures with two or three loose, continuous lines, if you haven't already. Art teachers like to often see sketches which are blueprints for pretty pictures. In animation, sketching is immediate, 60 second shorthand for five hundred cumbersome, ineffective and wasteful words desribing the look of a character or thing. Big difference.

By the way, the DR in my handle refers to my initials, not some self-aggrandizing reference to a skill worthy of a doctorate, though I've had the nick "Doc" all my professional life, long before the internet, so i guess it's fair.

Hope all this really does help.

Yeah. Unfortunately I haven't seen much of Hitchhikers, but apparently there's a full movie of that (and Red Dwarf too!!) being made as we speak. So I'll still be able to discover its joys

Click to expand...

And there are 42 joys........

So I guess we can add Hitchhiker and Red Dwarf to the list of Hollywood remakes including King Kong. the Producers and Willy Wonka. I never thought the latter was a classic, but the first definately is, and Hitchhiker and RD are minor TV classics. My take: why not remake lousey movies instead of great ones? But I've been off on this indignant rant before, elsewhere....

Yeah, make a bad tv show into a great movie, rather than risk turning a great show into a disappointment. Totally agree with you there. Ive got high hopes for the Red Dwarf film though, as theyre using all the original cast etc.