Tuesday 9th March 2010
The Illuminated Film Company
The Illuminated film company are mostly freelance. They are currently working on the TV series 'The little Princess'. They have worked on animations such as 'The Snowman, Father Christmas and The very hungry caterpillar'. The director of 'The little Princess', Ed Foster showed us around the studio and talked to us about their company and gave us some great advice. He told us that storyboard artists get paid up to £1000 per storyboard sheet. Some of them work from home to finish their work on time. The animators have to produce around 1000 frames in a week. The scripts for the animations have to be approved by channel 5 before they begin production.
The animators have to stick to the same style as everyone else. You're animating cant stand out from the rest, it has to stay the same.
Ed Foster explained to us that for a good portfolio take out work which is not relevant to the company you are applying for. Adapt you're style to match the companies style as you have more of a chance getting a job with them. Make a blog of you're portfolio, its the best way to send you're work to companies. DVD's can sometimes get lost or ignored. Learning software packages is a great way to get into the industry. Good timing is important in animation and being able to adapt you're styles. Its good to have experience already on you're CV. keep it brief and include personality its a great way to be remembered.
i enjoyed visiting this company and found the advice Ed Foster gave us very useful. He spent a lot of time with us going threw our portfolios and did not rush threw them he gave us all individual advice. He like my designs and the color i use. He said that i should include different styles in my portfolio and show were these designs came from like including some sketches. Overall we spent about 2 hours or more in this studio and i would deffinitly consider this company in the future.
Blue Zoo Productions
Back in 2008 this was a small company just starting out, were they did adverting and tried to pitch a 3D animation and were interested in 2D animators. Its amazing to see how much this company has changed from visiting them again. They are now interested in working in the software Maya were they have learnt to develop a 2D animated look using a cut out technique. So instead of looking for 2D animators they are now looking for 3D animators.
They said the best way to show you're work instead of mailing it in the post is to email a link of you're work. This is easier for them to quickly look at it. They look for flexible artists which can draw different styles. You are likely to have more work and stay in the industry for longer if you do. they do take on work experience but don't take on runners because the studio is only small and they have no need in them.
This company has progressed a lot since i last visited them. My impressions this time was not so enthusiastic. They didn't seem overly keen to have us there. I understand that they are busy but they were also busy the last time we saw them and they were very keen on seeing us. I think it would have been better if we had a lecture company us.
Wednesday 10th March 2010
Prime Focus
Prime Focus is one of the largest post production companies in the UK. Specialising in special effects. The company began in India. They worked on music videos and Hollywood movies such as 'Avatar, Harry Potter and stardust'. They use CGI as it is cost effective and great for situations that are hard to shoot. they use software such as Kratatoa Render for particle effects, Fluid Simulation, Crystal Managment System, Spore Manipulation, Camera re-projection and the new Stereo Depth extraction.
They told us the best way to get into special effects is to start editing and focusing on what you're into . Using different 3D packages is important. They also gave us advice that you need to no what's coming next or next year involving animation or special effects just so you are up to date with what's going on. How to react to customers and push the boundaries with you're work.
We went to Prime Focus instead of going to 3 Mills studio. They gave us some good advice and showed us some brilliant visual effects they have done. It was worth going to this company even if you are not interested in visual effects it gives you an idea of how they do it and what software they are currently using.
Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment Ltd
Animated TV series such as 'Yoko! Jamamoko! Toto! Dennis the menace and Oscars Orchestra'. They are currently working on the American TV series 'The cat in the hat'. They produce all the sound editing, storyboard and all the post production work in house. They have a Tree house company in Canada where animation is sent. The latest animations have been produced in Flash and cell-action. The scripts are produced before the animation. They mainly produce animations for pre school children and are currently are pitching an idea to Disney for a children's TV series called 'Ribbit Rabbit Robbot'.
The advise they gave us is that Drawing keeps you in work and if you have strong skills you will always be wanted within the industry. Teamwork is important in animation and the ability to multitask. Artists also need to be able to critisize themselves to improve. Its also good to specialize in you're prefered area within animation, then you can focus on developing you're skills. The best way to get a good final year animation is to keep it short and focus on animating it well.
I enjoyed visiting Collingwood. I like the simple designs they use for their animations especially for the one they are currently working on. He gave us lots of advice which will help during my animation process.
