rockstars-amazing-facial-expression-technology
Creating good facial animation is the key to bring your character to live. Rockstar
created their technology.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Another great game company in New Brunswick: gold sun games
visit: http://www.goldsungames.com/
Another great casual game company in New Brunswick.
Another great casual game company in New Brunswick.
Gold Sun Games is quickly becoming a leader in the casual games space by developing the highest quality innovative games. It is our goal at Gold Sun Games to create compelling original games that are fun, fresh, and yet familiar.
Gold Sun Games focuses on developing the highest quality casual games with the widest possible market reach. We aim to please our largest target market of female gamers without alienating the still significant male audience. We also attend to all ages of gamers from children to seniors and everyone in between. With years of prior industry experience creating hit casual gameas in the past Gold Sun Games aims use this knowledge and experience at creating great games and more importantly a brand that gamers will anticipate each new release and come to rely on for undeniably fun gaming.
Gold Sun Games focuses on developing the highest quality casual games with the widest possible market reach. We aim to please our largest target market of female gamers without alienating the still significant male audience. We also attend to all ages of gamers from children to seniors and everyone in between. With years of prior industry experience creating hit casual gameas in the past Gold Sun Games aims use this knowledge and experience at creating great games and more importantly a brand that gamers will anticipate each new release and come to rely on for undeniably fun gaming.
Specialties
PC and Mac Download Games, Facebook Games, Mobile Games, Retail DVD Games
Monday, December 20, 2010
PAID internship
The Canadian Armed Forces came to explain the PAID internship the student can apply for after their graduation of GAIF. The up coming jobs are 3D and 2D :-)
Artist Alex Hicks from Bright Game PEI at The GAIF teaching
aturday, the 18th the GAIF had a very beneficial visit from game industry professional Alex Hicks, from mobile game studio Bight Games. We started off the first half of the day learning what goes into making a level for a mobile game. From what his director gives him, to the level he gives in return and how he starts his work everyday. The different perspective Alex brought was great. He works for a mobile game company, so everything he does has to be done with precision and have the best quality while using the least amount of resources. Alex’s best advice is to know more than 1 way to do things.the saying says there’s always more than one way to skin a cat, texture one and animate one. We also took some of the afternoon to work on texturing and making tile- able textures which games always need. And for the final part of the day he came around and gave us his opinion on projects we’ve all been working on. This is always my favourite part of our workshops, getting another pair of eyes on a project is always needed and its nice that the person looking at it is a professional working at a big company. Being able to take constructive criticism is a skill every artist needs to develop and bringing in our mentors always helps that. Alex’s visit was great and I await the next workshop with excitement.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Meet the 3D artists of Bioshock and Cops: High Speed Pursuit during our Open Houses on December 18th and January 29th.
Gavin Goulden has worked in the games industry for over 5 years contributing character and environment art to multiple titles including Dead Rising 2, Dragon Age, The Bigs 2, Damnation, F.E.A.R. 2, Rock Band 2 as well as many casual and hand held games. He currently works for Irrational Games where he is a Character Artist on the upcoming title, Bioshock Infinite. Gaving will be at GAIF on January 29th from 12:00 PM -1:00PM speaking about his career, his work and the industry. Gaving will be teaching the students of GAIF how to create stunning realistic 3d characters.
Call 506.450.4243 or email info@thegaif.com to reserve your spot! Limited Seating!
eMentor Alex Hicks - who has worked on Cops: High Speed Pursuit for the iPhone, as well as a number of other projects soon-to-be-released - will be on December 18 at GAIF to teach "making 3d levels and in-game props" to our students.Meet Alex Hick during the open house from 12pm to 1pm. Alex will sharing this experience on making mobile games, give advice on how to land job in mobile game industry and show his art work.
Call 506.450.4243 or email info@thegaif.com to reserve your spot! Limited Seating!
Meet eMentor Alex Hick - Mobile Game Artist
eMentor Alex Hicks - who has worked on Cops: High Speed Pursuit for the iPhone, as well as a number of other projects soon-to-be-released - will be December 18 at GAIF to teach "making 3d levels and in-game props".
Meet Alex Hick at the open house from 12pm to 1pm.
Meet Alex Hick at the open house from 12pm to 1pm.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Honorable Mentions for GAIF instructor
Contact GAIf for his clay sculpting workshop
See his work at: http://www.shiflettbrothers.com/forum/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=4183
more info about the contest
http://www.shiflettbrothers.com/forum/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=4202
Ubisoft artist at GAIF teaching the students
Read more at:
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/1318472
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Women playing catchup in Canada's video-game industry
read the full article at http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/balance/article/1303811
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Social, mobile games attract new gamers...
GAIF has a strong focus on teaching making mobile and social game for artists which is the growing market and for getting a job!
Read the article: http://nbbusinessjournal.canadaeast.com/journal/article/1307995
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Jesse Schell
Today I (instructor Carl) I had to luck to meet Jesse Schell. He was the key note speaker at Unite 2010 in Montreal. His lecture on the future of gaming was a real eye opener in our future and how much gaming and our virtual companion (~ Avatar) will be part of real/virtual life. Check out his website: http://www.jesseschell.com/ and read his book!
Jesse Schell has taught Game Design and led research projects at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center since 2002. Jesse is also the CEO of Pittsburgh’s largest videogame studio, Schell Games, and the former chairman of the International Game Developers Association. In 2004, he was named one of the world’s Top 100 Young Innovators by Technology Review, MIT’s magazine of innovation. Before coming to Carnegie Mellon, he was the Creative Director of the Disney Virtual Reality Studio, where he spent seven years as designer, programmer and manager on several projects for Disney theme parks and Disney Online. Before that, he was a software engineer at IBM and Bell Communications Research, and a writer, director, performer, juggler, comedian, and circus artist for both Freihofer's Mime Circus and the Juggler's Guild.
Instructor Carl attending a lecture at Unite2010 (the game engine Unity conference in Montreal) on how to create stunning 3D level in Unity with Autodesk pipeline specialist David. David and Carl both graduate in the same year. I learned a lot of new elements on how to create a fast workflow for quality textures in the game Unity. Unity is a game engine used also by EA. :-)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Assassins Creed Artist at the GAIF Nov 20
Meet the 3D artist Brad Waddingham who worked on Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell and Assassins Creed at GAIF November 20 from 12pm to 1pm. Call 506.450.4243 or email at info@thegaif.com to reserve your spot to meet Brad Waddingham. He currently works for Ubisoft where he is a Character Artist. Brad will be speaking about this career, this work and the industry. ! Limited Seating!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
GAIF recruiting adventures, day 1
Today, The GAIF began visiting school trade shows to recruit our next batch of artists for next year! Today we hit Harvey High school, and St. Stephen High, and we made quite a splash! We got a lot of buzz and interest (giving out lots of cool swag and having a great booth setup certainly helped!) But I think the biggest difference between our schools and the others was other schools had flyers, and for lack of better term, salespeople. We were making a difference not only had more than mere flyers and brochures, we put exactly who our students would be seeing on the frontline, how else would you even hope to answer some of the questions that these eager young minds had to ask us! We came, we saw, we interacted, and it's only going to continue as we go on! Join us tomorrow at the Saint John career fair, where GAIF makes its debeut!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
OIAF The Final Countdown:
PURE. PAYDIRT. Beginning with some networking I did at the afterparty the night previous, again, more teachers from other schools, I got to compare notes and got a lot of really good tips with my comparing notes. Biggest highlight of that networking, I got an NFB animator (Paton Francis, mentioned him earlier) to want to come speak at our school! He specializes in 2D animation, Flash animation, and Stop motion animation, which is quite an interesting combination. When, is something I need to work out with him when I return from the festival. I also have other candidates who were interested in doing the same, I am following up with them to confirm.
Now the best part of this paydirt day was easily the Disney/Pixar panel about 'how to make an animated short' On hand they had the Directors Teddy Newton (Director/creator of the Pixar short 'Day and Night' which preimiered in front of Toy Story 3) and DeanWilliams (Director/creator of the Disney short Tick Tock Tale.
The panel on Day and Night was an interesting look at the creative process, how to really get a ball rolling on something, starting with simply looking at things differently. It sounds so simple, and it's something I am very guilty of taking for granted, showing again how overcomplexifying any aspect of the process can conststrain your creativity. To illustrate this point, he introduced what he called 'the squiggle game' Where we would draw a.. random swooping squiggle (Very technical term!) and then, give it to another artist, who will take that squiggle, and use it as the base of a drawing. What do they see in shapes? Where will they take it? He
showed us one squiggle that produced no less than 12 completely different drawings out of the shapes that line provided. Totally mind blowing simplicity. Needless to say I'm bringing this exercise (among many others) back to the classroom for my students!
The Panel on Tick Tock Tale was equally interesting, this particular director says it's the first 3D short he's done, he's worked only in 2D up to that point. Dean: "It's a whole different thing! transisitoning from 2D to 3D. Normally I can just draw something down and be done with it, but now I find myself worrying about so many other things, like what a lightswitch cover is going to look like, how it needs to be textured, how a scuff on a shoe is going to look, what kind of materials actually make certain things look right. but what it does really lend itself to is actual environment, this really changed my line of thinking. I can't fudge small things in the background, and everything actually has to be built. It's a wholly different proccess than I'm used to. "He went on also to mention things that were the same, effective and plausible design of elements, and most importantly, something I stress very hard to my students: RESEARCH and lots of it! He described how he did research on the time period, the location (London in this case) what actually makes the aesthetic, people and clock proffessionals he spoke to to understand clocks and their workings, all the reference pictures he needed to take, so on and so forth.
I had the privelege of meeting them all, talking for a bit and even got them to sign some of my newfound Disney swag. That whole panel was a privelege. Such good insight into the creative proccess. Like so much, more on that when I return!
I was able to take in a Storyboard workshop as well. Though it was partly to showcase new industry software that's REALLY streamlining the process (I'm seriously considering adding this software to the school's regular lineup, but I want to evaluate it firsthand myself before I really give it a reccomendation) But when we weren't going over how this peice of software makes many aspects of boarding easier, and quicker there was a basic rundown of effective storyboarding, which was quite refreshing for me. A lot of questions came up centering around 'How do I board for such and such a genre' and got a surprisingly effective answer! Using horror as an example. To build effective horror, try watching a horror movie, like Alien, but on mute. without sound, you won't get caught up in the movie (especially a good one) but you can pay attention to the camera work, the angles used to build tension (in this case, usually just offset enough to not be natural, enough to make things not right. But the biggest thing in this genre is timing and pacing. Building tension and shattering it without the audience seeing it coming. Another major thing is framing your shot. A scary shot from the first
Terminator movie when he's rising from the fire. Look at how its framed. The heroes are in the shot, but there's a strange space in the frame that's not occupied by anything. This keeps the audience from buying into the joy our heroes are feeling, and tells us something isn't right. Sound advice!
The next workshop I took in at first was something I wasn't expecting to be offered. An Introduction to Voice Acting! Needless to say, I was interested. We did a lot of voice exercises and we began with finding the character, based soley on the illustration. These exercises, along with more suggestions, I fully plan on using in my Acting for Animation unit, as well as lipsyncing! for instance, one exercise; One of the easiest ways to get into a characters head is something I would have taken totally for granted! The Laugh. First, assume the pose and body language of the character you are about to act and analyze. Then, Laugh like you think they would.
Like everything else you do in animation, you cannot be tentative about it, really embrace it. Once you think you have it, simply introduce the character. (IE 'my name is Megatron, and I'm happy to be here') It's hard to communicate in type, it's something more easily understood in person, as my students are going to find! even topics, such as how to find a job in this field, where and how to find an agent, how to find and network with directors who are in need of voice talent, and it goes on! Needless to say, I got a lot out of this.
Afterwards there was another afterparty and the awards ceremonies for all the shorts that were screened and won the votes. Of course there were shorts that won in their catgories that I didn't think shoulda won, but that happens every festival I go to. Ironically, ranting about winnings ends up being another great way to meet and greet like minded people and do some more last minute networking (like the owner of Pilartoons, another 2D animation company specializing in Flash, and reconnecting, if only briefly to the Disney / Pixar directors from the earlier panel) but I've told so many networking stories this week, I'm not going to bore you all with another one, it's about time to wrap this mission up!
All in all, I got a lot out of this festival, a great deal of which made me change the way I think about teaching my classes, GREATLY enhanced my professional network and it's hard to beleive it's over already. As sad as I am to leave this wonderful world, I can't wait to get back into the class and start putting everything I got here to use! I'm sure my students will enjoy it as well.
Well, as it's been famously said in cartoons, That's all, Folks! I'll see you all upon my return tomorrow!
Now the best part of this paydirt day was easily the Disney/Pixar panel about 'how to make an animated short' On hand they had the Directors Teddy Newton (Director/creator of the Pixar short 'Day and Night' which preimiered in front of Toy Story 3) and DeanWilliams (Director/creator of the Disney short Tick Tock Tale.
The panel on Day and Night was an interesting look at the creative process, how to really get a ball rolling on something, starting with simply looking at things differently. It sounds so simple, and it's something I am very guilty of taking for granted, showing again how overcomplexifying any aspect of the process can conststrain your creativity. To illustrate this point, he introduced what he called 'the squiggle game' Where we would draw a.. random swooping squiggle (Very technical term!) and then, give it to another artist, who will take that squiggle, and use it as the base of a drawing. What do they see in shapes? Where will they take it? He
showed us one squiggle that produced no less than 12 completely different drawings out of the shapes that line provided. Totally mind blowing simplicity. Needless to say I'm bringing this exercise (among many others) back to the classroom for my students!
The Panel on Tick Tock Tale was equally interesting, this particular director says it's the first 3D short he's done, he's worked only in 2D up to that point. Dean: "It's a whole different thing! transisitoning from 2D to 3D. Normally I can just draw something down and be done with it, but now I find myself worrying about so many other things, like what a lightswitch cover is going to look like, how it needs to be textured, how a scuff on a shoe is going to look, what kind of materials actually make certain things look right. but what it does really lend itself to is actual environment, this really changed my line of thinking. I can't fudge small things in the background, and everything actually has to be built. It's a wholly different proccess than I'm used to. "He went on also to mention things that were the same, effective and plausible design of elements, and most importantly, something I stress very hard to my students: RESEARCH and lots of it! He described how he did research on the time period, the location (London in this case) what actually makes the aesthetic, people and clock proffessionals he spoke to to understand clocks and their workings, all the reference pictures he needed to take, so on and so forth.
I had the privelege of meeting them all, talking for a bit and even got them to sign some of my newfound Disney swag. That whole panel was a privelege. Such good insight into the creative proccess. Like so much, more on that when I return!
I was able to take in a Storyboard workshop as well. Though it was partly to showcase new industry software that's REALLY streamlining the process (I'm seriously considering adding this software to the school's regular lineup, but I want to evaluate it firsthand myself before I really give it a reccomendation) But when we weren't going over how this peice of software makes many aspects of boarding easier, and quicker there was a basic rundown of effective storyboarding, which was quite refreshing for me. A lot of questions came up centering around 'How do I board for such and such a genre' and got a surprisingly effective answer! Using horror as an example. To build effective horror, try watching a horror movie, like Alien, but on mute. without sound, you won't get caught up in the movie (especially a good one) but you can pay attention to the camera work, the angles used to build tension (in this case, usually just offset enough to not be natural, enough to make things not right. But the biggest thing in this genre is timing and pacing. Building tension and shattering it without the audience seeing it coming. Another major thing is framing your shot. A scary shot from the first
Terminator movie when he's rising from the fire. Look at how its framed. The heroes are in the shot, but there's a strange space in the frame that's not occupied by anything. This keeps the audience from buying into the joy our heroes are feeling, and tells us something isn't right. Sound advice!
The next workshop I took in at first was something I wasn't expecting to be offered. An Introduction to Voice Acting! Needless to say, I was interested. We did a lot of voice exercises and we began with finding the character, based soley on the illustration. These exercises, along with more suggestions, I fully plan on using in my Acting for Animation unit, as well as lipsyncing! for instance, one exercise; One of the easiest ways to get into a characters head is something I would have taken totally for granted! The Laugh. First, assume the pose and body language of the character you are about to act and analyze. Then, Laugh like you think they would.
Like everything else you do in animation, you cannot be tentative about it, really embrace it. Once you think you have it, simply introduce the character. (IE 'my name is Megatron, and I'm happy to be here') It's hard to communicate in type, it's something more easily understood in person, as my students are going to find! even topics, such as how to find a job in this field, where and how to find an agent, how to find and network with directors who are in need of voice talent, and it goes on! Needless to say, I got a lot out of this.
Afterwards there was another afterparty and the awards ceremonies for all the shorts that were screened and won the votes. Of course there were shorts that won in their catgories that I didn't think shoulda won, but that happens every festival I go to. Ironically, ranting about winnings ends up being another great way to meet and greet like minded people and do some more last minute networking (like the owner of Pilartoons, another 2D animation company specializing in Flash, and reconnecting, if only briefly to the Disney / Pixar directors from the earlier panel) but I've told so many networking stories this week, I'm not going to bore you all with another one, it's about time to wrap this mission up!
All in all, I got a lot out of this festival, a great deal of which made me change the way I think about teaching my classes, GREATLY enhanced my professional network and it's hard to beleive it's over already. As sad as I am to leave this wonderful world, I can't wait to get back into the class and start putting everything I got here to use! I'm sure my students will enjoy it as well.
Well, as it's been famously said in cartoons, That's all, Folks! I'll see you all upon my return tomorrow!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
OIAF Day 4
Here's where things started to get really interesting for me, at least. Firstly, I started crossing paths with more teachers from other schools than anything else but my day did not start there, Early morning was the Animators for Hire sessions and there was a number of things I did not expect to see! Namely the way in which it was setup. There was 2 lines. One in which you could attend panels from industry leaders about portfolios and demo reels (which I took in) And the other line is to register for honest to god job interviews and one on one portfolio assesments. In other words, SIGN UP HERE FOR A SHOT AT A JOB. The studios you were registering for a shot with? Rainmaker Animation, Walt Disney Studios, Nelvana, Mercury Filmworks, and Guru Studios. Interesting way of recruiting, but there were 2 other major studios doing recruiting that way that I wasn't aware of. Huminah-Huminah animation (A Nova Scotia based Flash animation company) and Warner Bros, who were looking for talent in both 2D and 3D. Now the event officially started at 9:15am, I showed up at 8:30am, and there was already loooooong line for the recruiting and portfolios. Needless to say, this sells the need of having strong job finding tools at the ready when coming here! As well as willingness to get up at what many might call too-early o'clock to ensure you get a good spot in line! Boils down to 'How badly do you want this?' Which leads me to a Facebook post made by Gene Fowler, director of Loogaroo "Half of our team just got back for the OIAF last night. What a great time! Lots of work out there folks, you just gotta dig for it."
Now the panels of portfolios and demo reels! This is where the post might be a bit confusing, at the speed things were going my notes kinda went all over the place, a crude spiderweb of henscratch, so I'm going to have quotes listed, and some of the questions asked with thier answers, and hopefully you'll get something out of it! I'm gonna try my best not to lose you all, here! *laughs*
Firstly the panelists: Anne Denman; Director of HR & Recruitment at DHX Media - Vancouver , Tom Knott; Assistant Production Manager at Warner Bros. Animation , Dawn Haagstad; Senior Recruiter at Pixar Animation Studios, and Fran Krause; Animation Instructor for the Computer Arts & Technology Department, New York. I'll be putting snippets by thier names.There was a bit of an agreed consensus on a few things, firstly having a website. In this age, it's practically not an option. Have one, and make it good. If that means hiring someone else to build one for you if you're not that strong in web design, or if you want to buy pre-made website templates that you touch up and make your own (You really would be amazed at how much this happens, even moreso how much effort it saves!) then so be it! You MUST have an online presence, as it's the most easily accessable thing to anyone!
The first thing someone interested in you is gonna do is google you. If you have nothing coming up? Well.. no cookie for you. your portfolio itself? You should be able to build more than one. Why? Every studio has different needs, and it's up to you to do your research and figure out those needs, and cater to them directly. Word of mouth still accounts for about 80% of job getting, this ties into a few things I consistently soapbox at school 'Be professional to everyone. Don't be a jerk. You NEVER know who might be looking for an artist who does what you do well, and if you've left a bad impression on someone for whatever reason, be it personal, or professional (breaking contract, not delivering results) bad press travels FAST. In a community as tightly knit as animation? You cannot afford such a reputation, especially if you're still attempting to get your foot in the door!' and so on and so forth. Once you've gotten your foot in, however, this becomes more and more important.
Fran Krause: The Demo Reel of mine you just saw is the first one I've needed to make in almost 12 years since graduating. After my first major gig, my reputation started to precedede me, and since I maintained it, I've never found myself without work. When a job is finished, people are already aware of me, and what I do, and how well I do it, so landing another one usually isn't a problem. I get by on my merits, and how well I can work with everyone.
Now Fran also showed us his original Demo Reel and explained how it got him a job.
Fran Krause: I got my first job from an interesting chain of events. I graduated and did up my animated short, I entered it into a festival, hoping something would happen. It actually got screened! and the director of Blue's clues was in the audience at the time. He came looking for me later at the afterparty in the bar, and we set up and interview right there of all places. After the festival, there were 2 shows I got the chance to do a test for. Blue's Clues, and another french show based here in Ottawa.. the name escapes me right now, but that test was shorter. I had a flight to catch, so I went for the shorter test. Somehow the Blue's Clues director found
me doing the test at this other studio, looked at it, and hired me for his studio. It was really big stroke of luck, I think, but hey! I wasn't complaining! Every other job since then, I can trace back to people I met in college, or connections I've made at other festivals I went to, and that's it! Always reminds me what a small community it feels like sometimes!
While I definitely agree on the stroke of luck part, that Reel and short he said got screened was actually really strong. The jobs he got after? That ties right into my soapboxing I mentioned earlier up! And the word of mouth thing also earlier. Never doubt the power of networking!
Great points he brought up for students and graduates looking for work include:
-Don't put it on your reel if you hated doing it. You gotta love it! If I looked at your reel and wanted to hire you because of a really nice set of special effects and you only did it to look cool and hated doing it, I'm hiring you for the wrong reason, and you'll hate your job! In this industry, you have to love what you do.
-Save your source material. If you need to re-cut a new reel, it's just so much easier to have the source that you can re-export and re-cut much cleaner, it just makes things so much easier. Don't forget to have backup copies!
Anne Denman, on applying for a job at a studio,
Anne Denman: Don't start your email or application with dear sir, or madam. Especially not just dear sir. That one still makes me laugh. If you're linking me to your blog? Keep it to your name. One applicant sent me a blog named 'Slippery Nipples' I didn't get back to that one. Next, while you might be tempted to put all kinds of fluff such as 'I think I'm such a great fit for your studio, I saw such and such a movie and it changed my life blablabla', just.. don't. Get to the point. Paint me your blue sky. What you'd do in my studio if you had your druthers. Like 'I'm a Flash artist, and I want to specialize in Layout design' Keep it nice and simple. Fluff is just as annyoing to read as it is to write. I'm not interested, you're not interested.. lets do us both a favor, shall we?
Question for Anne: " As far as submitting a demo reel, do you prefer digital submission, like a link, or would you rather have the material portfolio right in front of you, printed on disc or paper, etc"Answer: "That's something that really varies from studio to studio. You're going to find that you need to really research where you want to apply and what they want, and what they expect. Myself? I'd rather have a link, it's just much easier to deal with. Now Fran, here on the other hand, likes discs, because he can send them around the office much quicker somehow."
Fran Krause (Adding to Anne's Answer): Research is Key when job hunting. If you're applying to a place, as she said, research its needs! There was this one ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) Animator I know who kept applying to Pixar. They knew he was a skilled animator based on his submissions, but it didn't focus on character acting, which is the biggest factor of applying there. He kept applying with different reels, using his rejection letters as inspiration 'This is what I want, and dammit I'm having it!' And a few applicaitons later? Pixar took him. As an animator on Toy Story 3. After he understood the needs of the studio and started really
catering to em!
About here, I'm gonna stand on my soapbox again. YOU CAN NEVER ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS. This is gonna get tied back into moreso as the listing goes on. Anyway..
Tom Knott on dealing with animation tests. (Animation tests sometimes follow interviews, they can make or break decisions about you getting hired or not. But just because you don't get hired doesn't mean the test isn't still usfeul to you! Read on:)
Tom Knott: If you get a test, DO IT. But most importantly, ASK QUESTIONS. Like, what's a good time budget for this test? Some people will take a test, do it in a day to show me how fast they can work and lo and behold, it sucks. On the other hand I get people who would take..sometimes over a week to deliver something decent, but it takes way too long. Find the time budget and try to strike yourself out a solid schedule, give yourself a better idea of how to go about it. Questions to ask once you've submitted it? Try how do I make this stronger, what do I need to tweak, or where did I flat out just go wrong? This won't only help you as animators, but this, far more importantly, helps you establish rapport with the director, which gives you an instant foot in the door. And the best part? Even if you don't get hired, you can take their revisions, providing you get over your ego enough to do them anyway, to make it even stronger. What then? Well you just got yourself a strong demo reel peice! Just don't forget to note it was a test! Don't forget about that rapport you're building either! Once the revisions are done, send em again! You never know. The worst you could get out of it is a demo reel peice, and is that really so bad?
Anne Denman, adding to Tom's comments: Never be afraid of walking into a studio, declaring what you'd like to do and how you would like to get better. Even if you can't find a job, you're still getting VITAL feedback and as Tom said, rapport with the studio. directors will seldom ever turn away someone who's asking the right kinds of questions.
Dawn Haagstad on Job Interviews:
Ask so much questions you might think you're annoying your director, but think of it like this. you're there to make your client happy, and you can only do so if you know exactly what they want. We don't really look for someont that does only what a director says and calls it a day, We want somoene who's willing to ask the kins of questions needed to ensure the best scene can be made! When you have an interview, turn your phone off. This seems like a no brainer, and sometimes poeple get calls during interviews get calls and they scramble, apologizing profusely, and that's all well and good, but we've had some canditates, and I must stress, more than one, who have actually taken the call. Afterwards, They were immediately told, 'I think we're done here.' Needless to say, they didn't get the job! And if you're in transition, like you got fired from another job for doing.. well whatever, trust me, we don't wanna hear it! If you were fired, it was probably for a good reason, and if you put that before us, it might be giving us a great reason to not hire you!
I'm sure at this point I don't need to point out the importance of questions again! Ties right back into 'How badly do you want this?'
Continuing on..
Dawn Haagstad on Demo Reel assembly: Put your best stuff first, come out swinging. If you make someone wait to see your best stuff through a bunch of okay stuff, you really think they're gonna wait around? Not really. If you don't tell us then and there why we need you, odds are your reel is going to be instantly forgotten. One of the biggest things that will make your reel stand out is effective subtle character acting. Why? Because it's really hard to do! Your reel itself should be nice and punchy, 30 seconds to a minute and a half, 2 minutes is really pushing it.
And lastly more general consensus the panelists could argree on!
-Google stalk the staff of the studio. Learn their reels and what got them hired!
-In every email you send, have your COMPLETE contact info, address and all.
-No reel Gimmicks (sparklies, other things meant to distract)
And that's just a sampler, guys! Lots to take in! Even more to come tomorrow!
Now the panels of portfolios and demo reels! This is where the post might be a bit confusing, at the speed things were going my notes kinda went all over the place, a crude spiderweb of henscratch, so I'm going to have quotes listed, and some of the questions asked with thier answers, and hopefully you'll get something out of it! I'm gonna try my best not to lose you all, here! *laughs*
Firstly the panelists: Anne Denman; Director of HR & Recruitment at DHX Media - Vancouver , Tom Knott; Assistant Production Manager at Warner Bros. Animation , Dawn Haagstad; Senior Recruiter at Pixar Animation Studios, and Fran Krause; Animation Instructor for the Computer Arts & Technology Department, New York. I'll be putting snippets by thier names.There was a bit of an agreed consensus on a few things, firstly having a website. In this age, it's practically not an option. Have one, and make it good. If that means hiring someone else to build one for you if you're not that strong in web design, or if you want to buy pre-made website templates that you touch up and make your own (You really would be amazed at how much this happens, even moreso how much effort it saves!) then so be it! You MUST have an online presence, as it's the most easily accessable thing to anyone!
The first thing someone interested in you is gonna do is google you. If you have nothing coming up? Well.. no cookie for you. your portfolio itself? You should be able to build more than one. Why? Every studio has different needs, and it's up to you to do your research and figure out those needs, and cater to them directly. Word of mouth still accounts for about 80% of job getting, this ties into a few things I consistently soapbox at school 'Be professional to everyone. Don't be a jerk. You NEVER know who might be looking for an artist who does what you do well, and if you've left a bad impression on someone for whatever reason, be it personal, or professional (breaking contract, not delivering results) bad press travels FAST. In a community as tightly knit as animation? You cannot afford such a reputation, especially if you're still attempting to get your foot in the door!' and so on and so forth. Once you've gotten your foot in, however, this becomes more and more important.
Fran Krause: The Demo Reel of mine you just saw is the first one I've needed to make in almost 12 years since graduating. After my first major gig, my reputation started to precedede me, and since I maintained it, I've never found myself without work. When a job is finished, people are already aware of me, and what I do, and how well I do it, so landing another one usually isn't a problem. I get by on my merits, and how well I can work with everyone.
Now Fran also showed us his original Demo Reel and explained how it got him a job.
Fran Krause: I got my first job from an interesting chain of events. I graduated and did up my animated short, I entered it into a festival, hoping something would happen. It actually got screened! and the director of Blue's clues was in the audience at the time. He came looking for me later at the afterparty in the bar, and we set up and interview right there of all places. After the festival, there were 2 shows I got the chance to do a test for. Blue's Clues, and another french show based here in Ottawa.. the name escapes me right now, but that test was shorter. I had a flight to catch, so I went for the shorter test. Somehow the Blue's Clues director found
me doing the test at this other studio, looked at it, and hired me for his studio. It was really big stroke of luck, I think, but hey! I wasn't complaining! Every other job since then, I can trace back to people I met in college, or connections I've made at other festivals I went to, and that's it! Always reminds me what a small community it feels like sometimes!
While I definitely agree on the stroke of luck part, that Reel and short he said got screened was actually really strong. The jobs he got after? That ties right into my soapboxing I mentioned earlier up! And the word of mouth thing also earlier. Never doubt the power of networking!
Great points he brought up for students and graduates looking for work include:
-Don't put it on your reel if you hated doing it. You gotta love it! If I looked at your reel and wanted to hire you because of a really nice set of special effects and you only did it to look cool and hated doing it, I'm hiring you for the wrong reason, and you'll hate your job! In this industry, you have to love what you do.
-Save your source material. If you need to re-cut a new reel, it's just so much easier to have the source that you can re-export and re-cut much cleaner, it just makes things so much easier. Don't forget to have backup copies!
Anne Denman, on applying for a job at a studio,
Anne Denman: Don't start your email or application with dear sir, or madam. Especially not just dear sir. That one still makes me laugh. If you're linking me to your blog? Keep it to your name. One applicant sent me a blog named 'Slippery Nipples' I didn't get back to that one. Next, while you might be tempted to put all kinds of fluff such as 'I think I'm such a great fit for your studio, I saw such and such a movie and it changed my life blablabla', just.. don't. Get to the point. Paint me your blue sky. What you'd do in my studio if you had your druthers. Like 'I'm a Flash artist, and I want to specialize in Layout design' Keep it nice and simple. Fluff is just as annyoing to read as it is to write. I'm not interested, you're not interested.. lets do us both a favor, shall we?
Question for Anne: " As far as submitting a demo reel, do you prefer digital submission, like a link, or would you rather have the material portfolio right in front of you, printed on disc or paper, etc"Answer: "That's something that really varies from studio to studio. You're going to find that you need to really research where you want to apply and what they want, and what they expect. Myself? I'd rather have a link, it's just much easier to deal with. Now Fran, here on the other hand, likes discs, because he can send them around the office much quicker somehow."
Fran Krause (Adding to Anne's Answer): Research is Key when job hunting. If you're applying to a place, as she said, research its needs! There was this one ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) Animator I know who kept applying to Pixar. They knew he was a skilled animator based on his submissions, but it didn't focus on character acting, which is the biggest factor of applying there. He kept applying with different reels, using his rejection letters as inspiration 'This is what I want, and dammit I'm having it!' And a few applicaitons later? Pixar took him. As an animator on Toy Story 3. After he understood the needs of the studio and started really
catering to em!
About here, I'm gonna stand on my soapbox again. YOU CAN NEVER ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS. This is gonna get tied back into moreso as the listing goes on. Anyway..
Tom Knott on dealing with animation tests. (Animation tests sometimes follow interviews, they can make or break decisions about you getting hired or not. But just because you don't get hired doesn't mean the test isn't still usfeul to you! Read on:)
Tom Knott: If you get a test, DO IT. But most importantly, ASK QUESTIONS. Like, what's a good time budget for this test? Some people will take a test, do it in a day to show me how fast they can work and lo and behold, it sucks. On the other hand I get people who would take..sometimes over a week to deliver something decent, but it takes way too long. Find the time budget and try to strike yourself out a solid schedule, give yourself a better idea of how to go about it. Questions to ask once you've submitted it? Try how do I make this stronger, what do I need to tweak, or where did I flat out just go wrong? This won't only help you as animators, but this, far more importantly, helps you establish rapport with the director, which gives you an instant foot in the door. And the best part? Even if you don't get hired, you can take their revisions, providing you get over your ego enough to do them anyway, to make it even stronger. What then? Well you just got yourself a strong demo reel peice! Just don't forget to note it was a test! Don't forget about that rapport you're building either! Once the revisions are done, send em again! You never know. The worst you could get out of it is a demo reel peice, and is that really so bad?
Anne Denman, adding to Tom's comments: Never be afraid of walking into a studio, declaring what you'd like to do and how you would like to get better. Even if you can't find a job, you're still getting VITAL feedback and as Tom said, rapport with the studio. directors will seldom ever turn away someone who's asking the right kinds of questions.
Dawn Haagstad on Job Interviews:
Ask so much questions you might think you're annoying your director, but think of it like this. you're there to make your client happy, and you can only do so if you know exactly what they want. We don't really look for someont that does only what a director says and calls it a day, We want somoene who's willing to ask the kins of questions needed to ensure the best scene can be made! When you have an interview, turn your phone off. This seems like a no brainer, and sometimes poeple get calls during interviews get calls and they scramble, apologizing profusely, and that's all well and good, but we've had some canditates, and I must stress, more than one, who have actually taken the call. Afterwards, They were immediately told, 'I think we're done here.' Needless to say, they didn't get the job! And if you're in transition, like you got fired from another job for doing.. well whatever, trust me, we don't wanna hear it! If you were fired, it was probably for a good reason, and if you put that before us, it might be giving us a great reason to not hire you!
I'm sure at this point I don't need to point out the importance of questions again! Ties right back into 'How badly do you want this?'
Continuing on..
Dawn Haagstad on Demo Reel assembly: Put your best stuff first, come out swinging. If you make someone wait to see your best stuff through a bunch of okay stuff, you really think they're gonna wait around? Not really. If you don't tell us then and there why we need you, odds are your reel is going to be instantly forgotten. One of the biggest things that will make your reel stand out is effective subtle character acting. Why? Because it's really hard to do! Your reel itself should be nice and punchy, 30 seconds to a minute and a half, 2 minutes is really pushing it.
And lastly more general consensus the panelists could argree on!
-Google stalk the staff of the studio. Learn their reels and what got them hired!
-In every email you send, have your COMPLETE contact info, address and all.
-No reel Gimmicks (sparklies, other things meant to distract)
And that's just a sampler, guys! Lots to take in! Even more to come tomorrow!
Friday, October 22, 2010
OIAF Day 3
Today was a bit of a slower pace, only 2 screenings, so I took the time out to check out the National Gallery (wonderful place to go if you have any appreciation for art of any kind) and to my surpirise, it was teeming with animation students from all over the country. Needless to say, I did plenty more gabbing, cardswapping. Many even asked for my feedback on their portfolios they brought with them, which was really an interesting
experience for me!
After that, however, there's an event that happens every festival, that would be a networking exercise in disguise, had the website not told you in the guide that this event was geared to just that! At any rate, the event is called 'The Animators Picnic' and event for passholders only where we all get on a bus, and get carted off to this field for team pumpkin carving, and you know. Food. Picnic stuff! And bad music, which is a hilarious given at a picnic. I got put on a heck of a team! Luke Conrad (whom I met already and talked about in yesterdays post) and Jerry Beck (co owner of Cartoon Brew). I also managed to cross paths with Rick Knowles in my travels, an old school 2D Disney Animator. He's done a good deal of traditional work, mostly on sequels, but decent ones I've seen! Like Return to Neverland. He's lucky I didn't talk his poor ears off, but lord knows I tried! He was very gracious about it all, though.
Now those who have actually been following this, you might be wondering something. Namely 'You're doing lots of networking, which is important for jobsearching, but what about actual jobs, how do we get those?' Fear not! I've been surveying from studio reps what is lacking or what they want to see in new portfolios, I just want to have more of a consensus assembeled before I really start shooting my mouth off! and on top of that, there's 3 hour session tomorrow (likely today by the time any of you get to read this!) about recruiting from a studios point of view, the whats and whys with panelists from Rainmaker Animation, Walt Disney Studios, Nelvana, Mercury Filmworks, and Guru Studios. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for my findings! Same GAIF time, same GAIF channel!
experience for me!
After that, however, there's an event that happens every festival, that would be a networking exercise in disguise, had the website not told you in the guide that this event was geared to just that! At any rate, the event is called 'The Animators Picnic' and event for passholders only where we all get on a bus, and get carted off to this field for team pumpkin carving, and you know. Food. Picnic stuff! And bad music, which is a hilarious given at a picnic. I got put on a heck of a team! Luke Conrad (whom I met already and talked about in yesterdays post) and Jerry Beck (co owner of Cartoon Brew). I also managed to cross paths with Rick Knowles in my travels, an old school 2D Disney Animator. He's done a good deal of traditional work, mostly on sequels, but decent ones I've seen! Like Return to Neverland. He's lucky I didn't talk his poor ears off, but lord knows I tried! He was very gracious about it all, though.
Now those who have actually been following this, you might be wondering something. Namely 'You're doing lots of networking, which is important for jobsearching, but what about actual jobs, how do we get those?' Fear not! I've been surveying from studio reps what is lacking or what they want to see in new portfolios, I just want to have more of a consensus assembeled before I really start shooting my mouth off! and on top of that, there's 3 hour session tomorrow (likely today by the time any of you get to read this!) about recruiting from a studios point of view, the whats and whys with panelists from Rainmaker Animation, Walt Disney Studios, Nelvana, Mercury Filmworks, and Guru Studios. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for my findings! Same GAIF time, same GAIF channel!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
OIAF Day 2
OIAF: Day 2
Today there was a TON of screening competitions, both feature length and short. What struck me yesterday, but really sunk in today is that here, there's no real such thing as anyone arguing over which medium is better,
cause everyone uses everything! I've seen some incredible 2D and 3D work, I've seen animation with chalk, stop motion clay animation with both 2D and 3D effects (how's THAT for a combination!) Literally, if hands can manipulate it, it seems to be fair game! Especially when we got to a section of .. abstract animation shorts, but that's an entirely different thing in and of itself!
Between sessions, there was a Meet the filmmakers session in which we could speak to the animators and directors who were responsible for the previous days shows. Unlike previous times I went to this festival, instead of Q and A with just the films I liked, I went out of my way to talk to the directors about the shorts that completely escaped me, gain a better understanding of all kinds of thought processes, and absorb some of the cultural differences that went into their work, which I natrually missed. doing the same thing I found was another more local animator, Luke Conrad; CEO and Creative producer of Cartoon Conrad in Nova scotia! Refreshing to meet more maritime talent, especially company owners! Cartoon Conrad is a 2D centric studio which has provided series for CBC, Fox Kids, and Teletoon! They just wrapped work on a series called Razzberry Jazzberry Jam he tells me.
Speaking of meeting, I ran into another familiar face from a previous festival, Dominic Leblanc of Teletoon. She's one of the project managers, in charge of scooping up potential properties as series to air on the network. Easy to see why someone like that might be here, which is why I'm aiming to get our student work on that fesival screen. And on that note, other participating schools!
While milling about waiting for shorts to begin, I met and spoke with students from Max the Mutt Animation School, Algonquin College, and Vancouver film school asking asking them about their programs, how they feel about them, and even got to speak with one of the department heads of Boston University Center for Digital Imaging. Lots of people from all around, but I'm sure that's more than gotten accross already, more details on this wheh I return!
And lastly, there was an interesting screening highlighting animation aimed at childeren and how demographics, and more important, censorship has changed for the more family friendly audiences of today as opposed to yesteryear, aiming even as far back as the 1930's.
And now for more mingling/schmoozing! Tune in tomorrow for more!
Today there was a TON of screening competitions, both feature length and short. What struck me yesterday, but really sunk in today is that here, there's no real such thing as anyone arguing over which medium is better,
cause everyone uses everything! I've seen some incredible 2D and 3D work, I've seen animation with chalk, stop motion clay animation with both 2D and 3D effects (how's THAT for a combination!) Literally, if hands can manipulate it, it seems to be fair game! Especially when we got to a section of .. abstract animation shorts, but that's an entirely different thing in and of itself!
Between sessions, there was a Meet the filmmakers session in which we could speak to the animators and directors who were responsible for the previous days shows. Unlike previous times I went to this festival, instead of Q and A with just the films I liked, I went out of my way to talk to the directors about the shorts that completely escaped me, gain a better understanding of all kinds of thought processes, and absorb some of the cultural differences that went into their work, which I natrually missed. doing the same thing I found was another more local animator, Luke Conrad; CEO and Creative producer of Cartoon Conrad in Nova scotia! Refreshing to meet more maritime talent, especially company owners! Cartoon Conrad is a 2D centric studio which has provided series for CBC, Fox Kids, and Teletoon! They just wrapped work on a series called Razzberry Jazzberry Jam he tells me.
Speaking of meeting, I ran into another familiar face from a previous festival, Dominic Leblanc of Teletoon. She's one of the project managers, in charge of scooping up potential properties as series to air on the network. Easy to see why someone like that might be here, which is why I'm aiming to get our student work on that fesival screen. And on that note, other participating schools!
While milling about waiting for shorts to begin, I met and spoke with students from Max the Mutt Animation School, Algonquin College, and Vancouver film school asking asking them about their programs, how they feel about them, and even got to speak with one of the department heads of Boston University Center for Digital Imaging. Lots of people from all around, but I'm sure that's more than gotten accross already, more details on this wheh I return!
And lastly, there was an interesting screening highlighting animation aimed at childeren and how demographics, and more important, censorship has changed for the more family friendly audiences of today as opposed to yesteryear, aiming even as far back as the 1930's.
And now for more mingling/schmoozing! Tune in tomorrow for more!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
OIAF day 1:
Everyone still seems to be arriving and getting their bearings, and there's not as much slated in todays series of panels. the first batch of people I managed to run into were people I keep running into! Namely Rob Anderson (Freelance game developer) And Gene Fowler (Loogaroo) making their rounds. Also I met a former colleague of mine I'd not seen in almost 7 years. Paton Francis. when we last crossed paths, we were new graduates of our program. Now, he's an animation director at the National film board of Canada, and has a film being screened in tonights first showing!
the morning session went over a bit of marketing and co-production, and how it works between countries, in this case, Canada and Europe. Leading the panel was Jan Bonath, a german director for a series called Dragon, which is a stop motion animation series sold and viewed in over 70 countries.
Many things I'd never even knew about before about overseas outsourcing came up, such as co-production treaties! Before a peice of work can be outsourced, its destination must be eligible and signed into the animation co-production treaty, and that's before even any paperwork or contracts for the series are signed! Then we went on to shares between the studioes, what kinds of margins are distributed financially and in terms of sheer workload, and how/what gets outsourced, in this case between Canada, Germany, and Korea.
In the afternoon, there was another panel of co-production between companies and the difficulties that sometimes come up. Afterwards, I was able to talk to some of the panelists! Namely Xiao Tzu, president of Delphi Films, Caterina Vacci; producer of Atlantica Films in Italy, and Oliver Dumont, president of eOne Family programming and merchandising, and learned even more about how different processes need to be when co-producing from the ground up for multiple countries, which works much differently than just buying network rights, and dubbing a series, as I thought it was. For instance, just time format. they explained, using Dragon as an example, when it airs in North america, it's 12 minute episodes, 26 episodes a season, broken into 4 chapters. Now when producing the same story with the same narrative in Germany for instance, it needs to be reformatted to 7 minute episodes, 26 episodes a season, with 2 chapters. This was but one of the MANY examples of co production difficulties companies and studios face when launching their product in international territories. (more on that when I return) And here I was thinking it was so much simpler. According to them, it's not!
Later on, I also met and talked shop with Keith Savage, owner of Savage Films in Ottawa, something a bit more local! He specializes in storyboarding Live action sequences, so he gets a lot of calls from local businesses and advertisers shooting commercials to help them out. He was just as perplexed as I was about the international reformatting, so I didn't feel so bad struggling to come to grips with it. The more you know, I guess!
And now, I must be off to the first Animation short competition. More updates as the adventure continues!
the morning session went over a bit of marketing and co-production, and how it works between countries, in this case, Canada and Europe. Leading the panel was Jan Bonath, a german director for a series called Dragon, which is a stop motion animation series sold and viewed in over 70 countries.
Many things I'd never even knew about before about overseas outsourcing came up, such as co-production treaties! Before a peice of work can be outsourced, its destination must be eligible and signed into the animation co-production treaty, and that's before even any paperwork or contracts for the series are signed! Then we went on to shares between the studioes, what kinds of margins are distributed financially and in terms of sheer workload, and how/what gets outsourced, in this case between Canada, Germany, and Korea.
In the afternoon, there was another panel of co-production between companies and the difficulties that sometimes come up. Afterwards, I was able to talk to some of the panelists! Namely Xiao Tzu, president of Delphi Films, Caterina Vacci; producer of Atlantica Films in Italy, and Oliver Dumont, president of eOne Family programming and merchandising, and learned even more about how different processes need to be when co-producing from the ground up for multiple countries, which works much differently than just buying network rights, and dubbing a series, as I thought it was. For instance, just time format. they explained, using Dragon as an example, when it airs in North america, it's 12 minute episodes, 26 episodes a season, broken into 4 chapters. Now when producing the same story with the same narrative in Germany for instance, it needs to be reformatted to 7 minute episodes, 26 episodes a season, with 2 chapters. This was but one of the MANY examples of co production difficulties companies and studios face when launching their product in international territories. (more on that when I return) And here I was thinking it was so much simpler. According to them, it's not!
Later on, I also met and talked shop with Keith Savage, owner of Savage Films in Ottawa, something a bit more local! He specializes in storyboarding Live action sequences, so he gets a lot of calls from local businesses and advertisers shooting commercials to help them out. He was just as perplexed as I was about the international reformatting, so I didn't feel so bad struggling to come to grips with it. The more you know, I guess!
And now, I must be off to the first Animation short competition. More updates as the adventure continues!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The GAIF welcomes Colleen Thomson
We would like to welcome Colleen Thomson to the Gaming and Animation Institute of Fredericton. Colleen will be our Director of Student Affairs in charge of recruiting, student activities, student finances, scheduling and administration. Colleen brings to the job a wealth of experience and knowledge having earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Education degree. As a parent of a teenager Colleen also brings empathy and understanding to the process of choosing a career path. She has a strong commitment to providing a quality education in a positive learning environment.
“There is more to a quality education than great teachers. A positive learning environment in and out of the classroom is critical. By building a supportive community for all students through fun and informative activities and having an open door policy, I want students to feel welcome whether they are here for a class or to just hang out.”
Colleen Thomson, here to help our students excel. Welcome!
“There is more to a quality education than great teachers. A positive learning environment in and out of the classroom is critical. By building a supportive community for all students through fun and informative activities and having an open door policy, I want students to feel welcome whether they are here for a class or to just hang out.”
Colleen Thomson, here to help our students excel. Welcome!
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