Friday, July 06, 2007

Being an Almost Graduate

I've been checking around the AM alumni site and looking at my classmate's demo reels and I've realized something. AM produces some seriously nice animators. I've seen a lot of really good work and its hard to believe most of the students were animating for the first time. I've watched my classmates grow and now get jobs/internships at Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Pixar, ILM, and Rhythm&Hues. I'm really glad to be a part of the AM community and to have had the chance to learn from some of the top animators from various studios. I wish the program was longer, as I still have so much to learn. I've watched people in my class grow from having never animated in their life to working at Disney and such, while I am still sitting here at home collecting rejection letters.

All I can do is tell myself these letters are a good thing since my parents want me to finish my time at SCAD. I don't think I'd feel bad if I got hired before I finished up there. Isn't the whole point in going to college is to learn and develop your skills so you can get a job? I'm going to a couple of events at Siggraph since my graduation from AM is being held there. I've never been there before but I've heard about how great it is. All I wanted to do was go to the animation theater and the job fair. Now I'm debating whether I should bother bringing my reel, since I still have five more quarters to take a SCAD. I'm still working on my short and am working on adding a few shots from it to my reel. We'll see if I'm fast enough to accomplish that by the end of the month.

I would really like to get an internship more so than a job right now because of the SCAD dilemma. That way I can get experience from a bunch of studios and continue to move towards finally being finished so I can apply for jobs for real. I think I should have taken summer classes to push my graduation date closer to the original time. I didn't find out about my acceptance and then rejection from R&H soon enough to apply for summer classes though. This time I'll try calling HR at all the studios I send a reel to when it gets close to registration time. Hopefully then I'll be able to find out whether or not I got in and then register for summer classes based on their answer.

Anyway, watching all of my peers get jobs where I hope to someday work makes me feel like a little kid trying to hang out with the big kids. AM gives us all this information about resumes, reels, interviews, contact info/connection with various studios and says "Now take this information and go get a job! =D". All of the AM grads shout "Yeah!!!!!" and they rush out to get hired at all these cool studios. I see myself trying to run out with them when a teacher grabs me by the shirt and says "Not so fast young lady! You've got to finish your schooling!". The teacher plops me down at a desk in an empty classroom and I sit there like -______- and =(. Then my classmates start streaming in excitedly telling the teacher where they've gotten a job. I get excited each time one of my classmates comes in with news of working at *insert dream studio here*, but a stern look from the omnipresent teacher forces me to sit back down at my desk.

Lol, maybe I could animate a scene like that. I have a really clear vision of how that would look in my head right now and I think it would be rather amusing. The only bad thing is the number of characters I'd have to use and the fact that I have to finish my short first, lol.

4 comments:

Cory and Tashina said...

The most important thing to remember is that your not animating to be hugely famous or to get a job even..you should animate because your passinate about it and you take all of your strength and energy and put it ALL into this one thing and nothing else..there is no failure.. i've seen your workyou are a GREAT animator. And I for one am looking forwards to everything you do in the future.

Your friend,
Cory Ag

Jocelyn Cofer said...

Thanks Cory! I'm just wondering if I should bring my demo reel to Siggraph, thats all. I don't want to waste people's time if they don't want to see work from someone who isn't completely finished with school. I'm also wondering if Siggraph happens too early in the year to try to apply for internships for next summer. I guess I'll have to call the studios and ask them upfront.

Bryan said...

Hang in there. Getting some job, no matter how awesome it might sound, isn't always so good for a career. Some people get what they think is a great job, it works the crap out of them doing grunt work, and they end up not learning very much. It's a lot easier to take chances and learn something at a school than it is on a studio's paying gig. Few clients dig that, and many of the ones that do, don't pay.

Take chances now. Dive in and push every limit you can find. Force your instructors to struggle to keep up with your ideas.

From what I see, you do a great job and pay attention to all the details. Do more. We all want to see it.

As much as all of us want to work for *insert favorite studio*, there are so many opportunities opening up that were never even thought of a few years ago. Work your craft, over and over, and the right thing will come.

I say this all for you and me, because I'm in a similar state and impatient and struggling.

There is failure, and all the greatest things were built on a deep bed of failure. That is how to learn. Try, fail, repeat. From that comes excellence. Embrace it.

Amrit Derhgawen said...

I totally agree with Cory and Bryan.

Always remember that you animate because you LOVE animation.... The process of animating should make you happy.. not a job. Don't be so attached to the results. Enjoy the real thing, that is animation. Keep doing your job (animating), never stop.... keep struggling do everything you can to get into a job. But DON'T be attached to the results. Enjoy every part of your struggle. Because this part will NEVER come again in your life.
Without struggling.... life is NO fun. If you don't have to do any struggle and if you don't have any challenges life...where is all the fun? So, ENJOY this struggling part.

You don't have to prove anything to anyone...you don't have to prove that you're a great animator by working in some bigshot studio. If you're great, people will know you're great! You won't have to go anywhere.... people and studios will come to you and ask you for a help for their next feature film.

As I'm your friend, I know you're a great animator. And let me tell you, that you will get a job in a bigshot studio... Let the time come and don't be in a hurry.

Don't consider your friends who are getting hired in some of those studios, as BIG KIDS. If they are big, YOU'RE big too. Working in Pixar won't make you great. Your positive attitude towards life, your endurance, your ability to accept success and failures and of course your work, animation, will make you great. There is absolutely no need to shrink yourself in front of those "so called" big kids!!

So for now, think about your next animation. You will get a job... just let the time come and DO NOT wait for the time to come. Just keep doing your job, and of course don't just sit there... do everything you can to get into job. Keep animating and keep struggling, don't stop.... and DON'T concentrate on your "big kid" friends.

You've a bright future ahead. You're a cool animator. Keep animating! :)

-amrit