Cover Letters - 7 Tips

A few months ago Lisa Crafts suggested we do a write up on cover letters.

At the sample reel panel in Ottawa I actually learned a thing or two -mainly that I'm not the only person who reads cover letters.

Like the cover letter itself, I'll keep this basic.

1) Know who you're addressing. I actually like "Dear Mr. O'Connor..." but as other folks pointed out they're fine with a first name -as long as it's a professional name ("Dear Richard" not "Dear Rick" -Rick was my father). Conceding that decorum went out with Art Deco, I won't hold points against anyone for thinking we're on a first name basis.

Ms. is still an acceptable suffix. Miss is not. Really ever, but I'm not a Miss so it doesn't effect me. "Mrs." should only be used if you know the addressee is married.

If you're wonder how "Mrs." comes from "missus", it's because the word was originally "mistress."

You know how you find out whether someone is married: google. Producers will google you before an interview, it's only fair.

2) Once you know who you're address, make sure you're addressing the right person.  I admit it, I've copy and pasted sales letters and instinctively hit send before changing the addressee.   So I know that you're mass mailing your reel off an outdated weblist and have some sympathy.

Sympathy aside, it's completely amateur.  It means your work now has something to overcome.  Your first contact with a potential employer and you've made a mistake already.  That reel has to be damned good now.

3) Get to point. "I've been working as a XXXXX for XX years.  I would like XXXXX position with your company.   I've done XXXXXX and XXXXXXX and would be happy to work in that capacity with you..."

It's a business letter.  Business should be upfront and on the level.  Say what you want and what you're will to accept.

Don't say you'll do "anything".  "Anything do-er" isn't a position that's generally being looked to fill.   The "Anything Do-er" is usually the kid of a friend or colleague who needs a summer/part time job (just being honest).  Or they're the owner.

In any case, you're an animator (or compositor, or model builder).  That's the job you're after.  Anything different is a leap of faith and a negotiation.

4) Show familiarity with the work of the company you're applying to and make a connection.  My work on  "Project YYYYY" is  similar to what you've done on "Film WWWWW".  Not only does this show you actually have taken the 5 minutes to look at the website, you're making the recruiter's job easier by directing them to a specific piece of interest.

5) Use your 'ins'.  Remember that kid who's the "Anything Do-er".  Remember how nepotism got him his job.  Those are the breaks.

There is always a tribal mentality at play with humans.  Those already in the tribe have a much greater possibility of acceptance.

Let the studio know if you sat next to a staff animator at a screening of The Rugrats Movie when you were 14.  Hopefully, you've got a better connection (a classmate, a friend, you had a conversation with the director at a talk) it doesn't matter -use what you've got.

6) You're not funny.  Don't pretend to be.  Just don't.  You're not funny.

7) You're not Tolstoy, either.  Keep it brief.  The cover letter is to introduce yourself and give a context to your work.  The reel and portfolio should do the talking.

Big Name Button

As mentioned yesterday, I'll be chairing a workshop on sample reels this coming Saturday at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

This, as well as the flipping calendar, led us to start working on an updated reel.

Thoughts/comments are welcome.

Buttons

Here's a little under camera thing we did.

We'll probably have to re-do it with lighting and a better camera.



Buttons from Asterisk Animation on Vimeo.


Point and shoot digital camera aren't so hot for doing tabletop photography.

Buttoned Up

We got a new batch of buttons in.

We're also in the mood for making some new reel graphic -the two collide.

Final footage in a couple days.

Summer Reel

My favoritest thing is updating our demo reel.

It's important to be harsh on your own work and pragmatically demanding on your collaborators -the flip side of that is knowing what looks good and why.



In putting together a quick cut montage like this, you don't always get to show the best work.  You're making a little film that gives an idea of what the best work should look like.  This field, animation, requires more than the a few seconds to demonstrate exceptional work.  The trick here is use material which builds on surrounding cuts in some sort of graphic, dramatic fashion.

Old Ads

These is a design Winnie Tom did for our old website which we translated into some other ads.

I saw Abbey Luck's site and drew up something along those lines.  Winnie re-drew it much cooler, then Abbey came in and built the site itself.

Thinking about this since we're going to be re-doing our website soon.  iPhones and all, you know.  Can't have Flash based sites if you want the cool kids to see it.

This (above) was a .gif for a web ad.

Above is a magazine ad.

Our dvd packaging matched as well.

Real Bumps

Was greeted this morning by a leak which collapsed some ceiling. Fortunately, there's no serious damage. It was primarily between two workstations. A Mogubgub cel from the 1960s was water damaged but not too badly, ultimately it'll be a little discoloration in the corner.

These are the sorts of things -leaking roofs, unresponsive supers, broken doors hinges, malfunctioning
printers that wind up devouring loads of time.

This is a time we otherwise would have allotted to working on the updated sample reel.

We'd be making some new bumpers if not being bombarded with maintenance.

These are three current graphics.

Animation Job Interview Tips

Somehow or another you've managed to get an interview at a studio.

Impossible! You might say.

Well, it might be unlikely but stranger things happen every day.

Before going into how to conduct yourself on an interview, first some tips on how to get an interview.

1) Follow the advice from here and here.

2) Find a mutual acquaintance or notable reference to recommend you. People will almost always take meetings with friends of friends or children of friends or friends of friends' children. Even the most tenuous connection will usually work. If we get a call from the British Embassy or from Bill Clinton's office to meet with an artist, we will.

3) Even if you don't have a connection, all you have to do is ask. Like all things, this is a roll of the dice, whether I make an unsolicited appointment depends on a number of things. That number is 1. The one thing is my mood. If we're not looking for artists and I feel like meeting, I will. If I don't feel like it, I'll say "We're not looking for anybody, but send your work." If we are looking, no matter how pissy I feel, I will meet.

People rarely ask to come in.

Two related asides:

1) Don't ask for an "informational interview". Say you want to show your work. The only exception is if you're a student who is considering animation as a field of study.

2) If a studio contacts you out-of-the-blue don't ignore them. Yes, starving artists, I have contacted students/recent graduates after seeing their work and they didn't even bother to reply. In some of these cases we didn't have a specific job at the time, but their inability to reply makes it fairly certain we won't have on for them in the future.

Now on to the interview.

But not so fast. There's important work to do before you sit down with your potential employer.

1) Do some research on them. Before I meet with anyone, I'll look them up -whether its a potential client or artist.

2) Prepare for the interview. Like going in for a college interview, think of what you want to get out of the experience of working for X company. Think of the things that brought you to that point. Have a few questions for them.

3) Don't dress like a freaking slob. Other people may disagree with this and encourage slovenly dress code in an effort to "promote creative freedom" or some nonsense. We're in a visual field, and a field which relies on character study. Draw your own conclusions.

That's not to say wear your funeral jacket or your Chanel suit, just dress like you mean it.

Now you're at the studio. A lot of different things can happen. You could be ignored, brushed aside and made to empty the trash on your way out. Your appointment could have been completely forgotten or superseded at the last moment. The company could've gone out of business (this has actually happened to at least one person I've met). Be prepared for anything.

You could also be introduced to some of your animation heroes.

Assuming you've made it into the interview, make sure you have:

1) a working DVD. Test it on multiple players and computers.
2) a portfolio
3) a business card
4) a resume

The interview is not a date. You are not there to be charming and to lie about your test results. There's business to take care of. The portfolio gives you a pretense to talk business. Be prepared to discuss the work -how long it took to create, what tools you used, et c.

The card and resume are "leave behind" reminders.

There have been studies which claim the more an interview speaks the better they think the interview has gone. Maybe that's true for other people, for me as an interview, I'm interested in hearing not saying.

Even so, it is a conversation. Be prepared to discuss your work. Have a list of questions -even if they're questions about how the sausage is made.

Know what you want. "I want to do everything" is not a constructive answer. If you want to animate on feature films, say so. If you want to do Aqua Teen Hunger Force, be upfront. It's unlikely that you'll be hired to do the job you want, but a person with a goal is more interesting than someone who just wants to be around.

Some people have modest and specific ambitions. They want to paint backgrounds. They want to do special effects compositing. We like people who have broad, general interests and are more likely to bring a staff artist in who's a polymath. Like all studios, we rely on specialists per project.

Don't expect the interview to last more than five minutes. A brief interview isn't necessarily bad.

Animation Sample Reel Tips

The demo DVD is one part of your "marketing identity" as an artist. It should be a complement to a website and a portfolio.

Ten years ago, sample reels were a delicate thing.

That's when they went out on tape. 3/4 inch UMatic for studios and long time professionals, VHS for (in today's lingo) n00bs. I can only imagine the nightmare and expense of 16mm reels from earlier generations.

Today's sample reel is a DVD. Previous formats were linear. The demo had one or two minutes to convince the producer to watch the next three or four minutes. While it's still important to front load your reel with the best work, that's less crucial than it once was.

Let's start with the externals, the packaging. Sandpaper packaging, star shaped glittery boxes, candy covers, oversized or undersized containers all can make for a striking presentation -and we are in a visual, creative field. While I always appreciate the effort and eye behind an unusual design -these are always the first things to get tossed in trash during a cleaning binge. They stick out and can't be stored with the rest of the samples. Larger companies may have the space to store shelves upon shelves of unsolicited work, but real estate is premium in a studio and if it's not being used it'll get cast aside.

Take the standard DVD package as a constraint and design into it. Evident on the package should be your name and contact information (both telephone and email). Include what you "are": animator, flash artist, Maya generalist, etc. Also include a return address -sometimes we'll return them although usually we won't. After that, it's an open for design. I prefer when the packaging gives an inkling of what the contents will be.

Also, CD jewelboxes will be reused when the studio runs out of boxes.  Your DVD will then be homeless, until tossed into the trash.

I also like when the artist sees their reel/website/portfolio as a package and designs them all with a theme. Sure, most of the time won't see this. Think of how a unified presentation makes you think of your own work.

Still on the outside: a table of contents. What's on the reel. It can be complicated, as long as it starts simple. List what's on there. Make the design work with the rest of the package, don't just type it on 8 1/2 x 11 and fold in there.

Now for the contents.

If you are Technical Director, do not include work that you did the rigging for. If you only did the rigging, be forthright and acknowledge the animators and TD. People neglect to this sort of thing regularly. For the most part, I think its honest oversight -having what you did clearly spelled out gives the producer a better way to evaluate your abilities.

The common way to advancement in this field is the "bump up". An assistant will be given a shot to animate, an animator a chance to direct. The "bump up" does not happen on your sample reel. If you modeled and rigged a character don't claim you can be the TD. The producer will make that decision based on the work.

In the DVD world, you have the opportunity to tailor the presentation of your work that the VHS reel didn't offer. Few people take advantage of this.

Take a cue from commercial DVDs. They have an intro, a main menu, a feature presentation, sub menus with extras. The artist's demo can have all of these.

I'd suggest making the intro short. Ten to fifteen seconds is plenty.

A main menu which contains at the very least your "short reel", contact information, and if you have them -full length versions of your work. Other contents can include illustration montages (not a good idea), work process like pencil tests, animatics or shot breakdowns or biographic information.

Full length works should be accessed through a sub menu and be screenable as a "play all" or individually. You want a menu which lets you direct someone by simply saying "Look at this Volkswagon spot if you want to see some liquid I animated".

The most important part of the DVD is the "short reel". Again, in the old days this was a different matter. It would typically consist of three to five minutes worth of full pieces or substantial excerpts. With the DVD it can be a shorter run through many clips from your work. It's a highlight reel which leads the producer to screen work from the full length menu.

The construction of the "short reel" is fairly straightforward. Find all of your best pieces, put the best of the best up front and edit them to a track which gives insight into you as an artist.

It's acceptable to show only your part of the process -a pencil test or leica reel for an animator, the bones of a model for a rigger. If you do that, it's also recommended that you reveal the final version at some point to see how your work contributes to the process.

Animation Portfolio Tips

I saw this article yesterday.  "Animation Portfolio Tips".

I won't go into the specifics of the article -there aren't many, anyway.  But will put forward my thoughts on the matter.

As a preamble, know who you're targeting.  Don't waste anyone's time by going to a medical animation company with your stop motion feature.  Sure, there's always a chance they'll need you but there's a greater chance that someone who does stop motion will be hiring.  Resources are limited, spend your energy where it has the best chance of reward.

Personally, I've never had to put together a portfolio, it's not really in line with the work I do.  I have made plenty of sample reels. 

More importantly, I've seen a lot of portfolios and I know what I like.  That's one thing to always keep in mind: everyone you meet will have different preferences.  There's no cookie cutter method for building a portfolio, what you can do is cater yours to showcase your strengths as an artist.

I'm mostly interested in work from 2D/drawn animators, I'm a little out of my element discussing CG work, although people send me their reels all the time.  We'll ignore traditional 3D and focus on the drawn portfolio.

Drawing from live model is the most important element of an animator's portfolio. 

I like to see a few pages of 5 minute drawings, a page or two of 10 minute poses and a few pages of 1 minute drawings.  Each shows a different skill.  The quick drawings are about gesture -seeing where the weight lands.  The 5 minutes start to show draughting skill and expression.  Longer drawings demonstrate dimension, light and shadow and illustrative detail.

A animator's portfolio without life drawing is worthless.

Example: We have a box of portfolios.  I just flipped through a few.  Most were comprised solely of the artist's own designs.  Some were very good.  But the odds of anyone hiring you to animate your own designs are astronomically low.  No one wants you to draw like you -an animation artist needs to draw like somebody else.

That's why it's a good idea -and I never ever see this -to do poses of known characters.  Or better yet, Chas. Addams drawings or Roz Chast or Steven Appleby.  Demonstrate that you can make any style move.

After saying, "don't fill the book with your own designs" I'll say "have a few pages of your own design work".  Not a lot, a few.  This will showcase not only your drawing skill, but who you are as a person.

Now here comes the tricky part of a portfolio: showing animation.

I've had people show me a stack of drawings.  That's a waste -I can't see that in a pencil test. Showing your drawings as an animator is interesting and important.  I would recommend exhibiting them in the manner they were created and no more than 10.  Take a walk for example.  Put your keys in first, followed by the breakdowns, followed by the inbetweens.  Then the clean ups.

If you're a novice -and I've never seen this, although I would love it -take someone else's keys (properly attributed) and show how you inbetweened them.  That would be great.

Things often included that I [generally] don't care about: storyboards, pitch bibles, logo designs, childrens' book samples, photoshop collages.

I don't care about storyboards because there are three dozen artists who I trust to do boards.  You're not getting hired for it.

Things that are tangential that are of interest: paintings, screen grabs from AfterEffects, exposure sheets, letters of reference, list of course work.

I could go on for another few pages, but will stop short here.  In the future, we'll post about sample reel presentation and then maybe another about giving an interview.

Fall Demo Montage

Putting together some minor updates to the sample reel.

We're retaining the same menu system and altering the content.



I feel like I'm losing perspective on the reel, though. We may well do a wholesale revision when we have a few "free" days.

Summer Packaging

Haven't re-cut the sample reel in some time, but we're thinking of new packaging.

Here's where it's heading.




This approach is pulled from one of our graphic bumpers within the DVD;

Demo Demo

What I like best about having a production company -after the money wrangling from corporate monoliths, never ending insurance bills for things like "domestic terrorism" and minimum wages I bring home -are the trappings of a studio.

Making sample reels, post cards, Christmas cards -the fun stuff.

We've taken to seasonal reworkings of our sample reel. The packaging on our first version was straightforward.

We had to figure out a few things. Design-wise, how to treat the logo against a background. It uses saturated tints of the primaries leaving us few options. The flat yellow was the simplest answer. The logo plays well on this color field.

In the winter we wanted to dial back the palate and stick with the four colors of the logo.


The logo now rests on the lower left hand corner against a blue pulled from the logo's color scheme. A thin white drop separates it. Blue, obviously, for winter.

Here's the inside, with the DVD.

Different media and different applications process and print color in different ways. This is an early unsuccessful test to try to get the tones to match.

This winter reel from last year was our first effort to win the Nobel Prize for Demo Reels.



We built this simple open that plays upon loading the disk.

It lands on this menu.

The snowflakes turn blue as they cross into the white. The animation runs on 3 or 4 minute cycle.

The "about us" and "contact" menu also have little graphics activated upon clicking.



For the summer the packaging got little more cartoony. This is our attempt at being "fun".

The contents of the disk reflect the website design -which is picked up in the graphics of the cover.
Here's what happens when you click contact.



These clips play here without audio. The audio was laid in DVD Studio Pro and I'm too lazy to redo it in an editing software just to upload here.

For our Fall packaging we've retained the same menu setup as the Summer Reel (but changed the contents of the reel as well as the music selections).

Taking off from the Asterisk exhaust of the Summer rocketship, we're using the logo here as a pun. I think it's playful and maintains the emotional integrity of the logo.

Revised Reel

While making a film the crew creates a cocoon. They inhabit a self-contained world of messy larvae and slime in the hope of growing into a pretty, pretty bug.

This hibernation makes working easier- shared common language, a shared goal, and ultimately a unified point of view.

The downside to this, of course, is that your audience may no habla your lingua franca .

That's why directors focus group their pictures, to make sure the point gets across.

While I tend to be a little arrogant when it comes to the clarity of our work -in my mellowing approach to certain death I've began to show pieces in progress to make sure their point is coming across as strongly as possible.

A couple weeks back I posted our Fall demo montage and sent it around to folks. Several people had the same reaction, and we could appreciate the validity to their thoughts.

This revised cut incorporates the feedback from our loyal fans.

Fall Reel

We've decided to update and recut our demo reel.

This happens every few months. Here's the first version, initial reactions are welcome.



The oldest piece of work in here is the Kurt Busch "Sharpie" clip (around 1:42). That's from September 2003. The newest is Flava Flav at :23 which is from the forthcoming "Make 'Em Laugh" mini series on PBS.

In five years we've worked on 65 projects. Many of those project we're multiple films (18 pieces for Between The Lions, or over 50 shots for Thirteen/WNET's "Curious", or The Naked Campaign which will have spawned a few dozen two to five minute films, etc.).

In a science show or a documentary each shot can be like its own discreet film -unique design, unique technical approach, self-contained story. If you count these with all the series work we've produced, the number of films we've made in the past 5 years is well over 200. A couple are actually O. K.

We should be freaking millionaires! The world is unjust.

Summer Reels

Not to brag, but if there was a Nobel Prize for sample reel our DVD would be on the short list.

The content, I think, is pretty good but the form is what makes it great.

For the past year, we've been making seasonal reels. Since the high days of summer are upon us, I thought I'd share the centerpiece of our DVD.



A sample reel has to do several things. First, it has to display your work. If it doesn't do that one thing its useless. As a production company, that makes building a reel easier, because our work is the whole process. The process is encapsulated in the end product, so we can just show finished pieces.

In addition to showing your work, the sample reel has to tell people who you are. It needs to show your voice as a craftsman and individual.

For example, our DVD is very musical. We have several menus with different soundtracks. These selections offer an insight into our company's personality.

The design of our disk is uniform. Every part is coordinated with every other -the cover, the insert, the label, the menus. These all match the website, too.

The content of the disk is presented in a clever but not a difficult or obscure way. This encapsulates how our studio works when its functioning well. Personally, I don't mind being difficult or obscure. Brian tempers my urge (part laziness, part optimism) to keep things complicated, and our artists contribute points of view and ideas that help bridge the barrier between complexity and simplicity.

If anybody would like a copy of the full DVD, send me a note and we'll drop one in the mail.