Dave Berry talks internships, advertising and jobs

Dave Berry, one of our talented students here at Bucks, recently completed an internship for the advertising company VCCP which, among other projects, did the animated meerkats for "Compare the Market.com". During Dave's time at VCCP he worked on and helped to complete the advertisement for O2 shown above. Here at Bucks we take internships very seriously - placing students in an industry environment is a vital part of learning to become a professional digital artist. We asked Dave to tell us a little about his experience.

Bucks: Tell us about your internship. How did it come about? Did you find it yourself or did the University approach you?

Dave: VCCP contacted the University, requesting an animator for a 2-week internship in London.

Bucks: What did you do, exactly? Just make the tea?

Dave: Not all all. At VCCP I worked alongside two motion graphics designers creating animated 3D assets for their client, O2. I also created some 2D assets in Illustrator, a sound effects library for the commercial, and chose the background music from a royalty free website.

Bucks: Sounds excellent. What would you say you learned from the experience?

Dave: This was my first taste of working within an industry pipeline, and I set myself a goal of understanding how that pipeline works. That is to say, learning who does what, who feeds back to the client and so on. As I was working alongside motion graphics artists, when I came home in the evenings I would open up Digital Tutors and follow some After Effects tutorials in case they needed me to contribute in that area.

Bucks: Nice one - it sounds like you really made the most of it. What was the biggest challenge you faced?

Dave: There were a number of challenges working at VCCP: particularly being a 3D artist in a 2D pipeline. The biggest challenge was creating assets that look 2D: the advert was designed to have a hand-made feel to it. I animated a 3D box unfolding which needed to fit in to the overall 2D look of the project. So the box had to be "toon rendered", to make it look flat.

Bucks: What would you recommend for anyone else doing an internship?

Dave: For others doing an internship, I recommend taking the time to understand the pipeline, and not being afraid to ask questions. Pipeline work can be very intimidating and confusing at first, but your role and what is expected of you becomes much clearer once you understand the whole process.

Bucks: Excellent work! Props to you for going the extra mile to understand the whole pipeline process, and many, many thanks also to VCCP for making it happen. Here at Bucks we hugely appreciate our partnerships with industry and encourage all our students to make strenuous efforts to find an internship that helps you to get invaluable real-world job experience.

---Alex

Cartoon Movie - the place to pitch your animated film ideas

Cartoon Movie, like Cartoon Forum, should be on every animator's radar. It takes place in Lyon every March - in 2014 it will be held from 5-7 March. It is a huge pitch-fest for talent and business to get together and make independent animated feature films, and, like its cousin Cartoon Forum, you don't have to speak French - Cartoon Movie is bilingual and English is the main language spoken.

Cartoon Movie is the place to pitch your animated film idea. If you've got a concept for the next animated smash hit - this is the place to pitch it.

Who goes to Cartoon Movie?
The answer is - anyone in Europe who is serious about making independent animated films. Co-producers go there looking for projects to partner up with; distributors want content for movie theatres, broadcasters want content for their TV schedules, financiers want to make a few Euros, and sales agents want to earn a commission from selling your film. But, in brief, what they are all looking for - is talent.

That is where you come in. Got a great idea for a movie? Here is the place to persuade Business that you have the project that will, with a bit of nurturing, become the Next Big Thing.


Do you need to have a pilot and a finished script?
No. This is the best part of all. At Cartoon Movie, you don't need a completed pilot to sell you project. You can pitch in concept, meaning that you are basically selling an idea. You don't need a script - or even any animation (though it helps). Some slides, some nice visuals, a story outline - this is usually enough. You are throwing out a hook, trying to get people excited and interested.


Why submit? What is it all for?
It all depends on what you need. You might want co-producers, to help you access national development funds, and help to get your film made. You might be looking for financiers, so-called "business angels" who will give you seed capital and take an equity stake in the project. You might want to interest broadcasters (like the BBC) so you have a potential platform to get your series out to an audience. Most of all - you ware trying to learn more about how the process works, about how business gets done and how movies actually get made.


Is it hard to get in?
It isn't easy, but it's not impossible either. There is lots if competition and the requirements are considerable. But, if your project gets selected, you get an unrivalled opportunity to pitch your project to the sort of people who can actually get your project made.

Here's how to submit your film project:

• Check out the Cartoon Movie website
• Register online
• Check out the Project Submission page. Download the Producer File and the Vade-Mecum (how-to toolkit)
• Have a look at the regulations

Contact Details:

CARTOON – European Association of Animation Film (AISBL)
Avenue Huart Hamoir 105 - B-1030 Brussels - Belgium
Tel : +32 2 245 12 00 - Fax : +32 2 245 46 89
info@cartoon-media.eu

 Good luck! The deadline for submission is the end of November 2013. So...plenty of time to think up ideas.

Gateway - our modern media hub at Bucks

Here at Bucks we encourage all our students to develop their own ideas and concepts, to be film-makers and story-tellers. Being an animator is not just about studying motion and learning software. It's about creating your own characters and telling stories that audiences want to hear.

---Alex

For practical advice on forging a career in animation and digital media, read about what our graduates had to say at the recent Graduate Panel. Check out this post on how to set up an small business. Also learn about your first client project, read out our post on Portfolio Careers, and read this piece on Survival as a Freelancer. Study the nuts and bolts of freelance life by reading our guide to invoicing clients, and our guide to freelancers and taxes.  For more on careers in general, check out our guide to animation careers here, and also take a look at this map of digital studios - a great place to start your search for work in the business. Finally see our article on the jobs page at awn.com

Disney kills 2D Animation - Official

The Princess and the Frog - Disney's last 2D feature

According to an article in yesterday's Guardian, 2D animation is officially dead at Disney, the studio which took the medium to its greatest-ever heights. At the annual shareholder meeting in Phoenix Arizona, CEO Bob Iger said:

"To my knowledge we're not developing a 2D or hand-drawn feature animated film right now. There is a fair amount of activity going on in hand-drawn animation but it's largely for television at this point. We're not necessarily ruling out the possibility [of] a feature but there isn't any in development at the company at the moment."

It's a sad end to a great tradition. But at least it's official. I am still amazed at the number of animation students who believe that Disney is still in the hand-drawn animation business, and will be hiring animators for 2D features.

Here at Bucks we are making sure that all of our students learn skills which will get them employed in today's job market. That means using the latest software and giving our students all the vital skills they need to get find jobs and set up their own mini-studios. Soho VFX houses are constantly bemoaning the skills gap among UK graduates. It's time to fill those gaps.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: To find out more about how we're keeping on top of technology here at Bucks, you can read about how we are partnering with the animation industry, how we're talking to Creative Skillset to get early accreditation, and use our floating licenses for online tutorials - perfect for any student who wants to upgrade their skills.)

Partnering with the animation industry

Here at Bucks we're proud of our contacts with industry, forging links with companies so that students get real-world experience of the job market and, hopefully, internships and actual jobs. For example, we're building a partnership with Centroid, the Motion Capture company at Pinewood studios which helped some of our students gather MoCap data for their film projects last year.


Part of the process of validating our new Animation and VFX course involves external review, and we're proud to have Kevin Spruce, the head of animation at FrameStore, as one of our external reviewers. Kevin is one of the most skilled animators in the country, and leads a team of digital artists on some of the most exciting and challenging film projects being done in the UK.

One of the problems that Framestore has experienced over the years is where to find animation graduates who can tackle the complex, highly technical creature animation which is needed to bring animals and creatures to life, in films such as the Harry Potter or Narnia series. Framestore pioneered animal and creature work when they did the ground-breaking Walking With Dinosaurs back in the late 90's, and they have been a world leader ever since.

One of the modules on our animation course is specifically focused on creature animation, making sure that our students can tackle animal and creature locomotion, accurately reproduce animal behaviours and, finally, create a compelling and believable creature performance that entertains and engages the audience.

---Alex