Where are the animation recruiters?

Where should animation graduates look for recruiters? Or, to put it another way, where do recruiters in the animation and visual effects industries go to find fresh talent? There are many festivals and events around the world which focus on animation and visual effects, and many of them feature jobs fairs where recruiters will take a stand. So where should the ambitious student and recent graduate go looking for work? Here is our list of the most promising places to attend.

1. Annecy
The mother of all animation festivals is, of course, Annecy. The festival takes place in the small alpine town on Lake Annecy in April every year. Annecy is about the art of animation, but it's also about business - lots of companies take stands there, and at the same as the festival there is MIFA, an international sales event in which buyers and sellers of animation content get together. Annecy is big, bustling and overcrowded. Book early!

2. FMX
FMX is the annual visual effects shindig that takes place in Stuttgart every year in April. Everyone who is anyone in VFX comes along - including recruiters. Big VFX houses like Frame Store, MPC, Double Negative all turn up. Polish your animal and creature work, and leave out the cartoony stuff. These guys are looking for photo realism, mostly for live action movies with a lot of animated content.

3. Siggraph
Siggraph takes place in North America every August, moving from Los Angeles to San Diego, and this year fetching up in Vancouver. For animators based in the US, this is the event for you. Everyone shows up; there are panel discussions, industry stands, new technology, and lots of schmoozing.

4. The rest
Other festivals worth attending, if you are in the neighbourhood are: 0ttawa (Canada), Zagreb (Croatia), Hiroshima (Japan),  Holland (Netherlands), Fantoche (Switzerland), Anima Mundi (Brazil), Cinanima (Portugal), and the Brussels Animation festival (Belgium).

Wherever and whenever you go, make sure you have a polished demo reel, and up-to-date CV or resume, and a sack full of business cards. If you don't have business cards, try designing your own at www.moo.com

---Alex

For practical advice on careers in 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 )

Good news for UK animation - DNeg and Elizabeth Murdoch to open a new studio

According to Variety, Elizabeth Murdoch and VFX house Double Negative are opening an animation studio in the UK, known as Locksmith Animation. The venture is being piloted by Sarah Smith, who was the writer and co-director of the Aardman animated feature film Arthur Christmas.

Variety quoted Smith as saying: “With animated films among the most beloved and successful movies in the world but still only a handful of producers out there, the U.K. offers Locksmith a unique opportunity, including a world-class CG visual FX industry, brilliant comedy writers and directors, outstanding children’s literature, the European animation talent pool, and government tax credits. We’re very excited that having attracted a visionary investor with global business skills in the shape of Lis Murdoch, and a globally acclaimed production partner in Double Negative, we have everything to make the most ambitious version of our vision achievable.”

 

Elizabeth Murdoch

Alex Smith, Double Negative’s managing director, was quoted as saying: “We’ve harbored ambitions to expand into feature animation for a long time. Working with the Locksmith team provides us with a unique opportunity to build our animation division in tandem with the development of Locksmith’s slate. We are thrilled to be partnering with Sarah and Elisabeth Murdoch in this exciting venture.”

The Variety article is a bit thin on the details, however. Where will this studio be built? Bristol? London? What precisely will they be making? Animators with long memories will recall Frame Store's attempt to do much the same thing with their feature film The Tale of Despereaux, which did not connect well with global audiences. Curiously, Murdoch is investing in her "personal capacity" rather than as chairman of Shine, her highly successful international media company.

Luckily, anyone who wants to know more about Locksmith Animation can track Sarah down at FMX in Stuttgart. She is apparently speaking on April 25 in a session titled “Directing in an Increasingly Complex Production Environment.”

---Alex

Jobs page at AWN - finding work in the animation industry

How animation graduates find work in the animation industry? There is no simple answer to this question. Jobs in the entertainment industry have always been highly competitive, and the supply of trained graduates competing for the best entry-level positions has never been greater. Official jobs postings, word of mouth, rumours in the pub, personal contacts, even cold-calling - all of these can be effective ways to find work in the business. One method is to sign up with the jobs page at awn - The Animation World Network.


But does AWN actually work? I can personally testify that it does. Way back in 2003 I was working at DreamWorks in Los Angeles as a traditional 2D animator, facing a run-of-picture contract which was about to end and - much worse - a serious skills deficit.

At the time I knew almost nothing about CG animation, having only received a couple of weeks of training in Maya, and I desperately needed to make the jump to the new digital world. 2D animation was clearly in decline, out-competed by a string of computer-generated movies. I had to upgrade my skills, and fast.

I scanned the jobs pages at the AWN and saw that Blue Sky Studios in New York were hiring, looking for animators for their new feature film, Robots. I applied for the job, and rang up a bunch of my colleagues to see if anyone could help. Did anyone know the guys at Blue Sky, and if so could they recommend me for the job?

The animation industry is a small one, even though it is much, much larger than it used to be. Everyone knows everyone, or at least, it sometimes seems like they do. The industry is sufficiently small that it is still relatively easy to find someone who knows someone personally, and to find out what they think of them and their work. Personal relationships count, and recommendations count.

To find work, what you typically want are three things:

1. Find a company that is hiring people with your skills.
2. Make sure your demo reel is polished and well-presented
3. Try to get a recommendation, if you can, from someone who knows someone on the inside, so they they can personally vouch for you. 

In the end I got the job. After a month long trial period, they hired me full time, and I packed my bags and moved to New York City. Working at Blue Sky was a life-changing experience. They taught me computer animation, built up my CG skills, and gave me the chance to work on a wonderful film - Robots. I owe them a great deal of thanks.

Finding work in the industry is never easy, especially in the beginning. But the key thing is to apply. Even if you fail, you will learn how to present yourself better, polish your demo reel, and have a better chance next time around.

(Editor's Note: For more practical advice on freelance careers, check out this post on your first client project, read out our post on Portfolio Careers, and read this piece on Survival as a Freelancer. Learn 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.)

ILM hiring 200 staff in Soho - time to polish your demo reel

Hiring soon in London!

Great news for Bucks animators and visual effects artists  - Industrial Light and Magic, the visual effects division of Star Wars producer Lucasfilm, is coming to Soho. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it will hire 200 staff to work on Lucasfilm products and also other films produced in the UK. Star Wars: Episode VII will start shooting at Pinewood Studios in May.

This is great news for our recent graduates. One of the best places to find a job is at a facility which is just opening up. Why? Because they will need to fill positions at every level, from experienced staff to entry-level posts. 200 staff is a lot of people to hire in one go. We recommend that all our recent graduates polish their reel and send it in. If you need advice or assistance on how to polish your reel most effectively - let us know; we'll be glad to help out.

Every time you apply for a job you get better at applying, even if you don't get the position, and the experience you gain from applying is all part of the journey to your first visual effects job. ILM will be looking for character and creature animators (as well as all the other positions that make up the VFX pipeline), so make sure you put your best foot forward by making sure that your reel looks as awesome as possible. And remember that the golden rule of an animation reel is - no mistakes.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: For more on creating a successful demo reel, check out our post on what studios are looking for here, and also the Sony Pictures guide to demo reels here. You should also watch our ten minute video on what goes into a great student demo reel. Don't forget our guide to putting together a great CV, and check out this post where our recent graduates talk about what it takes to find work in the creative industries. In this post, John Lasseter explains what Pixar look for in fresh talent, and the director of Monsters U adds his advice as well. )

The Freelancers' Survival Guide

If you work in the animation industry, the chances are that at some point you will be self-employed, either running your own small business or working as a freelancer. Even if you do land a good job as an employee of a company, most likely it will last at most a year or two, since jobs in our industry tend to be project-driven. Even well-established companies tend to expand and contract according to the size of their order book. So what’s an animator to do to stay afloat and pay the rent, let alone finance a mortgage and a family? The answer is, you have to be smart, and you must understand the rules of freelancing.

Your first and most important task is to get really good at what you do. This is an obvious rule, but many animation students don’t realize just how competitive the industry is. At university, the pace of life can move slowly. But your life as a freelancer is a world of perpetual deadlines – any of which you will miss at your peril. You have to be on top of your craft, and be better than the rest. It takes a while to get really good, so you must use your time at uni to study hard and practice. Make your work entertaining and fun to watch.

Students worry a lot about grades, but the most important thing that any student will have on graduation is not their class of degree, but their demo reel. A graduate’s demo reel is their shop front, their display of talent. Nowadays it will be online at a website or blog. A great demo reel brings in work. The number one rule of demo reels? – no mistakes. Most studios get piles of unsolicited demo reels. The good news is - they will probably look at your reel. The bad news is - they will probably look at your reel for ten seconds or less. So you have, in effect, ten seconds to impress. If there are any errors in your work, they will notice, and they will assume one of two things: either you saw the mistake, but could not fix it, or, worse, you didn’t see the mistake. Either way, you’re in the no pile.

If you want a successful freelance career, you must be a generalist and a problem-solver. The more parts of the animation process you can master, the more useful you are to an employer or a client. Animators often double up as storyboard artists and character designers. The more technically minded can do 3D modeling, maybe some rigging, possibly even some texturing and lighting. The smaller the studio, the more you will be expected to be a jack-of-all-trades. Plus, if you are going to take on short projects for clients yourself you will need to know a bit of everything in order to deliver a final product, or else have quick access to someone who can. Lots of freelancers work this way, in informal teams, pooling expertise so that all parts of the project can get completed on time.

Graduates also need to learn the nuts and bolts of freelancing. These are the kind of technical skills that universities tend not to teach, because it falls under the ugly heading of training rather than education. But whatever it is called, freelancers need to know it. They must learn how to draw up an invoice, how to manage their taxes (freelance income is typically not taxed at source – you have to pay the taxman later), learn how to deal with clients and learn how to manage client expectations successfully. Hopefully your school or university will teach you this stuff, but plenty won’t. In practice, there is no substitute for a live project to teach you how it all works, which is why we try to encourage even second year students at Bucks to take on small commercial work for paying clients.

How do graduates land their first freelance project? Pro bono work is a good way to start, working for free or at very low rates, often for friends, family, or friends-of-friends. Try not to turn down a job; instead find a way to embrace new work even if you don’t have time and you’re not sure how to pull it off. Juggling projects and taking calculated risks is what freelancers do. Feeling overworked? Join the club. Don’t know how to use a piece of software? Me neither. Stay up late, work Sundays, do online tutorials at YouTube - do what it takes. The more and varied jobs you can turn around, the better you will get and the more capable you will become.

Along the way you will have to become your own IT department. You can run a small studio from your bedroom these days – which is one of the reasons we give our students at Bucks a free laptop when they arrive. We want them to become self-sufficient professionals at the earliest possible opportunity. 
 

Free computers at Bucks!

Get yourself a good laptop, and find ways to get the software you need. Become a problem solver; learn that most technical problems can be Googled – someone out there has faced the same problem you have just stumbled across, and found a solution.

Freelancers must learn to manage their finances. One of the challenges of starting out is the shocking reality that clients often don’t pay on time. A common rookie error is to start chasing up an invoice a few days after it was issued. Don’t. Clients don’t like it, and they will think you’re desperate. Many companies pay at the end of the month, or even the end of the following month. Get used to waiting. If someone doesn’t pay after 2 months – send a polite email. But know that almost everyone does pay in the end. Unlike employees, freelancers don’t get a steady paycheck – your income will fluctuate hugely. That means you need to save money and be financially defensive.

So what do you do when you finally land your first freelance job? Let’s assume you've pitched the idea, you've agreed a price for the job, and the client is shiny-eyed with excitement about the amazing work you're going to do for them. Now all you have to do is deliver what you promised. What can possibly go wrong? Plenty!

First of all, you must agree a price, and a schedule, and stick to both. Clients want to know what is going to happen, and when, and they don’t like to be told the job is going over budget. Set out the main milestones in advance, such as Script, Storyboard & Design, Animatic, Animation and Final render. Explain to the client that meeting deadlines will depend on getting their timely approval at every stage, but that whatever happens you will do your level best to deliver on time. And make sure you can deliver what you promise.

Second, Get the script approved as early as possible. Your client may have a script already, or they may want you to write one. Often they will never have done this before and will need a lot of help to get the story right. What is the story they want to tell? Who is it for? They may have no idea, or only the vaguest idea. Part of your job is to help guide them through this early, so you can get to work.

If it’s a film, the next stage is a storyboard animatic, usually edited together with sound and music, and a style guide, so the client knows exactly what they’re going to get. Show them samples of other films and agree a style for their project. Once you start animation it will too late to change this, so make sure you are agreed in advance.

It goes without saying that you must deliver on time. Clients don't care how busy you are with other things - they want their work done on time, when you promised it. They don't care if other clients are keeping you busy, or your dog is ill, or your broadband went down, or your hard drive died. Make sure you back up your work, and if you run out of time, work through the night to get it done. Do what it takes to deliver on time and be reliable.

One of the hardest things about client projects is learning to take client notes with good grace. On every job, clients will give you notes which you don’t agree with. Try not to disagree openly with the client. The best response to a dumb idea is to say "that's a great idea, why don't we try this..." and try to steer them in a less silly direction. Sometimes though you just have to do what you are told and make the best of it. Make it look as good as you can. Contrary to popular belief, you can polish a turd.

Finally, be positive. Clients want to feel that you are as excited about the project as they are. Even if you've just done an all-nighter and you feel like screaming at their latest ridiculous changes that they should have told you about weeks ago, be upbeat and optimistic. Make them feel good about working with you - remember that they are taking a risk by using your services for the first time.

And try to have fun. Over time you will build up a portfolio of work that you will be proud of and that will help you find work at other studios. Every job is a learning process that helps keep you up to date on the latest techniques, and keeps you employable.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: A slightly different version of this article was first published at Skwigly magazine on 31 January. For more practical advice on freelance careers, check out this post on your first client project, and read out our post on Portfolio Careers.  Learn 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.)

How Do I Find a Job in Media? - Our Graduates Reveal the Secrets

How do graduates in digital media find that crucial first job? And the second? And how do you build a career? Last friday a dozen Bucks graduates who are currently working  in the creative industries came back to their alma mater to talk to our undergraduates about what it takes to find work. They They discussed many things, but the recurring theme was employment - and how to find it. Below are some of their tips for graduates looking to find work.


1. Turn up on time 
A number of members of the panel mentioned good time keeping as important, which is as much as to say - be reliable.

2. Don’t be a d**k
No-one wants to work with people they don't like. Be nice!

3. Don’t smell bad. 
Try not to smell like a hangover. 

4. Learn to blag it – but not too much. 
Be confident, and try to say "yes, I can do that". But don't promise to do anything you know you can't pull off. No-one likes to be let down, and Producers will not forgive you if you make them look foolish. Be protective of your reputation - it's a small industry. 

5. Surround yourself with people who like doing the same stuff as you do
Be part of a community of artists who enjoy doing the same kind of work. You will learn from them, and they will learn from you. You might even set up a company together.

6. Work for free or for low wages – but not for too long 
Be willing to do work for modest sums, or for travel expenses, or just for the experience - in order to break into the industry. Unpaid internships can lead to a job. 

7. Contact as many companies as possible
Expect rejection, don't take it personally. Do your homework, research companies that need your skills; offer to help them out for low wages or for work experience - it may lead to a job.

8. Offer to help out on a shoot
Film shoots always need bodies - offer to help out. Again, you'll probably be doing it for free, or for travel costs, but this can be great experience.

9. Create your own mystique.
Find the thing that you do well, and get known for it. Make people feel confident in what you do. Like the sound guy who walks into a room, taps on a table and listens for the echo. It means nothing – but it looks good

10. Watch out for what’s on your FB page
People looking to employ you will check you out, so make sure your public profile isn't embarrassing. Your hilarious views on politics may make your friends laugh but it might cost you a job.

11.  Be really good at what you do
This is the obvious one. If you are not confident in your work - who else will be? 

12. You’re only as good as your last job – and your next job.
As a freelancer you will be judged on the last thing you did. Make sure everything you do is completed to a high professional standard. 

13. Ask not what your client can do for you, ask what you can do for your client.
Clients are looking to you to solve their problems, not create more. Try not to be too needy or high maintenance. Be a problem-solver not a problem-creator.



(Editor's Note: To see more about how we're taking active steps to help our graduates find work, check out our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, and our short film done for a global aid agency. For more information on working as a freelancer, check out our recent post on Portfolio Careers.  For advice on careers, 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.)

Meet Blue Zoo - Britain's largest TV Animation Company

At the recent BlueGFX Expo at London's National Film Museum on the South Bank, Blue Zoo founders Tom Box and Adam Shaw gave an excellent presentation about their BAFTA-winning young company - now the biggest TV animation co. in the UK.

Tom and Adam were very enthusiastic presenters, clearly excited about their company and about the future of TV animation in Britain. They also offered some excellent insights into how animation graduates might go about getting a job with their fast-growing studio. Below is a rough transcript of their talk, plus some of the questions they answered at the end.

Blue Zoo are based in London's Soho. From small beginnings, they now employ 120 people, though as with most studios this goes up and down according to the flow of work. They have also won multiple awards – including a slew of BAFTAs.

They are a privately owned company, which offers their owners a huge degree of creative control over what they do. Unlike many of their bigger rivals, their business structure allows them to plough their profits not into shareholders pockets but into the animation, ensuring high levels of quality and a strong creative agenda.

Tom and Adam studied at the NCCA in Bournemouth. In 2000 they founded Blue Zoo, even before they had graduated. To finance their small start-up, they got a loan from a family friend to buy the kit they needed to get up and running. Their timing was fortunate; they were looking to develop new ideas just as the BBC was setting up CBeebies. 

Initially they specialised in low cost content, starting their first studio in a garage in Southend.When they began they had very basic equipment, and they had to hardware render all their shots (ie render them on their computer hard drives) since they could not afford a render farm (a so-called "farm" of computers, networked together to render out beautiful images, typically overnight).

Soon they moved to London and got themselves a single room in Regent St - their first studio, boasting four computers crammed into a tiny room. In 2003 they expanded, moved to bigger offices in Soho, and began to do more polished work. Soon they were making their own TV shows, doing 26 three minute episodes.

Stitch-Up Showdown. Deadly knitwear

One of the first was Stitch Up Showdown – starring knitted characters which kill each other in hideous ways. It was a success, but the broadcaster was a bit panicked when the material was first delivered. They had to cut some especially controversial parts, and they never did get US distribiution. But Blue Zoo soon moved on to new things - they pride themselves on doing work in different styles, not settling in to any particular house style.

In 2010 they got even bigger offices. They did Olive, Get Scribbling, and lots more adverts. In 2012 they won a BAFTA for the Best Independent Production Co. Today, the company has three main areas, which overlap and interconnect.

The first area is Creative services, which is mainly advertising. This is the most profitable part of the company. But, there is seldom time to fully develop the material, and advertising deadlines are relentless. The second part of the company is Long Form production, which offers more time to develop stories, but is less profitable. Adam Shaw is in charge of this division, which helps to develop the overall Blue Zoo production pipeline. The third main area of the company is Intellectual Property (IP) Development. This division generates new work, and develops new ideas and properties which the company owns directly. All three parts of the company inter-relate and inter-connect.

Blue Zoo do their editorial work in Avid, Final Cut and Premiere. It all depends on what the client wants, as the client will often want delivery of the raw editable files, so that they can make their own adjustments. To track their productions, and the progress of all the shots, Blue Zoo use Google Apps for production tracking. It’s free! And it works!

After the presentation, I asked them a few questions about recruitment. Specifically, What do they look for in animators?

The answer was, in a way, obvious. They want quality demo reels. And nowadays, they only look at online submissions. So don't mail in a portfolio - it will only get lost. Wannabe animators have to fill out an online form. And they say a personal statement helps – Blue Zoo want passionate people who really want to do the work, so a graduate who sounds really excited about animation - and about Blue Zoo - might just get noticed. However, they get literally thousands of applications each month, so the competition is tough.

So how do they weed out the reels they like? Well, it seems they don't look for long. They can usually tell “within the first 10-15 seconds” if they like a student's demo reel. That's not a long time to make a great impression.

My third question was - where do they hire from? Any particular schools?

The answer was - anywhere that produces great animators. They mentioned the NCCA, Teeside, Ravensbourne, and also overseas - they particularly like French students. Plus, they are closely working with Creative Skillset so they have something of a bias towards Skillset approved courses. But, in the end, they take the artists they like, regardless of where they come from. Also, they added, knowing someone at Blue Zoo helps. They like the "personal touch". If someone inside the company can vouch for you, it can be a huge help.

Finally I asked them how much an animator might be expected to produce on a TV series? The answer is, about 7 seconds a day, or 35 seconds a week. That's a lot of work. But then, they aren't outsourcing their shows to Asia, they are keeping the animation work here in the UK. We should be grateful for good quality jobs that aren't going overseas.

More power to their pencil (and pixels).

---Alex

(Editor's Note: For more on creating a successful demo reel, check out our post on what studios are looking for here, and also the Sony Pictures guide to demo reels here. You might also watch our ten minute video on what goes into a great student demo reel.)

Calling all Bucks Graduates - Animate & Create Studios is looking for fresh talent

Calling all Bucks graduates! Animate & Create Studios is on the look out for fresh talent.  Animate & Create describe themselves as a "young, up-and-coming animation studio, presently looking for recent graduates or placement year students to volunteer to join our team for a 3 month placement in our studio in Whitstable in Kent".

They are looking for "candidates with a variety of skills including animation, model making, illustration, editing, etc, but are also looking for students who have an interest and skills in project management, marketing and events."

Whitstable harbour. Animation by the seaside!

For more information email Liu Batchelor at: liu@animateandcreate.com. You can check out their show reel here.

As ever, applying for jobs and placements is always strongly recommended. Even if you don't get the gig, the self-discipline imposed on by going through the application process will force you raise your game, polish your demo reel, and assess your own strengths and weaknesses. You'll be amazed how you improve your own work when you apply for a job.

---Alex

Should graduates work for free?

The bad guys always wear top hats and smoke cigars

This is a tough question. Lots of seasoned professionals in the entertainment industry feel strongly that graduates should never work for free - why provide cheap labour for greedy capitalists who just want to exploit young talent? The counter-argument is very simple: because it's worth it.

The problem that all arts graduates face is simple. You need experience to get a job, and to get a job, you need experience. It is a chicken-and-egg problem that is not easily solved. "But why", ask many graduates, "don't entertainment firms want to take on young talent and train them up?"

The answer to that is also simple - it's because they don't have time. Most companies in the entertainment industry operate on razor-thin margins and are usually just one flop away from bankruptcy. Don't be deceived by the swanky premises and glossy reception areas - it's all for show. Very few businesses in the arts and media actually make a decent profit. So, while companies talk loudly about training, it's usually just that - talk.

So what's a graduate to do? The answer is, at least at first, work for free, or work for low wages. Get that vital experience that you need to build an impressive demo reel of paid work, work done for clients, subject to all the discipline and intensive feedback that goes with doing client work. Get this sort of work on your reel, and you will have the kind of skills that companies will actually pay for.

How do you find internships? Some of these are publicly posted, such as Cinesite's Inspire program. More commonly, they are informal, word-of-mouth, or even generated by the graduate him or herself. Offer to work for nothing, or for low wages, be enthusiastic, and help out. These are qualities that all companies are looking for.

And don't forget to keep in touch with your tutors. We hear about job opportunities and internships all the time, and are always happy to help out willing talented graduates to kick-start their careers.

(Editor's Note: for more on jobs and recruitment, check out this map of CG companies, also watch this video on how to make a great demo reel,  watch this video on finding a job, read out Dave Berry's interview about his internship, see who is hiring in Soho, and take a look at this dummies-guide to creating a blog or website. And don't forget our interview with Lion King Producer Don Hahn, who explains what it takes to make it in animation. Finally, remember that in order to hone your skills, practice makes perfect.)

How to find a job? The secret maps to success...

Where are the jobs?

Finding work isn't easy, especially getting that vital, elusive first job. Sometimes it seems like every vacancy is advertised for professionals with 2-3 years of experience, which means that finding your first gig can feel like a catch-22. You can't find a job without experience, you can get experience until you find a job. So what is the secret?

The answer, of course, is the traditional recipe: hard work, talent, research, persistence and a good dose of luck. To help you on your way, I have listed below some super-useful websites which can help you get a head start.

Games Development map. This map shows the locations of Games studios all over the world. Click on the red dots to find 'em.

CG Studios Map. As above, this map shows the location of CG studios all over the world.

Animation World Network. Sign up for their job alerts and get a weekly email digest of who is hiring all around the world.

Film and TV Pro. Sign up for more free job alerts. Some are paid gigs, some not.

Finally, keep in touch with your fellow graduates! Your graduating class is a little community of talent, you can keep each other informed about who is hiring and who needs bodies in a hurry. Media companies tend to practice crisis-management, which is to say that when they need people, they tend to need them right away. So keep you ear to the ground, polish your online portfolio, and be ready to move quickly.

----Alex

Bucks Animation Show - Private View on Friday 7th June 6.00 – 9.00 pm

Come and check out the work of our awesome graduating students on the Animation, Games and Interactive Media degree course. The show forms a part of the ‘Bucks Eyes’ Degree show, and will showcase the very best student work done over the past year. Come and see the next generation of digital artists strut their stuff.

What:  Private View of Animation, Games and Interactive Media
When: Friday 7th June - 6.00 – 9.00pm
Where: TV Studio 2 in the Gateway Building

And it's not just animation. You can also see the work done by

Fine Art
Jewellery
Silver
Textiles and Surface Design
Graphic Arts
Advertising: Creative
Foundation Studies in Art, Design and Media
Spatial Design
Product Design
Furniture Design
Furniture Conservation and Restoration.

Here is a useful link for more information.

Come along on Friday and enjoy the show.

---Alex

How to Get a Job in the Animation, Games & VFX Industries

For all our graduates who will soon find themselves seeking work, here is a short video on finding a job - and keeping it - with a special focus on jobs in the Animation and VFX Industry. Remember the 5 key ingredients for finding work:

1. Talent
2. Opportunity
3. Timing
4. Luck 
5. Persistence

Talent is necessary - without this no-one has a chance. But if you've made through 3 years of undergraduate study you will have this, else you would not have made it through the course.

Opportunity means seizing chances in life. Scan the notice boards and look for vacancies. Create your own chances by offering to work for free, or at very low rates. We can't create jobs from thin air but we can hunt down the ones that do exist.

Timing is vital because even the best graduates won't find a job at a company that isn't hiring. Media companies expand and contract according to their projects and their order books. Knowing who is hiring and when is all part of winning the game.

Luck is about being in the right place at the right time. And, of course, making your own luck wherever possible.

Persistence. Of the five, the last is probably the most important. Stick-to-it-ness is vital; don't give up. Keep practicing, working, and getting better at what you love doing, and you will be rewarded.

---Alex

Who is hiring in Soho?

One of the key aspects of finding a job is knowing who is hiring. If the jobs aren't there, or your skills don't match the vacancy, then it doesn't matter how talented you are - you won't be likely to find work. So, a big part of finding a job is knowing what is out there, who is hiring, and when.

Here are some jobs boards which show what sorts of skills the big Soho VFX companies are looking for. Add these to your bookmarks - and check them often.

• Moving Picture Company (MPC) jobs board 
• Double Negative (DNeg) jobs board
• Frame Store jobs board
• Cinesite jobs board
• The Mill jobs board

Of course, these are just the big companies. There are literally hundreds of medium and small-sized digital FX companies in London that are in constant need of fresh talent.

There is no substitute to keeping your ear to the ground and finding out what is available. It might take weeks, or months, or even (hopefully not) years,  but sooner or later someone will be looking for a graduate with your skills. So don't lose heart - perseverance and persistence pay off.

---Alex