Reflection

Website: www.abigailgelston.co.uk

Cover Letter: AbigailGelstoncoverletter 5

Resume:AbigailGelstonResumé 4

Final Showreel: https://youtu.be/dV8V7dzcLZ0

 

I think it is clear how important this module itself is for the preparation of students for working in the  business environment. Working on our showreel, cover letter and cv has made a lot of us, specifically myself, become a lot more focused and  mature in preparing for placement year and knowing the differences between good cvs and cover letters and bad ones.

Our mock interview was extremely helpful in preparing us for future placements and jobs, but I wish we had more practice towards the beginning, as this would also have been helpful towards my Study USA interviewing process. My nerves often get the better of me but I felt like I had improved a lot for the mock interview for this module through more practice with friends.

I enjoyed the guest speakers and I believe the class as a whole have gained valuable information for getting into the animation industry and have also gained many contacts. I think one of the most influential for me was Laura Livingstone as her determination and positive attitude got her to where she is, in ILM.

From looking at my work over the past few years to determine what is best to place into my showreel it was evident what areas I enjoy most, and how these areas have been what I have been best at. Perhaps this is because I enjoy it and perhaps it is also through steady improvement of using new software like Maya and ZBrush that has increased my interest in modelling and sculpting overall. The showreel was one of the most important parts of this module for me because I want to figure out even more ways of showing my work more professionally and to a much higher standard. The research for the showreel has also shown me how far I have come, but also how far I need to improve on my skills for them to be at an industry level standard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Letter Progress

Staying very late in University one night and looking into cover letter templates, I worked alongside Ryan Smith and Edward Boyle, gaining extra feedback and providing it as I worked.

Greg told us to direct it towards Paula Campbell from NI screen and to make up our own job. I have built my showreel as a 3D generalist so this is what I applied for.

First Sample:

AbigailGelstoncoverletter 2

 

From further advice from my granparents:

I hope this is worded a lot better:

AbigailGelstoncoverletter 4

Further feedback from a friend:

• add more information on your skills from working with Italic Pig

AbigailGelstoncoverletter 5

 

Talking to Students on Placement

Nadine Mclaughlin and Katie Noble: Worked on their own personal project on comics. It was interesting to see how far they had actually come, especially working on their own. I would worry about procrastination. They had trouble finding information initially on starting their own business but they went on a business course to learn how to market and sell themselves.

http://www.nadinerosem.com/

Hannah Turkington and Scott Gill: Both worked for Enter Yes (Blacknorth), and came up with some awesome work towards a game environment with oculus rift, which I had the chance to experience.

http://www.hannahturkington.com/work/#/black-north/

James Hugh Dalton and Daryl Randall: These guys worked with Greg on their placement. They were working on a VR experience and were creating an airplane model. They also created some little game concept pieces which looked pretty cool. It seems they have also learned of new ways to do things such as using locators to bring reference files into scenes etc. It was really interesting hearing them talk about it.

http://darylrandall.weebly.com/

http://jameshughdalton.com/

Interview and Feedback

I was taken by Greg and Ross Morrison from BlackNorth (Enter Yes). I found this initially daunting and was panicking beforehand as I was one of the first to go in class. Once I introduced myself and said hello, I felt more at ease after talking a bit about myself. They asked about my showreel, what my favourite piece was and what piece I had the most problems with. This was my zbrush sculpt of Nicholas Kole’s artwork. It was my first time creating a full bodied creature within the software.

Feedback:

• Look into keyshot for rendering.
• it’s good to discuss working with ceramics as it makes the interview more memorable and shows that I can use my hands and work with real clay, as zbrush is digital.
• perhaps add more ‘action’ words at the beginning of every bullet point in my cv.
• even though i didn’t intentionally gear my whole interview towards greg (i didn’t know he worked with don bluth) i need to do this for any job i’m applying for.

Placement information

• between 25-48 weeks. (6months min).
• can happen at different companies at different periods
• completed by 10th august 2017

Assessment

• Course work 1- ongoing logbook or blog that records student experience. supported by a final written report (min 2000 words) demonstrating a reflection on students individual experience. (60%)
• Course work 2- report from placement partner on students performance (20%) this is a multiple choice questionnaire.
• Course work 3- placement oral presentation with university staff which contains practical work completed during the placement period. (20%) reel, image, pictures, print outs, anything illustrating what you’ve been doing. be prepared to talk to 1st and 2nd years. interviewed for 10mins by lecturer.

Apply for funding opportunities with NI screen. Has to be in northern ireland. Only 6 students from our class. deadline is september- only find out if youve got it in september.

if you work with different companies- fill in the forms over and over again.

contact debbie fraser if you’re out of uk. can apply if you’re going to dublin.

dea.fraser@ulster.ac.uk

Cover Letters

https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-8-cover-letters-you-need-to-read-now?ref=search

Your cover letter is the best way to introduce to the hiring manager who you are, what you have to offer, and why you want the job—but you have an extremely limited amount of time to do all of those things. So, if you really want to get noticed, you’ve got to start right off the bat with something that grabs your reader’s attention.

Some really good tips on what to think about when writing a cover letter:

• Don’t Regurgitate Your Resume:  use your cover letter to describe additional details that you weren’t able to squeeze onto the single page of your resume.
• Think Not What the Company Can Do for You: only write about what you can bring to the position.
• Clearly Show What You’re Capable Of: Determine the key requirements and priorities for this job, and make it instantly clear to the reviewer that you can deliver the goods on these key things
• Showcase Your Skills: When you know you have the potential to do the job—but your past experience doesn’t totally sell you as the perfect one for the position—try focusing on your skills, instead.
• don’t necessarily showcase education: what they care about is work experience.
• Don’t Apologize for Skills You Don’t Have: try using sentences like “Despite my limited experience with marketing…” or “While I only have work experience doing administrative tasks…”
• Highlight the right skills and experience for the job.
• Tell a story of how you got here and why you want this job in particular (a story makes your cover letter different and memorable).
• Don’t be overly formal. This makes you sound robotic.
• Don’t let your fear of bragging get in the way. It is good to sound confident in your skills.

Template:

 

Interview Preparation

As preparation for our interview, we selected groups and came up with typical interview questions as a class.

Questions we may be asked with my answers so far:

• What can you do for us that other candidates can’t? Don’t slag other candidates. I often take a leadership role if time is of the essence and preparation and organisation is necessary for the production of a project. Natural leader? Put into a position of leadership within a few weeks of working with a new company.
• If a group conflict arose in a group project how would you deal with it?
• How would a position at this company fit into your future career path?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? If you’re going for entry level explain how you’d like your career to progress (team leader, progress to a senior modeller). If you’re going for a senior position explain how you’d be looking to move the company forward. I would like to progress to a lead modelling role and be able to have more control of the team I work in and have more input on the overall aims and looks of the project.
• How comfortable would you be in a leadership position?
• What are your weaknesses?- I could mention confidence and speaking in front of many people. Mention time management- dealing with this by becoming more organised. Stressing- makes me more organised.
• What is your favourite thing to do within animation or outside of it? Modelling and sculpting. Throughout high school I sculpted with clay and porcelain and it’s amazing to be able to create my own characters with a similar yet digital technique of doing so.
• Give us a time you used your initiative in a difficult situation? problem/people solving. put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Recently a couple of team mates were struggling with personal issues and balancing their social life with the workload. I gathered the rest of the team together to see the amount we could do together and tried to make a list of things that the others could possibly work on without making them feel forced or without leaving them with something they aren’t comfortable with so they would enjoy it more.
• tell us about yourself? – dont lose sight of the job position. 2-3mins long briefly cover your education, interest in the field, work history and experience. REHEARSE From a young age I’ve been watching films created by disney, pixar and don bluth. I grew up watching technology advance and more work being created in 3D. I was always interested in the arts and knew this would be the path I would choose, yet I never imagined I’d be working in the animation industry. When avatar came out in 2009 I was hooked and I never imagined id be taught my someone who worked on this. I tried to get into the course straight away but I had already applied to foundation year and was also advised that this would be good to have anyway. I want to eventually produce something so cinematic and cutting edge.
• Favourite thing from your showreel or something you’ve had a problem with: My sculpted character based on a concept by Nicholas Kole and his project Copernicus. Sculpting was something I always wanted to try and this was my first time really delving into it and creating a full creature from it. I went through so many problems from trying out zspheres and ending up with warped meshes and holes in my meshes. I ended up making a terrible base in maya but continuously working on this in zbrush to get better and with my current project I have worked more with zspeheres and find them so much easier.
• Why should you get this job? from what we’ve discussed so far you’re looking to X. In the past I have demonstrated X, Y and Z which have really helped my previous employer. In the past I have demonstrated my abilities to take initiative, be passionate and to be determined to do well and get projects done. More recently, I showed my abilities to lead and communicate well and Kevin Beimers, director of Italic Pig noticed this and appointed me as project leader while he was out of touch for a few weeks.
• What are your salary expectations? No need to negotiate. Give a broad salary range and be prepared to back it up. between £20,000 – £30,000.
• Why do you want to work here? explain how you want your skills to grow….talk about the work they’ve produced. making kids smile etc. I want to expand the skills I have in the subject I am passionate about and the subject I also consider my hobby. I look up to your work and think this job is best suit to what I see as my future career path. I never imagined I’d be capable of what I can currently do two years ago and within these two years I have learnt so much and know that this will keep happening.

• experience of working in a company can make a person stick to that style: show yourself as versatile. transfer your skills. Working with Italic Pig, we were asked to come up with weirder and weirder character and creature designs. The team came together and we drew out what was on our minds, passed these around and let others characature them. 

Questions we can ask: wrong answer is no.

• What are the main objectives and responsibilities of the position? unless it’s in the job description
• Is there potential room to work my way up in the company? Am I able to look into different roles such as texturing and lighting if I am placed in a more modelling role to keep strengthening my skills?
• Whats the mobility of the position in this company and where would you like to see your employee in five years? its up to us to be the driver and it’s our growth and work.
• Is there extra curricular activities you encourage your employees to be a part of? or training programmes.
• Is there extra pay for overtime? maybe not discuss this in the interview.
• are there opportunities to change positions in the company to develop a the wide range of skills.

Strengths: communication, team work, good attitude, problem solver, quick learner, determination, flexible.

Pick the three biggest attributes that you think will get you the job.

Cover Letter

what job have you applied for. modelling and sculpting is the same area.

see reels. websites. cv. cover letter (no more than half a page). can make up the job if you address it to paula campbell.

Paula Campbell: NI Screen

T shaped if generalist- sculpting and modelling . deeper understanding towards this but also exploring texturing and lighting for the future. or sculpting further…

top of the t to be the broader area- bottom to be better expertise.

things they are looking for:

• voice:
• interpersonal skills:ability to establish rapport with interviewers. relationship.
• manner: ability to speak with confidence and interest. passion.
• listening: analysing the questions properly.
• answering skills: address issue, present explanation/incident, all information presented should be relevant.

Add Michael Kane from Rockstar on linkedin

Showreel:Version for Interview

Alec had suggested that I put a semi-transparent box behind my text in whatever didn’t have a black background to make it easier to read.

Showreel: second draft

I tried re-rendering my rock model turntable as the lighting is slightly glitchy. Alec had a look at it and thought that the model itself had extra faces (extruded too much) and tried removing anything, but the same thing happened again.

First draft with Feedback

Things to add:

• text on what I did for each project.
• Mention whose concept it is if necessary.
• Put symbols in of programmes I used for each part.
• Add contact details.

 

Alec: 

• I’d hold the title page for another 2 seconds and maybe adjust the layout scale a bit, as the youtube bar obscures your name when you fullscreen
• not sure i’m keen on the zoom out of the sculpt, i’d just have it on screen for 4 seconds and then go to the turn table turntable – slow it down a tad, let it do 360 rotation then animate it going off to the side
•  use ease in/out in your translation animation as you move the turn table to the side, so it doesn’t look too jerky.
• on the group project shots, put a footer note in on what you did on it (textures, lighting etc)
• walk cycle – fix the hands
• fix the flickering on the stone turntable render
• girl walk – raise the hips, make the feet plant on the ground, bring the arms in closer to the body
• infact i’d put all the animation cycles at the end, as it’s not as strong as your other work.