Then Siobhan Fenton adviced me to try emailing Ed Hooks and see if he could help me.
Very recently I sent him that email and got a reply. To me, his reply is one of the most valuable pieces I have done during my research and it defiantly gave me a lot of intersting information.
Instead of me trying to explain what he wrote me back I think it's much better to share with you the email between me and Ed Hooks:
________________________________________________________________
MY MAIL
Hello!
My name is Remi Vaage and I'm currently a student at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, UK.
The course I'm doing is BA 3D Character Animation and Siobhan Fenton is the module leader in 2 of my modules; Creative Character Animation (Siobhan told me you worked on this module last year) and Studio Practice and Business.
The reason I'm sending you this email is because I am doing research about the animation industry in my Studio Practice and Business module and I have hopes you might be able to answer a few questions regarding the animation industry.
Personally I am studying to become a 3D Character Animator and my biggest dream and ambitions is to one day be working for Pixar.
The reason I want to work with that studio in particular is not just because of the quality of the films they release. It's also about the working enviroment. I've seen pretty much every Pixar film there is and especially the "behind the scenes" features which reveals what a great working enviroment they have at Pixar which is one of the main reasons why I would want to work there.
The reason why I'm telling you this about Pixar is because that's what my research is about. My main goal/ambition is to end up at Pixar but also about how to get into the industry. How to get that first job.
So here it goes:
So do you have any pointers on how to get a job at such a big studio as Pixar? What are they really looking for in a new employee?
In general do you have any pointers on how to get that first job in the industry? To get noticed?
Is freelancing the best way to go or to get hired at a studio/company?
What do you think is the future for 3D animation (Considering that the technology is constantly getting better and Motion Capture for example is getting widely used)?
I know it's not that many questions but it will still be of great help to get them answered by someone who is as profiled in the industry as yourself.
I would like to thank you a lot for your time to read this email and many thanks in advance for any help you can provide me back.
Kind Regards.
Remi Vaage
Read more about my work at my blog: www.djvaagespb.blogspot.com
My name is Remi Vaage and I'm currently a student at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, UK.
The course I'm doing is BA 3D Character Animation and Siobhan Fenton is the module leader in 2 of my modules; Creative Character Animation (Siobhan told me you worked on this module last year) and Studio Practice and Business.
The reason I'm sending you this email is because I am doing research about the animation industry in my Studio Practice and Business module and I have hopes you might be able to answer a few questions regarding the animation industry.
Personally I am studying to become a 3D Character Animator and my biggest dream and ambitions is to one day be working for Pixar.
The reason I want to work with that studio in particular is not just because of the quality of the films they release. It's also about the working enviroment. I've seen pretty much every Pixar film there is and especially the "behind the scenes" features which reveals what a great working enviroment they have at Pixar which is one of the main reasons why I would want to work there.
The reason why I'm telling you this about Pixar is because that's what my research is about. My main goal/ambition is to end up at Pixar but also about how to get into the industry. How to get that first job.
So here it goes:
So do you have any pointers on how to get a job at such a big studio as Pixar? What are they really looking for in a new employee?
In general do you have any pointers on how to get that first job in the industry? To get noticed?
Is freelancing the best way to go or to get hired at a studio/company?
What do you think is the future for 3D animation (Considering that the technology is constantly getting better and Motion Capture for example is getting widely used)?
I know it's not that many questions but it will still be of great help to get them answered by someone who is as profiled in the industry as yourself.
I would like to thank you a lot for your time to read this email and many thanks in advance for any help you can provide me back.
Kind Regards.
Remi Vaage
Read more about my work at my blog: www.djvaagespb.blogspot.com
_____________________________________________________________
ED HOOKS ANSWER
Hello Remi -
Thanks for writing, and please send Siobhan a cyber hug for me. I will be seeing her - and hopefully, you - during Animex in February.
Regardless of which studio you hope to work for, the key that opens the door is a top-drawer show reel. Or an award winning short. I have not looked in a while, but Pixar used to have a list of attributes it looks for in new animators. Number One, as I recall, was "story telling ability". Pixar, like DreamWorks and Sony, is going to use its own proprietary software, and new animators will have to learn it anyway. So the fact that you may have become expert in using the most popular software will be nice, but it won't land you a job. I suggest you poke around in the Pixar website to see what you can find about their procedures and standards for hire. Do the same thing with Disney, DreamWorks, Sony and Blue Sky (20th-Fox).
Pixar has indeed created a fun and stimulating work environment for its animators. The thing is that, by the time you get your show reel together and wrap up your studies at Teesside, Pixar may not be the most desirable place to work. Even before Disney bought it, Pixar was showing signs of production strain, trying to release more movies in a year than are actually ready to be released. Now that John Lasseter is running Pixar plus the animation division of Disney, there is even more pressure. Go to my website, ActingforAnimators.com, and look at the archived newsletters I have written. August, September and October all had references to Pixar's situation.
Speaking of the newsletters, I am going to take the liberty of putting your address into the database so you can receive it. It is free, and it sounds to me like you really ought to be reading them, if only for the craft notes I write each month.
My advice to you is that you not put all your eggs into one basket that is labeled "Pixar". The situation there is too fluid and, anyway, you will find better odds almost any place else. Your best strategy, in my opinion, would be to land a studio job someplace, any place, even at a game company. Once you have your foot in the door, you can start moving from one studio to another. Further, try to get into a studio that is in a major city, whether that be London, Berlin, Beijing, Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco. Good career-building gigs are hard to find in northern UK, unfortunately, but that might change by the time you graduate.
There is a lot more work to be had in games than in feature films, and it is no longer considered slumming to work there. Bay Raitt, the lead animator for Gollum's facial animation at Weta in New Zealand, is working for Valve Software, makers of the "Half Life" games, in Seattle. I know many excellent animators who pop back and forth between game companies and feature animation.
Which brings me to your question about motion capture. The use of it is still limited in feature animation, largely to Sony ("Polar Express", "Beowulf", "Monster House"). Probably 75 percent of game companies use it because it is fast and because the animation does not have to reach the standard of feature animation. It is conceivable that your first job offer would be from a game company that wants you to clean up and finesse mocap data. That's okay. It is a foot into the door. The job you land first does not have to be the one where you stay for twenty five years.
Once you have a drop-dead wonderful show reel, start going to the big animation conferences. Have some business cards made up. Go to FMX in Stuttgart, Germany. If you can, go to Siggraph in the U.S.. Maybe the Game Developers Convention, also in the U.S. Those events are terrific places to network as well as giving you the opportunity to see first-hand the state of the animation art internationally. Really, Remi, you ought to be planning to compete on an international stage. Animation is global. China is pouring a lot of money into development, for example.
One final bit of advice: Even though you aspire to 3D, learn to draw. Go to as many life drawing classes as you possibly can. Learn how to draw the human body. Keep your best stuff for a portfolio, which you can also show to prospective employers.
Good luck to you, Remi. It is a great time to be an animator.
Best -
Ed
Ed Hooks
Acting for Animators
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