My mentor Sheetal gave me some advice and insight for starting out – “For Bridging the gap I would start to research which studio’s you’d like to work for. And to get in touch and keep in touch with any new work that you do. So they can see your progress over the next year. I have a very good example of this – I got in touch with a studio (Strange Beast) and it took almost 2 years before I actually worked with them. The first 18 months was just me contacting them every time I had a new reel. Having a regular rapport really paid off!”
I guess I’m mostly just worried that I’d come off as overbearing and annoying and be sent straight to the spam folder? I’m probably overthinking it but I don’t really know how the whole process works and if that’s common or not.
“Larger employers offer apprenticeships or internships. To enter these programs, applicants must be attending a college animation program. Interns at Pixar for example, must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program, or have graduated during the year the internship begins. Program participants might work as camera and staging artist interns, who “create sequences of shots that convey the story through the application of traditional filmmaking principles in a 3D computer graphics environment.” Other internship options at Pixar are available in story, art, technical direction, production management, marketing, engineering, research, media systems, financial, and editorial. Internships last 12 weeks or 6 months during the summer, fall, and winter school terms.
Volunteering with a local animation or film production company is the next best thing to landing an internship. This experience will give you a great introduction to the field and help you to make valuable contacts in the field. And one new way up-and-coming animators have made themselves known to the animating community is by attracting an audience on the Web. A portfolio of well-executed Web ‘toons can help an animator build his reputation and get jobs.”