ACTING & FILM SCHOOL

Tips for Landing a 3D Animation Job

Many students ask me about the 3D animation job market and whether we can get them jobs, where to look, how important is a degree etc.

The first thing I address is the importance of a kick ass reel. Imagine being the art director, executive producer or whom ever is looking at reels; and you get hundreds of them, it’s probably not your favorite job right? Well as someone who has looked at many many reels I can tell you that that’s the case, so I was very appreciative of great work on a showreel.

The first 10 seconds of a reel are the most important in terms of gaining the viewers attention and deciding if they want to look at the rest of the reel, so definitely put the best shot at the beginning then “reel” them in.

If you want to specialize in a specific area such as rigging, or lighting you need to stay on target and only put in the reel work that shows off and emphasizes your abilities in that specific area. If you want be a generalist then and only then would you include various aspects of your work.

Look at the competition, go online and Google animation reels, lighting reels, see who’s out there, study reels that you admire and seek to emulate and surpass them.

As far a qualifications go, your reel is the main thing. Having a degree in technical subjects such as computer science is a big help in getting you noticed, knowing how to program or write expressions in order to automate and simplify workflows is a huge plus, having academic qualifications in animation etc is nice but not essential.

To get an in depth explanation of how to put your reel together look around on 3D company websites, a great example is here - 3D Animation Reel

Robert Appleton, New York Film Academy  3D Animation School Instructor