Behold! This is a bit of a monster post but I thought it would be really interesting to share. Before I start, I'd like to point out that I did not write any of this and that I have never visited FMX. Therefore, I cannot agree with or promote the views put forward in this write up. I can only observe the experiences of Mr.Anonymator (we'll call him that for now) and hope to one day draw my own conclusion to the festival (I would really love to go!).
A good friend from iAnimate sent it to me in an email and agreed to let me share it with all you lovely folk. However, he wishes to remain uncredited as some of what he says could be seen as negative or taken out of context. Especially since the animation community and industry is so small and everyone knows each other.
For anyone who doesn't know FMX is an animation convention held in Germany each year. There's a ton of things that happen there; workshops, seminars, industry recruiting booths, screenings and other events. If you went to this years FMX or any others and agree or disagree with anything here, please do share your thoughts in the comments section. Let's begin...
Tuesday
Ok so I arrived at FMX
at around 10am for the 3-hour class, 'Ed Hooks' Acting For Animators Pt 1'. Ed
was a really cool and fun guy, brimming with enthusiasm. Everything he said was
pretty damn interesting (but I had already read most of it in his book - but
it's good to get a refresher course nonetheless). There were also two
spontaneous guests from Blue Sky, being Jeff Gabor and Nick Bruno. They chatted
for about 45 minutes about their process and we looked at some of their work.
The workshop on the whole was a bit more on the lecture side, although Ed took
questions throughout and was happy for discussion to take place. But there were
no acting exercises (phew!). However, I did find that a lot of what he talked
about applied more to constructing a story rather than specifically animating a
character, so I suspect a few people might have found that a bit
frustrating.
After the workshop I hit
the recruiting booths. I had my iPad in hand with my reel on it as well as 3 DVD
copies. The room itself (called the recruiting hub) wasn't huge and the booths
were pretty small, all being packed in close together. My expectation before I
got there was that there would be long lines of people queuing up at each booth,
with people holding onto their reels or portfolios. So I was pretty surprised
when I got there and just saw the odd person here and there just wandering
around, maybe having a chat. No portfolios, nothing. So I was kinda confused as
you can imagine. (Oh one thing to note, not every company was there on every day
of the conference. Some were, but others were there just for one day). So my
first stop was at Animal Logic (Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians). They were
only there for Tuesday, and they're an Australian company so I thought, well
that's something to chat about and plus they can't say I'm not good enough to
get a working visa ;). So I chatted to the woman there, and she was cool and
friendly. Eventually I showed her my reel and she said I had some nice stuff but
my dinosaur shot lacked a lot of weight, which I think is a very fair comment.
And I should probably mention now that I always introduced myself as a student
animator and that I just wanted their feedback on my weaknesses and how I can
push myself more. I never said outright that I'm looking for a job because I
think it's just easier to not put them in that awkward position where they have
to say 'no' (and I will say that everyone I talked to was pretty damn friendly
and down-to-earth).
So I then went to the
Framestore booth and was told that they don't look at reels or portfolios. They
just gave me an email address to send my work to. Next stop was Axis Animation,
who are from Glasgow. The women there were again really nice, but didn't want to
look at my reel, but they did want to take a DVD version to look at later. So
those hours of making the DVDs was worthwhile in the end (evidently, it was the
only DVD I gave out). And then the last stop was at Lucasfilm Singapore. Another
really nice woman who was more than happy to check out my reel and she gave me
some great feedback. She really liked that each of my shots had a bit of a story
to them, and weren't your typical walk-cycle, box-lift, etc, so that was nice to
hear. She did say that the dinosaur shot lacked a lot of weight, so that one
came out of my reel as soon as I got home (I replaced it with my weight lift
shot - unfortunately the DVDs had to stay as they were). And that was it for
Tuesday. There were other companies there that I didn't visit because they were
very Visual Effects oriented and it was clear that I didn't have the kind of
work that they would be remotely interested in.
Before I continue, I'll
just quickly say that I got the strong impression almost immediately that very
few of these companies were interested in seeing reels and artwork. They seemed
more interested in promoting themselves and collecting email addresses from
people. One company (Pixomondo) had a bench with iPads and a big sign saying
'Apply Online Here'. So that was a bit disheartening. Anyways, after trudging
around the booths, I went to a Pixar presentation about Renderman which also had
a screening of La Luna. That was pretty cool. Then I went home as I was beat and
the presentations that remained didn't interest me at all.
Wednesday
Back at Acting for
Animators (Pt II) for another 3 hours. The room was packed full this time, and
some people were standing for the whole workshop. Again, it was fun and
interesting but combined with the previous day, there was certainly not 6 hours
worth of content. I think he could have easily gotten through the whole
presentation in just 3 hours if he streamlined it and organised it a bit better.
But maybe he also expected a more interactive audience. Overall though, these
two sessions really drained me. If I go back next year, I'll skip this workshop
(as I doubt there'll be anything new) and go to some other presentations
instead. 3 hours is a looong time to sit and listen without a break...at least
it is for me.
After this, it was back
to the recruiting booths. Same situation again...hardly anyone there. No
portfolios, maybe a reel here or there. First stop was Crytek games. The guy
there was super-friendly and really honest and down to earth. He seemed to like
my reel, but felt that it was too geared towards film animation and that if I
wanted to work in FPS games, I should really focus my reel on that.
Then it was onto Blue
Sky, and luckily (or perhaps unluckily), the two official recruiters weren't
there but instead it was Jeff Gabor and Nick Bruno. So they both watched my reel
simultaneously and I gotta say, they were not impressed. Overall we had a nice
chat, and they were nice guys but probably the harshest (or perhaps most honest)
critics at FMX (unsurprisingly). It was also quite a thrill to chat to Jeff and
Nick and they seem to be fans of iA (Nick said Mike Walling got him his job at
Blue Sky).
But it was around this
point that I realised that visiting recruiting booths is probably the worst way
to hunt for a job. It was becoming more and more clear that most of the
companies were more interested in promoting themselves rather than finding
talent. I guess if they came across a particularly exceptional person (a
programmer perhaps), then they would make special note of that. But in general
they just pointed you towards their website and maybe took a business card so
they could add you to their database or mailing list (which you can do by
yourself through their website anyway). And I don't mean this as in, "no one
liked my work, so clearly it wasn't me, but it was just them not wanting to hire
anyone". It just seemed that I had to ask them to look at my work, rather than
have them asking to look at my work, if you know what I mean. I kind of had to
push it on them, which made me feel like they weren't there specifically to find
future employees but rather to just have a company presence there. I hope that
makes sense.
So at the end of
Wednesday I was really tired and kinda feeling down about the whole process. Not
down about not being offered a job on the spot (I had no illusions about that
happening), but rather that I was left wondering why most of the companies were
even there. It seemed like a lot of wasted time and energy to just have people
sign up to your company's mailing list. So afterwards, I headed to another Pixar
lecture (Shading and Lighting in La Luna - so I saw that short again) and then
went home feeling pretty meh.
Thursday
No more 3 hour workshop
session for me, so that was a change of pace. I got to Stuttgart early to catch
the Disney Recruiting Presentation (their one and only day at FMX). On my way
through the city I was stopped by a couple of police officers for a drug search.
They asked if they could look into my backpack. I said no problem, to which they
replied 'Are you sure?'. 'Absolutely' I said, and started to open it....they
quickly asked if I smoke (which I don't ... and I still don't know why that's
relevant) and then just as I unzipped the bag, they said 'nevermind' and walked
off. So there ya go...it seems like I'm gonna have to start looking more
respectable in public.
Anyways, I got to the
Disney presentation late, and that was quite interesting. I also saw a
recruiting presentation which was from a local Stuttgart VFX company as well
(called Luxx Studios). They showed off their VFX work, which was nice but
clearly they would not be a company that I'd be visiting at the recruiting
booths....until at the very end where they said they were just nominated for a
prize for a script they'd developed for a feature animated film which they hope
to start producing next year - hazzah!!! So I went straight to the recruiting
room again and, holy crap, it was like another world. Masses of people in there
with portfolios and demo reels in hand. This was what I had expected the past
two days. Just having all these people made it so much easier for me to approach
booths confidently because previously it felt like I was just bothering them.
Now this time it felt like they were expecting me to show them my reel. So first
of all I queued up for Luxx (well 'queued' is a stretch as I was first in
line...and I was first in line for about 35 minutes!!) This was particularly
annoying as I saw queues at other booths constantly flowing along, so I gave up
when I saw a chance to chat to Trixter (who are a German visual effects company
that also work on animated features). So I chatted to the recruiter and showed
her my reel, which was an amazing waste of time as she then just brought up
their company website and told me to go there and create a profile - (she had no
feedback for me). Oh and she also told me that animation is a very competitive
industry - so there's a pearl of wisdom for you. No one's told you that before I
bet ;) - But I did get a snazzy bag from them, so all's well that ends well ;)
I then managed to
finally get back over to Luxx and chatted to the guy there. He was without a
doubt the nicest guy I had spoken to at FMX. Really friendly, was sincerely
interested in checking out my work (which he also seemed to like, so that's
kinda cool). We chatted for a pretty long time about what they have planned for
their feature film and how it's not a definite yet, but if it goes ahead they'll
certainly be needing animators. So I'll keep an eye on their site over the next
year and will apply to them (hopefully with an updated reel) if something comes
up. Then it was over to Sony Imageworks Animation (and I should mention that
this day involved long periods of queueing. So it was a bit tiring but I finally
felt that this was what recruiting booths should be like. Seeing other people
have their work reviewed really helped my confidence. It was always super
awkward the previous two days where I was just strolling up and saying, "Hi, I'm
a student-animator and well....ummmm I got like this reel thing..." and all that
kinda stuff.)
So yeah, the Sony
Imageworks guy was again nice, quite relaxed and easy going. I asked him about
what they are looking for and he said, "well, we get asked that a lot by
students and to be honest, we don't care if it's cartoony animation, or serious
or whatever, we just want to see good animation. And we want to see detail and
nuance in there." So that was some cool and genuine advice I thought. He
checked out my reel and said there was some nice stuff in there although he
didn't quite understand the Dennis sneak at first. He thought he stopped to
scratch his back on the pole. So that was interesting to hear... cause even
though the idea is clear in my head, that doesn't mean everyone will get it. So
I'll pay a bit more attention to that in the future.
I should also mention
that prior to this recruiting booth visit, I had gotten the feeling that the
recruiters saw my reel as being generally good but not great and there was
clearly no way a company was going to hire me from FMX. I think one particular
reason for this was that most of the companies that were there, were the 'big
boys'. Very few of the smaller and more local studios were there. Luxx was the
only one that I talked to and they were also the only one considering animation,
and not surprisingly, they seemed more impressed with my work than anyone else,
and that’s probably because animation isn't their primary business. So this
really confirmed my feeling that FMX recruiting booths are the worst way to go
about getting a job (or at least for a student looking for an entry-level job).
And just another quick thing, I rarely left a business card or DVD with a
company after they viewed my reel. It becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly that
they have no interest in hiring you...although the Sony Imageworks guy did give
me his business card, so that was a nice gesture to keep trying in the future.
The last stop was the
big one, Disney. A lot of people were lined up there, but I eventually got to
chat to one of the recruiters, who again, was super friendly (it's very easy to
tell the pro recruiters from the poor bastards who got sent there by their
company). As soon as I said I study at iAnimate, she instantly said 'Oh
Jason...I know him...we had to visit Europe together for Disney" and so we
chatted about iA and that really helped put me at ease and it kinda made me feel
like I stood out a little more from everyone else (woo for iAnimate! ;). She
said getting a letter of recommendation from him would really help in getting
into the training program at Disney (which I think all students get anyway when
finishing Workshop 7). Anyhoo, she looked at the reel and one of the things she
said was 'well, obviously you can animate', so that was certainly nice to hear.
Her criticism though was that my reel didn't feel very dynamic and that most of
the shots had the same tone to them (which is something I've feared for a
while). She really liked my Dennis shot and said that that should be the first
shot, which was interesting to hear after the Sony guy said he wasn't keen on
it. And then she basically chatted about how I could rearrange my reel in order
to give it more impact. Then I was signed up to the Disney recruiting database
(as everyone was) and I was on my merry way. And that was the final recruiting
booth that I visited and it was a nice one to end on.
Friday
I went to three
presentations. One by Dr. Stuart Sumida on animating dinosaurs and reptiles.
That guy is awesome! So entertaining. Then there was an Aardman presentation
about their work on Pirates. That was pretty dry with the usual statistics but
they showed two long scenes in 3D and those were great fun. I was dying to see
that film before, but now I know for sure I'm gonna love it. Then after Aardman
was Laika, and they talked about Coraline and Paranorman. Again, lots of
statistics about how many mouth shapes they made and props and all that. It was
interesting but again, a bit dry. However, all these presentations were in a
cinema, so there were super-comfy seats compared to all of the other
presentations I saw previously in the week. And then I went home after that. I
could have stayed and watched a presentation from Blue Sky (Nick Bruno and Jeff
Gabor again) but that would have meant a 90 minute wait, hanging around
Stuttgart in the stinking heat. I considered it but I was just so dead after the
whole week that I got on the train and went home (it's about a 90 minute train
ride one-way as well, so doing that twice a day also wore me
out)
And that is it!! The FMX
experience (well mine anyways). I don't know if I'd do it again next year...if I
do, I don't think I'll do all four days and I might even avoid the recruiting
booths altogether (except if Dreamworks are there. I think it would be much
easier talking to them than any of the others seeing as iA is so connected to
them). But I certainly learnt a lot, especially, as I said before, that 1) the
recruiting booths are probably the worst way of trying to get a job and 2) my
reel at the moment is decent but not even close to great, so there's a lot of
work to do there. Oh and a third thing is, as I mentioned before, I noticed
different people responded quite differently to my shots. The Animal Logic
recruiter liked the subtlety on my last dialogue shot, whereas the Blue Sky guys
felt it was all pretty bland. So I guess that makes crafting the perfect demo
reel pretty damn tough. But my feeling is that the different reactions I got
might be a result of my work being generally unimpressive. For example, I think
the Animal Logic recruiter was just trying to find good things to comment on,
and not be completely negative, and so she mentioned the subtlety in that
dialogue shot. I think if I had a more solid and impressive reel, the responses
from different people probably wouldn't vary so wildly. That's my theory at the
moment anyway. So my goal now when it comes to my reel is to throw all of it out
and have three, maybe four at most, super strong shots that are different in
tone and style. And I don't mean this in a defeatist, giving-up kind of way, but
rather that I now see that my reel is still just assignment work and it's going
to be hard to impress the big boys with that kind of stuff. Plus I've never
liked the idea of clinging on to old work. The idea of having a fresh new reel
this time next year is really exciting to me and I think with the next 3 iA
workshops, this should be within the realm of possibility.
So it's onwards and
upwards, and generally I feel it was a worthwhile experience. Plus I'm obviously
far more aware of what FMX is all about so that if I go next year, when I'm
closer to finishing iA, I'll have a better idea of what to expect.
