I’ve been thinking about the aftermath of the MA Character Animation course. I am extremely happy that I applied for this course. Working in animation was always a distant dream for me – but now it’s feeling like it’s a lot more attainable. I’ve met so many amazing people on the course who have been very helpful – not only have I gained technical development but just great friends. Looking back at when I first started the course, I didn’t know anything about the technical elements of animation. At first, I also wanted to go into visual development as I have a keen eye for design and colour. But now, my fit within the animation industry is very different – it’s more set on the production side of things. I really feel I could excel in this area of the animation industry.

My Goals / Aspirations for after MACA

1. Working in the production area of the animation industry – anywhere in the world.
2. Network!
3. Continue with ‘The Screenish’, the Creative Enterprise business.
4. Establish myself as an Independent Animator through building a style and character.
5. Find Funding for independent animated film projects.
6. Send independent animated film projects to film festivals.

I found Osbert to be such a game changer in terms of my work. His talk inspired me to work more with mixed media and use drawing as a basis for my projects – not the final thing. Im now trying to be more playful and experimental – finding my voice.

His talk very much resonated with me as the work he has accumulated over the years has contributed towards advertisements. He also mentioned that he entered a few competitions – such as D&AD. I feel like that would be such an interesting concept for me – branding and advertisement.

http://www.osbertparker.com/

Website: https://www.jyots.co.uk

My website / portfolio has been a point of contention with me, as I feel that a creative website should exude the personality of the artist. I’ve done a lot of research into branding and self promotion as an artist. I found that illustrator’s used white backgrounds and sketchy fonts. I was initially adopting that style, but then I questioned myself as an artist. What do I like? Who inspires me? What interests me? And I ultimately found that I’m not an illustrator and I have tried to fit into that role, because I didn’t know where I fit. I feel like when I do illustrations, it’s not complete – it’s not joyful. I think it is useful when bringing together a vision.

Ultimately, I’m content with my website – I’ve used a black background, with pink and blue fonts/images. It exudes, techie, glitches – a very late 90s / early 2k feel. I’ve still got a bit to go. Again, after speaking to Osbert Parker – his approach to working on mixed media films really inspired me. So, I feel I need to be really bold with my mixed media approach and this needs to be evident on my website.

Social Media: JyotsTV / Instagram

I’ve had a YouTube account for about a year and I am really keen to utilise it, as I love making videos. @JyotsTV is both my art account on instagram and my YouTube. I’m still trying to put together a regular streaming schedule for this. And ultimately, what is its purpose? I feel like I will figure this out after the course. I kind of want to do BTS of filmmaking, travel/food and art.

CV: Production / Learning Engagement

Well, my CV has been through soo many changes. At one stage, I had 2 CV’s – one for production and the other for learning engagement. Then I realised, this was useless because the production CV was lacking (CLEARLY) as I only have a transferrable skillset for production. All of my prior work experiences, has made me who I am and I have learnt from all of those experiences. Hence why I now have just one CV with all of my experiences, skills and achievements. I do have however, have 2 different cover letters to detail my passion and determination for both production and learning and engagement.

Job Applications / E-mailing Studios

Following on from revamping my CV and cover letter, I’ve started to apply for a lot jobs – VARIOUS jobs. I’ve also been e-mailing the studios in my list, and have got really great responses. Honestly, it seems like I have been applying for jobs for years and years – which I probably have. I’m very used to rejection and it’s fine. My approach is: ‘I’ve applied, let’s see what happens.’ I have a very positive outlook on jobs within the animation industry because I’m not looking for a creative role, I’m looking for an organisational role within the industry. I’m currently listening to a talk by Sue Tong, and whilst I understand and respect her experience of the industry – I don’t necessarily agree with her approach in terms of pipeline. Although, I do understand where she is coming from if you want a creative job within an animation studio. Whereas, I just want to do some independent filmmaking.

I’ve learnt so much from starting this course, and I am at a point now of reflection. At the start of the course, I was determined to create traditional 2D animated films – this has change quite a bit. Throughout Unit 2, I identified what areas of the animation industry I would suit best with my transferrable skills and experience. I had found that although I have a passion for visual development – that is only a small aspect of what I enjoy about the creative side of the animation industry.

From listening to Daniel Quirke’s and Osbert Parker’s talks – it became very clear to me. I identified with their way of thinking and their artistic approach. I had found that the typical outlook on animation was not for me – I was experimental with my approach and ultimately playful. When I worked in 2D, I felt that my film was lacking and I realised that my drawing is the basis of my film but not the final. I’m just beginning to explore mixed media and this excites me. I am grounded by the idea of sharing my voice as a mixed media animation filmmaker. Hopefully my playfulness will lead into being an Animation Director – one day. But for now, I will experiment, play and have fun with my films.

On the flip side of finding my creative voice, I really want to be surrounded by people in the animation industry – it brings me joy to organise. Hence why I would love to contribute to animation project through being apart of the production team. With all my transferrable skills, I feel I’d be best suited to that area of the industry.

Overall:

I would very much like to be an independent animation filmmaker and let my ideas flow through the form of mixed media animation. From this, I’d apply for funding projects and hopefully be commissioned.

For my day job, I would like to be within the animation world and I would love to experience the production side of animation. On the other hand, I have an extensive list of experiences for learning and engagement roles within museums / galleries – so I am very happy to do this whilst making films.

I’ve been nagging studios non stop! From my experience when applying to jobs – an e-mail never hurts. I’ve gathered a list of potential studios to work for. With very helpful notes from Christina, I gaged that the internships occur in Summer – so hopefully that may occur in the near future and I am on their radar now.

Networking:

My main source for networking and job posts is LinkedIn, although I would love to do some ‘in person’ ones but I have yet to find those. I started connecting with people with various positions within the animation industry. It’s useful because I am really in tune with conversations surrounding animation opportunities or jobs.

Interview at Feed Me Light

I applied for a Studio Manager role at Feed Me Light and actually got an interview! Although the interview went amazingly well – I didn’t get the job, but they said I would be better suited to Production Coordinator role.

They offered to reach out to me, if any role pops up. The interview itself was so insightful and friendly. I felt like that is an environment I definitely want to be in.

This has been an interesting one, because as an independent animation filmmaker – this will be my bread and butter. 

Sophie Koko’s Industry Talk

Sophie Koko’s industry talk was very very interesting – as a person who wants to be an independent filmmaker, this talk very much enlightened me.

One of the things Sophie mentioned was to be your own PRODUCER, which I feel I am already doing as I am very on it. She also mentioned that having a web presence was very useful.

• make your own projects, production schedule
• have a work for hire contract
• make and experiment in your spare time to build up your portfolio
• e-mail a band you like / music videos
• explainer videos
• showreel, the best pieces of your work
• send your work to design and animation websites

How to Pitch / Treatment: ‘Pitching process is brutal.’

• Telling a story
• Reassurance that you have understood them
• References
• Designs
• Mood-boarding
• Techniques

One Pager – Mainly for TV

More likely in a mood piece in the form of a rendered 20s short film or rendered stills.

• Intro
• Plot Summary
• Stills / Film

Other places to look into for opportunities:

FLAMIN, BFI NETWORK, ANNECY FESTIVAL, GLAS ANIM FESTIVAL, UK SCREEN ALLIANCE

Possible Opportunities:

Enfield Council

I saw an advertisement on LinkedIn for an application for funding about ‘Untold Edmonton’. Edmonton is a place in North London where I was bought up and raised. They were offering a grant for artists to showcase Edmonton. I jumped on the opportunity as I know it is rare to be paid for a theme that you are interested in. I had unfortunately missed the deadline for the grant , but e-mailed anyway. I got a super fast response from Enfield Council, as they wanted to work with me. From this interaction, I understood that I need to really be well versed with the working as an independent animation filmmaker. 

I have a meeting with a member of the Enfield Council and we will discuss the opportunity further. As it is a rolling grant, I will have a chance to apply later this year.

D&AD

This is something that I have seen advertised everywhere! It was also mentioned in Osbert Parker’s talk. I’m considering on working with a brief. I think I want to further develop my style and maybe doing one of these briefs can help me. 

World Illustration Awards 2023

I applied for WIA in 2021 and got long listed – which was new for me, as I never get listed for things.  I want to develop a style with my illustration skills and feel that I still have a long way to go.

In the Summer of 2022, I entered my animation based creative enterprise business plan for the UAL Creative Enterprise Awards. I then had the pleasure of being shortlisted and pitched my idea to UAL staff, the DOTs staff and Adobe representatives. To my surprise, I was a finalist and attended an awards evening. I genuinely was shocked and it was the first time I had even written a business plan.

Unfortunately, I didn’t win an award – but I was so so so proud of myself and will hopefully continue with this project after my MA.

The visit to Blinkink production studios was really insightful, it was different to what I thought it would be. They spotlight and commission directors to provide a creative vision for commercial projects. As a production studio that specialises in mixed media animation, I was very intrigued.

The way the production studio operated was very unique and made me think on how I would develop or brand myself as a filmmaker rather than an animator or illustrator. I find myself going down the rabbit hole of the weird and wonderful, instead of making lovable characters. I champion technique and medium with an underlying theme or symbolic reference.

The visit gave me an opportunity to reflect and understand what kind of films I’d like to make and produce – and it will be really focused on mixed media. I find the drawing in 2D animation would most probably be the base of my animations in terms of smoothness and flow. However, I would like to experiment with more tactile mediums – a mixture of tactile mediums.

All and all, the Blinkink production studio allowed me to feel that there was a space for my creative vision within the animation industry. Prior to this, I thought I could just utilise my project management skills, which I love, to attempt to be an animation producer. However, I feel that at least during this course, I need to be more expressive with my ideas, experiment and take risks.

Currently, I’m working as a Creative Engagement Manager – where I organise and manage workshops for various communities in South London. I’ve worked for over 10 years in the creative engagement area and I love the work that I do for the local communities. However, I’m now wondering whether I utilise the skills that I have to transfer into the production area of the animation industry or maintain my current role and become an independent filmmaker or animator in my spare time.

I would like to explore the role on an independent filmmaker / animator and what exactly it entails.

Independent Animators on YouTube, by LNGFRM

‘Back in the day, there was no such thing as independent animation.’

For example, in the 1930s, if you were an animator who didn’t want to work for Disney, then you basically had the option of joining up with one of the two other animation studios or you could start your own company.

But nowadays, the game has changed, and it’s completely possible to show your animations to the world via any number of online video streaming sites without having to answer to anyone.‘

Jack Stauber

Jack Stauber is an independent animator out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He combines his animated work with his songwriting skills to create a truly unique style.

As of late, he’s also fallen in with the Adult Swim crowd, where his work has been showcased at odd times on the channel.

His work combines 2D animation with VHS filters and claymation for a look that really hasn’t been seen anywhere else in recent memory.

OPINION: I can definitely see this as a great avenue to showcase my work. I would very much like to create animated shorts and showcase the journey behind the struggles of doing it independently. Also the style that Stauber presents is very attractive and attention grabbing.