As we get closer to graduating, I’ve had to start thinking about applying to jobs and opportunities to progress my career. Here are a few elements I’ve addressed to start building a professional presence and practice:
CV: While I have a backlog of CVs for previous jobs and roles, none of these are relevant to my desired job as an animator, or even an artist in general. Making this feels like I’m starting from scratch again, but I’ve included all my student films and projects, as well as some tangentially related projects from my undergrad (science illustrations!). I’m quite thankful that I’ve been able to work on a number of films while I’ve been at CSM, and made the most of my time at this course, and hopefully it shows through in the CV.
Website/Portfolio: I am currently using Adobe Portfolio as a platform to showcase some of my work, including both my LIAF film and 1-minute film, along with a few animation experiments and past projects. I don’t think the templates available are ideal however, and I’m hoping to have the time this summer to design a proper website and portfolio, especially as my current Creative Cloud account will end in September. I’m also hoping to put together a proper showreel soon, which I have been putting off because I don’t feel like I have a lot of animation that is at the quality I want for it. Attending the showreel lecture a few weeks ago was very helpful though, and I do want to get feedback at the showreel event at the start of June, so I’m planning on putting together a quick showreel before then.
https://lwong0520231.myportfolio.com
Applying for opportunities: I’ve began applying to a few opportunities, both as an individual and as a collective, including this one with Southbank Centre and this as part of Hong Kong Film Festival UK. I’m also planning on submitting a pitch for this open call with LSFF. I would consider myself quite a slow writer, and I spent quite a lot of time thinking about each application. This has been quite time-consuming, but it’s definitely a skill that I will be using for the rest of my life, as I imagine I will always be applying for grants, funding, and other opportunities. Even if I don’t get accepted to any of these places, the process has been insightful as I often have to consider what my future goals and projects are, and it’s useful practice though I doubt it’ll ever be enjoyable.