Posted by Hannah / October 18, 2011
It’s been a very busy couple of months here at Freelance and students have been working really hard. The proof is in the pudding and has yielded results already this year Brett Turnicliffe has had his application accepted at Oktobor Animation and will be starting in the layout/pre vis department and Curtis Keeble has also had his application at Ninjakiwi accepted.
I caught up with Brett briefly and asked him what had helped him most getting into his first job at Oktobor. Brett had previously completed 3 years studying 2D (hand drawn) animation before starting his first year of 3D with Freelance. Brett learnt about the key principles of character animation which he thinks was paramount in strengthening his showreel* and making a good impression with the staff at Oktobor.
*A showreel is a short video compilation of a students best animation work and are the main resource that Animation Directors look at when hiring animation talent.
As well as a showreel submission Brett was also given a test; 96 hours to complete 10 to 12 seconds of dialogue animation. This may not sound like much to the untrained ear but the 96 hours don’t include sleeping hours so one could imagine it was pretty nerve racking. Brett said that “90% of what helped me to get the job was the 2D training I’d received from Freelance”. He thanked his tutors profusely for the help and guidance they had given him over the years and had an upbeat and excited demeanour when I was talking to him.
Curtis Keeble has been a student with Freelance for 2 years enrolled as a 3D student. Right from the beginning he showed strong drawing and colouring skills which have no doubt laid the foundation for his 3D work.
Curtis showed an interest early on in Gaming and applied for a position at Ninjakiwi for which he needed to create a showreel entirely using Macromedia Flash. Having never used the software before Curtis taught himself how after hours at Freelance and used his existing animation knowledge to create his showreel.
Both students will be starting their jobs immediately and also successfully achieving their unit standards for 2011. This has started to become a bit of a trend over the last month or so with students (most recently Boaz Ford) finding work directly out of study here at Freelance. Freelance has always had a huge interest in job allocation of its students but has placed renewed emphasis on industry relationships, industry briefs/projects and contact to previous graduates when job opportunities arise. Using social media such as Facebook and keeping in touch via email to announce jobs Freelance guides students towards their dream jobs. Also pages like the Transition to Work from Study offer extra advice to students as to how they can reach their goals.
Freelance would like to congratulate Brett Tunnicliff and Curtis Keeble on their news jobs and wishes them both well for the future. We’d also like to highlight the amazing work our Senior Head Tutor Leanne Choi has put in over the last year as she single handily has lead the charge towards better job opportunities for students.
