Ben, I want to tell you that I recently interviewed with a company and I brought up your channel, specifically your "We always name our layers" line, and the animators in the interview knew exactly what I was talking about. I was interviewing for a motion designer position, and needless to say, I got the job.
Footnotes: 1. Yes, I'm visibly salty about not yet being asked to design an adorable bat companion for a star-wars property. I'm sure Obi-wan would have loved the company & merchandising opportunities whilst waiting it out on Tattooine. 2. In experimenting with different locations to film I discovered that the last one in this video from the lower angle was in fact TOO flattering. For the safety of myself and my viewers in the future, I will not be reusing it without an onscreen warning.
You forgot gender, race and place someone live matter, even with a great portfolio. I say that from +10 years of experience, the movie studio I made my first internship where racist and hated women, and those people worked on the bigest syfy movie, they never paid me :). Same shit if not worse in the gaming industry, some people need to create their own art and sell it themself, because the reality is they will never be hired by anyone. I wished someone told me this when I was 21 yo, I lost so many years and money ... but this subject is very taboo.
Hey Ben, thank you for everything. I was recently hired for a videographer/ graphic designer/ and MOTION GRAPHICS . Your tutorials has changed the trajectory of my life and I will be forever grateful. Thank you.
As a recent music graduate trying to get a foot in the door and build a decent portfolio, this is some great advice that definitely feels applicable to my field :) thanks as always for providing some inspo
It's just awesome pieces of advice, Ben! I wish I knew it when I started working as a freelancer! Luckily you saved someone's time by this video now haha
I'm an animator with 2D cartoony, vector based corporate, and some 3D style experience. I've heard it's a good idea to have multiple reels to show to the appropriate corresponding job that you're applying for. Would you recommend having a general reel, a 2d reel, a corporate reel, as well as a 3d reel? In case a job only needs 3D, or 2D or Vector stuff? Or is that all just too much?
I'd say it's better to have 1 outward facing reel and if you really need the other reels keep them private. I personally think it's better to have a single reel geared to the industry you want to work in most
Hi Chase I agree with M it's better to do 1 really amazing reel with the work you actually want to do. If you have some other work that you get work from and are regularly asked for you can always have another private reel but I think most people would be able to see what you do from one. If you're thinking of niching in an industry usually you would still get hired for the same old work you do so I think the same applies here. Hope that helps.
@@MotionHatch Thank you! I definitely appreciate the feedback from you both. I've just been applying to a lot of jobs on linkedin with a reel that has vector based stuff, 2d animation, and 3d, to show I have a diverse skillset. But I was just thinking from the employer perspective, if its for a motion graphics corporate role, they may get to my cartoony stuff and think, hmm, not the right style? As for 1 reel focusing on the work I'd like to do, I'm honestly okay with doing any work I can as long as I make a living off of my art. I'm currently in an animation role I really enjoy, I just want to make sure I have the best options for when I need to move forward. Thanks again for the reponses!
Hi Ben, Thank you very much for this video ! :). I'm a graphic designer and ever since I took an animation course at university I knew it was what I most wanted to do, I started making animations for social media and decided to find my luck and dedicate myself more to animation, I've been trying for months to get a work and have only had rejections. Your tutorials have helped me a lot. I think that something is still missing, every time I receive a rejection from an employer I ask myself what I am doing wrong. I think my animations are not good enough. I would also be interested to know if you could do a review of my Show Reel. I'm about to give up.
Hey Ben, love this style of video geared more towards business. Keep em coming! Also, I can't quite afford your course at the moment. Any word of a DISCOUNT in the forecast? Perhaps a "summer special" 20% off deal?
Let me tell you I was not at all interested in clicking the next video. But something about the no reply necessary made it SOOO TANTALIZING. I had to click it. It actually works.
I thought that was a pipe being waggled around. It was a toy dinosaur. I’m just making a portfolio for free lance work, thanks for the tips and encouragement! I did just politely decide not to follow some advice to be more generic, choosing instead to go all in with my own flow so it’s good to hear that approach being backed up!
As full time freelancer of 8 years and someone who has worked in the arts for over 20 years I recently have been sending my resume to a few studios in NYC where I live... I fear my portfolio is too creative despite all the corporate work ive done I feel most people hiring dont want overtly creative when they mostly want to hire generic button pushers... That's what I keep telling myself anyway... Love your videos as always... Great advice... You're an amazing talent..
It's so true about the email sign offs! I get a lot of emails from folks who keep asking how their business can partner with my business. They want me to be a client SO bad! I often get sign offs like "When are you available?" "Are you free this Wednesday?" Trash.
Awesome video already (still watching though) But, Ben (or someone who have noticed it too), what happened to your eyes here? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ONV_9bMInCk.html
8:26 🤣 Well, yes! Thank you for sharing your insights, Ben. Two additions and thoughts you might like, that I established: #1 Write "7 sentences"-mails (with max 7 words per sentence). Right after greeting your reader, let her:him know, what your intentions or expectations are. If neccessary point to "more information" at the end of your mail or via link. Then right away send your kind regards. If you have more to say, now is the space, you can elaborate. I usually put a vertical line between the note and my "appendix". So they can see right at opening the e-mail, that it is short. Make sure to format the appendix (bold text or even headlines), so that peeps can "scan" it more easily with fast reading. #2 concerning the "no need to reply" statement of yours: I prefer to write something like this: "However you decide, a reply would be welcome. Thank you!" Be nice. Be short. Make people feel apprechiated for their effort. When I read "no need to reply" in such a context I ask myself: Then why did you write me (disturb me *cough) in the first place? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (This might be cultural differences between the USA and Germany though.) Ask yourself: Why bother people with something "for info" you do not know. E-Mail is the wrong format for that. A newsletter, an up to date website, social media (that point to your website) with regularly new content is much more with regard of "making people know, you exist". Trust in people. They will look for inspiration in times of need. The time you spend on creating personal projects (rather then bothering people with unwanted emails) is much better spend. This principle is called "resonance". If you force people they might react in pushing further away. Not what you like them to do. Quite the opposite in fact. Good success and have a nice day! 😊
Some advice to add on here for young designers. The best thing you can do is be specific in your portfolio about the work you want to do. If you want to work in news, have journalism focused personal projects! If you want to do logo animation, have logo animations! If you want to do branding, do branding. Being a generalist is good but when it comes to job applications, the more specific your portfolio is geared towards the industry the job is for, the more likely you're to be hired! And ideally do work you're excited for. Ben is right about not filling your portfolio with boring corporate work (unless that's your jam). Also don't bother putting print work in your portfolio unless you want to do print design. Never put work in your portfolio you don't want to do in the future---->advice I wish I had as a recent college grad
I needed this. Cause finding a job in the creative field in general is tough, but more so that I just got laid off. So thank you so much for putting this in.
Thats always been my issue is showing personal work. My personal projects always end up being over scrutinized by myself and I find it hard to really wrap them up. Most of my professional work is heavily NDA'd, overly simple, or not that impressive that I want to flood my reel with it. Luckily I've been working long enough that the work continues non the less. Bravo to those who can finish their own work and be happy with it 🙂
“Do the work you want to get paid” will not work mate. Depends on where you based that is. But here in Uk not many jobs who seek motion designers and animators. So the that means when an a employer is hiring, i]he/she is hiring based on style what suits the company. So you creating random weird animations isn’t going to work. That’s why soo many gets rejected. People want things that are current and relevant. Plus that is like saying, “sell the products you want to sell”…. Well again that may not work, because customers only buy things what they want and need, not because of you lol. I could decide that I want to sell circle TVs. But I may only sell a few because they isn’t a demand for it. Hope you understand. You could be wasting your time doing all the crazy animations and not get any work for it because they isn’t a demand for your style. You have to remember that all employers care about is ROI. Is your personal work going to give them ROI? 9/10 chances are no. Because your work is personal to you and has no meaning for the employer. You have to give what the employer is looking for.
@@macaulayshaw3834 I think the point of the story is not just to make a bunch of random whatever that you enjoy but that if you do what you love and have passion for it you will eventually get paid for it if you choose to.
@@andydreadsbmx Eventually yeah. But would it always be money you can rely on. Life is too short to be sat at the computer all day doing two types of work. One personal, the other for someone else’s work. Think the question people should ask themselves is, is it worth it? For me personally I would prefer just focus on one thing. Decide which one you going to be, the guy that works for Walt Disney or be Walt Disney. It’s extremely hard to do both and not worth it. You either gotta work for yourself or work for someone else. If you choose to work for someone else, you can’t be doing motion design at home. It’s too much and not healthy.
@@macaulayshaw3834 This is another discussion in itself but yeah, that passion work you love and do is not something you should be relying on to make you money. You should have a consistent method of cash flow before diving off into your own passions. I'm more saying, that passion you have for something can sometimes turn into money but really depending on what that is. In motion design what Ben is saying is totally viable but only if what you enjoy making is translatable into a clients work, in Ben's case yes but not in everyones case.
@@andydreadsbmx I understand and agree. But I felt it need explaining further and for people to understand how much power they have in the field. I think if you care more about the idea of your project , then you should hire people to create your vision. But if you care for technical then… it doesn’t matter what you do, because you enjoy making it. Even if it’s just a corporate explainer video.
I’m currently creating a business identity and portfolio. I just want to say that this is spot on with all the research I’ve been doing. Also, I want to take your class. Don’t know when. But I’m interested
