I recently updated my website (julianaaventurinidenyer.com), showreels and CV to apply for jobs and internships.

I started with my website. It really needed updating, there was a load of Fine Art out-of-date information. I decided to simplify and focus on animation-related jobs as they’re higher in my list of priorities (see blog post “Careers Options for the Near Future”). I concluded a structure with separate sections for stop motion, model / prop making and 2d animation works best.

On top of each animation section, you can see a link to the respective showreel. Also, information on some of the films I did in these techniques.

It’s more organised and more efficient to have separate showreels for stop motion and 2D, and you can direct the people to the work they’re interested in. I followed recommendations of lecturers and professionals of the industry to select the material for each showreel, CV and cover letters. I still must do some updates to address suggestions in Shaun’s lecture, which clarified topics not discussed by other people before. Also I have to get feedback from a visiting lecturer on my stop motion showreel.

I applied to an Assistant Animator job at Aardman, but obviously the competition is huge as sometimes they have like 600 applicants per position.

I’m also applying for internships, starting with the Arts and Grafts one. Let’s see what comes from those too. Obviously my chances in 2D animation are remote as most of the course I spent doing stop frame techniques.

I applied for a traineeship in Puppetry and Set Design too.

In the showreel event in CSM on the 13/6 I particularly want to talk to Strange Beast, as they are a producing company, and being linked to them would be handy in being a freelancer director/animator.

Also updating CV, showreel, website etc. is useful as I want to apply to the In-Studio Stop Motion course with Aardman Academy (https://academy.aardman.com/),  and they form part of the application. I went to their online open day in Zoom recently. For that I need also to make a little “pitch” with information of the film I want to do in their course. Not sure I have time for this before their deadline for this year.

They also have a Stop Motion Character Animation training course in Aardman studios to help people produce portfolios to make them visible to the global industry. The application also requires CV and showreel, although I’m not convinced doing this course would replace redoing to improve the exercises I did in their former courses.

I have business cards from specific films and more generic ones. Must keep the film specific to a minimum, as after some time their picture is old news. More generic ones are more practical as their pictures hopefully shouldn’t get dated.