Animation Relaxation 

Friday 9th November 2018 – Showreels talk – Week 7

Kris Kelly is the Managing Director at Belfast based game and animation studio Enter Yes.

http://www.enteryes.com/

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Enter Yes Ltd. was established in Belfast 2014 to produce mature high end animation and visual effects for film and documentary within a growing global market. Since its UK incorporation Enter Yes Ltd. has generated over £1.6 million of sales and funding within the animation, visual effects and Video Games industry. During 2018 Enter yes opened its first non UK based headquarters on Parnell street, Dublin, however its main operations, HQ and studio talent remain UK based on Donegall Street, Belfast.

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At Enter Yes we focus solely on understanding and dealing with mature, emotional and sensitive content. We create completing and profound and rich visual journeys at the highest of industry standards. This experience and focus has allowed us to articulate and discuss sensitive and completing animation efficiently and effectively and allows us produce award winning sequences that strive to reach audiences in the most captivating manor.  Our studio resources, recruitment strategy and internal art team allow us to build and maintain teams that suit the project regardless of medium, platform or subject. All artists at Enter Yes Ltd.  become part of the Enter Yes ethos and culture tasks where we overlap responsibilities allowing for consistent results with an ever maturing and changing team.

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Enter Yes Showreel:

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The Talk "How best to create your Showreel and the methods of presenting it in the best way:

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What to do and what not to do to in owning a company after 7 years of experience from Kris Kelly and how to get ready for placement year and going on interviews:

Be Impressive in interviews create an impact and leave with a good impression on the interviewer or potential employer and on good terms just because you don't get the job doesn't mean there won't be another opportunity down the road and this can be used as a way to introduce yourself and get your foot in the door. Have a positive, outgoing and friendly attitude.

Enter yes has won the Grason award and worked with the BBC  to  produce a documentary and won an award for doing so.

His opinion for taking different routes in the pipeline:

Show the creative processes you use and create from scratch and having a strict narrative to follow or tell a story so that is is interesting and it flows well and can be followed easily.

 

You have to work from clients specification and have to follow instructions to the letter which can be tough and stressful and you can sometimes be told to work from scratch and start a project all over again if you don't create what  they are looking for which can be frustrating and time consuming also it may result in you not getting paid.

He worked on the film Looper, creating VFX and designing the futuristic environments and special effects like creating futuristic aspects and models to improve the films aesthetics and to make the environments and scenes more immersive and detailed.

Learn to Ask questions  and learn to ask the right questions to get the right answers. Ask about working with people in the industry and experiences and how to fix or resolve problems or how they refine or improve their workflow and take notes and try to apply this to your own projects and work.

Make sure to go with and only work on approved scripts instead of being left behind or having to backtrack and redo work from the start as it can be very time consumed and demoralising.

Keep on-top of your work and try to do on-going refinements to develop it to higher standard trying to be more professional but don't waste time bad work as it will just come across as a polished  turd.

There can be no gaps/ holes in your work everything  needs to have evidence and reasoning behind it otherwise it is pointless and no one will know what it is you are try to do or what is occurring in front of them.

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Branching/networking: Discuss and share your solutions to problems solving and it will make it easier to work and help build your teaching and communicate skills and help you when interacting with with others. 

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Advise for animated shorts : Stick to one thing that you are trying to convey do not jump around focus on a single story , character or narrative and do not deviant from them other wise it will be come to jumbles and disjointed making it to hard to follow and people will get lost and lose interest very easily as they have a very short attention span and are very busy so they want you to get to the point as quick as possible.

Create your own Sound music and sound tracks: It you should branch out and even try to collaborate with people in the music industry to try to develop specific pieces and music for your work they will benefit both parties with recognition and how they contributed to the project. Demonstrating the different ways you worked together showing your attitude and interest in going one step further, showing your determination and drive and illustrating the levels of depth and detail you have went into and the time you have invested into the project you have went into to produce your very own animation/short. Don't have too may arches or story branches as it needs to be short and sweet with points of focus to grab attention and focus but don't bombard it is supposed to be in a short time window.

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Storyboarding : Use small post it notes and design them for that small size and format to convey the basic of movements and or narrative of the the whole or complete story before going in to detail.

Use quick sketches to convey loose ideas and development.  Make sure your grammar is correct and you use punctuation in your work so it can be read easily and so it is more professional.  Give it a read over or ask someone else to look at it to see if they can spot any errors so you can make any amendments or fix them.  Make any changes or edits to the narrative in the early stages don't leave it to late. Look and imagine what you are try to create along with the  feelings and emotions you are trying to show and create.

The character Arch should be about an emotional Journey/ displaying strong relationships and should revolve around a pivotal event with a strong driven narrative.

900,00 thumbnails is what a full film is composed off.

80-90 thumbnails is what a short or show reel should is consist off.

Draw up storyboard from post-it notes add more detail a an ongoing refinements, but keep the work or take pictures of the post it notes for reference and backtracking. Get authorisation to edit and alter things as you many  need permission first.  The work needs to be clear, flow well and be easily understandable. At the early stages you should be embarrassed by the quality of work but continue refining it to see what works and what does not and what you can produce and see the development in your work as it will be divided into stages.

Tone down your ego while working with others, this will help you greatly in the industry. Don’t brag and try not to make simple mistakes as it makes you seem unprofessional, don't hide from employers or avoid showing your work.

Animatic editors block in shots in their portfolio and develop each scene shot for shot and make sure it blends seamlessly and the sound and timing is all correct etc.

In the later stages a project will be locked down and will be split up into profiles and shots that is required for each scene. 

 

Ask set questions like what is the  budget and don't waste valuable time time making mistakes at the end do it early on and then fix or amend them before setting them in stone.

Get over it not everything needs to be perfect you have a limited short amount of time to spend  on specific things alot time frames for each process and if you have time come back to it later  to refine and develop the work further. 

Try your best to create Abstract work that is different and unique be different– find what works and looks cool and run with it, do what you like and enjoy and show it will show in the work. You don’t have to reinvent yourself just find what works for you personally.

Look at and be critical with duality, colour, style, connectivity, flow, and get responses and take feedback as advisement to refine and fine tune your stuff and be honest with yourself.

Look at perspective of characters and creating mighty Heroes/Villains and it is only from there perspective that they are classified as such.

You may need to create logo for CV cover letter and try to create contact business cards so you are easily identifiable and make them so they stand out and are memorable. 

Be critical of your work and abilities be realistic in what you can achieve.

Do use honesty about waste time and money try to connect to the project and create the aesthetic within the previsualisation of project.

This bit can be done by using your best storyboard images and bringing them to final production standards.

Be flexible in what you can do diversify your skills and your portfolio.

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Technical/creative side:

Try to get down to the nitty gritty and find out how things work like the nuts and bolts, break down shots and work like character development.

Look at :Times magazine, 2D to 3D and other sources and reading material help and better your workflow and enhance your skills and produce alternative methods to solve problems, which may save time

2D Animation takes forever and budget needs to be really high and costs a fortune and takes a really long time takes 1-2 years to complete.

Standards and quality in scene work have to be sign off on before Storyboard is finalised.

Look at David O’Reilly, cartoon birds as they are provocative and induce a reaction and works this into his projects.

http://www.davidoreilly.com/the-external-world/

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Mental ray plug in for Maya doesn't work anymore use alternative renderers like V-Ray, Arnold and Redshift.

Create and get involved in discussions with peers and online on everything, colour, style, quality and technical aspects etc.

Be Really pedantic with character and details and your work overall this will help you find any issues or problems or spot any abnormalities or warped textures. This will come in hand down the line.

Illustrations:

Studio workflow know how they work and what software they are using and learn when to cut off and stop working when enough is enough don't over work it. Know when to assign an d prioritise while managing your  time for specific things,

Like and follow other artists and their work and try to contact and converse over with people and try using new materials along with setting time scales and budgets.  Divide up workload, characters, blue prints and editing in groups as this is what will happen in the industry and this will give you practice.

Somebody always needs to be in charge in a group but it is not a dictatorship nor a democracy or else nothing would get done and no decisions would be made somebody needs to take the lead and drive the project.

Only have small time frame in which to produce the work. Try to get rest and complete the job to the best of your ability or to the specification. The boss / client  determines if your work is good or bad or it if needs more work if you are told it is bad you will most likely snowball out of control and begin to feel overwhelmed, crushed and demoralised.

Travel get to see the world don't stay local forever broaden your horizon's and experience and learn about other cultures.

Don’t be software agnostic find new and creative ways to solve problem like using alternative programmes and become fluent in them which may help to streamline and quicken on certain process or aspects of your work flow.

Respect what you are doing and give it the time and attention it deserves. Don’t alter or change other peoples stuff without permission be respectful to those around you and their contributions too the group as you need connections and people who want and can work with to get projects done on time and up to a high standard. It is to easy to point the finger at people blaming them for any problems try not to do this or bitch about people notify someone about the circumstances or write it up in a peer review do not be aggressive confront them directly try to encourage and help them see the errors in their ways so that they can adapt develop and change making them better.

Stay focused five days can become five weeks of work and you have to be prepared for this also there may be setbacks like loss or corrupted work that you may need to redo or there may be problems that will arise that may mean you might need to redo or fix some of your work be sure to set time aside for this and don't leave it to the last minute.

Look at environment compositions while listening to colour that have been used and the effect this creates and the reasoning behind this is it the definition of line or the thickness of the strokes or the type of brush or filter that has been used to create a desired effect or is it done accidentally and why or how can it be alter changed or fixed.

Other things to consider moving objects and water have to be layered up in alternations or in several different layers or filters for many different  reasons so you can end up with multiple different versions some will work and others will not. Catalogue this and use it to show and progress enhancing your work and to speed up certain processes.

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Be in early for work being punctual, reliable and consistent with easy going attitude or personality. Be self motivated and passionate about what you are doing and in life in general.

As you will need certain types of people to get everything to work and it helps to be friendly and nice when asking for help and feedback.

Don’t be a dick and use  your skill set to diversify and work on ways you can improve or compliment production.

It is a hard setting and work enviornment in most of the jobs so don’t burn bridges in the industry.  Don’t tell someone that they piss you off try to vent your problems into something else or outside work, try taking up a sport or an activity where you can release your stresses.

Some people will like your stuff and others will not – stick to your own personal style and what works for you work on cleaning and tidying work so that it looks fine tuned and polished. Find your own passions and what  interests you and run with it.

Become self taught and be prepared to learn new software at the drop of a hat for some projects may require it. Learn this software in a week along with the tips and techniques used to hone your skills making you seem like you have an idea or some sort of understanding of how it works and ways to produce work.

Learn to ask the right questions and how to search and find the correct answers and learn how to use google correctly when searching for things and how.  

 

Careers: There are lots of opportunities but be realistic with what stuff you achieve or accomplish here in Belfast as opposed to travelling abroad or worldwide. Do both technical and creative work covering both aspects and channels when going for employment.

The larger companies abroad need bigger staff and workers for the media they produce but local industries can be quite small and  spacious or really cramped but places like England and elsewhere abroad are better for developing professional skills and mantras for your work.

Be flexible between the two types try working locally and then going abroad once you feel ready or your skills are adequate.

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Connect with people in different areas and work in partnership to both learn and teach others, try to work in pre-production and post production to widen your scope as there is more than one aspect you may be required to do for your job to be successful.

Don’t make work saturated try to be different and unique while keeping it interesting and make yourself approachable give out your contact info so people can ask you about your work using social media or email.

Placement pay can vary in earnings from zero to £20 an hour or you could work as an intern getting money only for coffee and money but you will still be working and learning so discount it as potential employment or an opportunity to learn. Pay is determined by work flow and your specialism and with the amount of projects you are working on and weigh in on this all depends on a companies supply and demand and how many projects are on the go and the staff they have.Some needs to be set aside for essential things like food , heating, rent and other essentials to keep the company running they also have to set and save money for funding and projects.

Depends on productions and specialism and company.

Learn Nuke to get any job in the industry with VFX.

Be realistic in specialising – don’t corner yourself in the market try to work in more than one area.

Kris pulled in over £2 million in his company – don't get disappointing if you get reject at the start keep trying until you get your break and seize it and make the most of it and try to use it as a stepping stone that will lead on to other and better things.

Timing – stay focused in and out of work keep being determined and strive in producing high quality work.

Numbers don’t mean anything – show passion for work and get known and make a name for your self in the community and the industry.

There can be fucked up schedules occasionally working 72 hours straight to meet strict deadlines wrapping up work or finalising projects before forwarding the work on.

Use Pointers as it is the best way for showing smoke.  Dedicate your life and time to your work and find enjoyment and passion in what you are doing.

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Reflection:

Kris Kelly showcased his companies showreel which is above and he explained how it was made and how to create the visual aesthetics that was used. It was done by overlaying thousands of filters and layers in Photoshop and by overlaying and using multi-shaders / textures that overlap one and other and using some VFX to produce the final animation. The information on team leaders i found as really heavily relatable  as i feel like i am always having to take the brunt of the work  or having to take on a leadership or a higher responsibility and the initiative otherwise nothing would get complete dedicating more time and my free time to complete and finish work when others had given up weeks ago. I also find myself having to redo alot of other peoples work as it is done incorrectly or doesn't work in the scene or other problems like having a bad topology and stuff which would impact the scene and the render times down the road. The problem i have is that they are not learning and they don't try to help or change their stuff they are content in producing mediocre work where as i want to try to do my best. 

 Kris explained that if this was in his company those people would be fired or let go and someone like myself in the leadership role would be promoted and would be more likely to be hired than the others. They would also be paided a higher salary as they are doing more than just their own work they are doing other peoples work as well. This is because they can manage by themselves and are organised and can coordinate and communicate instructing others or completing bodies of work or projects by themselves independently while being composed and and focused working towards deadlines.