More interview work

For this round of mock interviews we chose a company and position to apply for. I chose an environment artist position at Creative Assembly. To prepare for the interview stage I researched the company and thought of some possible questions I may be asked. We also had to think of questions to ask the other members of our group.

My interview:
There were a few reasons why I picked the Creative Assembly environment job. Firstly the job did not ask for much experience so it may be achievable with where I am at currently. It asks for "proven experience" however this is ideal and since it is not a senior position I feel that it could be an achievable goal. Second, it was a job working on the total war games. Although I did not have much idea what these games were about when I first saw the job, research let me to see they were RTS history style games and this was very interesting to me. I have always had a love of history so the process of researching designs for each asset in the scene would have been of great interest to me. In addition, I have never worked on an RTS game before. This may not work in my favour as the company can not see much experience in the area but to me it seems like a nice change and a challenge compared to what I am used to.

Others interviews:
When thinking of what questions to ask the other members of my group I had to look at the job roles as well. This helped with my own ability to pick apart a job advertisement as well as helped me think of what kind of questions I may be asked in future interviews as well. Here is an example of one of the other job roles my group applied for.

This particular role is for Double Negative meaning its not so focused on the games industry. Its a good chance to see where else skills can be transferred and used in case getting a job in the games industry proves too difficult. When picking apart this job to ask questions I focused on what the advert was asking for. Some quick things to ask about would be...

- Knowledge of Linux? If not, ability to adapt?

- Knowledge of NURBS modelling?

- Explanation of some team projects worked on?

- Why do you want the job? (Find out motivation and passion)

- Knowledge of company

- Worked in films before?

- Favourite part of process? (to try and find out if attention to detail is key or if prefers to quickly model basic shapes)

- Main strenagths and weaknesses?

CV Writing

One important aspect of my plan for getting into the industry is to have a well presented CV. I already had a CV but it was not tailored to the games industry and had a lot of information that was not needed, such as a breakdown of GCSEs and school education, so I decided to create a new, better formatted version.

This is my first draft. I will update as I complete more projects, gain more experience and when I have had feedback on this draft.

UPDATE: 03/12/2014
When looking back at this CV from a later date I can see that the header section could be clearer and there are a few titles I would like to change so this is a revised version. I have assumed that I have passed the degree and am applying for jobs after.

Blockout Showreel

The next step was to being making a blockout showreel. I began by making start and end cards with contact details and information on them. I went for a simple, easy to read style. I also included the programmes used, contact details and year of showreel for future reference.

I then took this title card and the alpha stage cinematic from my Advanced 3D project into Premiere to being my blockout showreel. I also used still images of concept art that shows what kind of scenes I want to put into my showreel. I added arrows and basic camera shapes to try and show how I want the cameras to move around the scene.

ReneAigner. (2013). Mana Cycle:Forest Scene. Available: http://reneaigner.deviantart.com/art/Mana-Cycle-Forest-Scene-356898033?offset=10#comments. Last accessed 13/12/2014.

Yellomice. (2013). Sci-fo doodie 2. Available: http://yellomice.deviantart.com/art/sci-fi-doodie-2-363085384. Last accessed 13/12/2014.

My blockout showreel can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1lcTG_W0wY&feature=youtu.be

Having a portfolio website

I decided to quickly create a blank portfolio website which I can then fill with images and work that I create over the coming years. I chose to use a free website creation service for now due to limited funds but as time progresses I can change and upgrade my website. I made sure to pick a website that supported both computer and mobile viewing and aim to create a site that looks good on both devices. The website simply has place holders and blank areas now and I aim to put my finished work from other modules in as well as blockouts for future projects. The screenshots below show progress from when I was editing the website.

(PC view)

(Mobile view)

(Portfolio page)

I went with a fairly simple design with a non-distracting background. The art can easily be seen at a higher resolution by clicking on each image and an overview of each piece can be seen in the portfolio gallery. This makes it easier for viewers to find a piece they are interested in besides scrolling through an entire page.

My showreel

I drew up a quick mock-up storyboard of how I want my showreel to appear. I took inspiration from various other showreels and the tips I'd learnt from my research.

I wanted to showcase only environments and specialise the portfolio that way but still show a variety of skills so I will be including a variety of scenes. These will incorporate both natural and hard-surface models to show I can adapt to any situation and have base skills in all areas. I will have a simple start and end title screen of the same theme and font to tie the showreel together. The next stage is to create simple blockouts in Maya of how I want these environments to look so I can then quickly get started on the projects at a later date. I will also need to look into what music (if any) to use and do a more detailed breakdown video of the showreel

Image references:
http://www.aie.edu.au/TreeTrunkPresentation.jpg
http://www.feellikehome.cn/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Court-of-the-Lions-at-the-Alhambra-palace-in-Granada-Spain.jpg
http://www.orgchm.bas.bg/~kaneti/al342.jpg
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/059/c/6/mana_cycle__forest_scene_by_reneaigner-d5whka9.jpg
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/092/e/6/sci_fi_doodie_2_by_yellomice-d6066h4.jpg

Analysing Showreels

I began to look at making a blockout showreel for myself. Before beginning I thought it would be best to look at what is out there and what makes a good showreel. I began by looking at various showreels from other environment artists and critiquing them.

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5tsURn1QH8

Good points:
Shows a variety of work
Good resolution screenshots
Simple music in background
Professional text style
Contact and software details at the end

Bad points:
Zooming in of pictures crops edges and does not allow a detailed look around all the models
All still images, no camera flythroughs or turntables
Appears some of the work is of different quality - "a portfolio is only as good as the worst piece in it"

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0cNYJCvrp4

Good points:
Nice screenshots and dynamic fly-throughs
Has footage from in-game
Music affect showreel - simple music and images and videos (especially afer 36 second mark) change with the beat making it a nice piece to watch

Bad points:
I feel some of the images and fly-overs go past too quickly just to fit in with the music. I would have liked to see some more close ups or more time showing each individual environment.
The camera moves very fast in some of the video clips

After looking at various showreels and researching a few interviews with industry professionals I have come up with a list of what I aim to include in my showreel.

1) Length - 1-2 minutes - any longer and the employee may get bored watching or simply skip to the end and miss good work which leads on to my second point...

2) Put the best work first and last - begin and end with interesting and great work, this will grab attention at the start and give something memorable at the end

3) Show various shots of the work - also add in wire frames, details about what areas you worked on and software used as well as a possible breakdown. All this will help an employee see your skills.

4) Specialise - don't put character work on an environment portfolio, especially if its bad character work. Generalising is not always a good thing if you're non-preferred work is bad. If its put on a portfolio you feel it is good enough and the best of your ability.

5) Add transitions between frames - cutting between images and videos quickly and suddenly is not always nice to watch and transitions will make the showreel feel more fluid.