Ok so what I am I doing wrong in my career search…I realize this is not the correct forum but I had to try

[Del Holford]

[Todd George] “am I looking in the worng place (geographically, etc)
does my reel give the impression that my skill set is weak
is my reel suggesting that I have no specific skill at”

I don’t know why you moved to NE Ohio (is that like up in Ashtabula?) but you are not that far from the major market of Akron/Canton and Cleveland. Your reel is a bit limited with your strengths being 3D animation and compositing, according to what I saw on your reel. You might want to check with some of the production and post production facilities in those markets. Freelancing for those companies would get your foot in the door while paying the bills. You might have to do a lot of door knocking to find a couple facilities who need your skills on a freelance basis. Hopefully you like football so the Browns organization and the Hall of Fame might also be choices who could use your skillset. Your academic abilities probably won’t influence an employer as much as a killer reel, so you might add some projects, shorten the ones you have on there, and tighten it up so it moves a little faster.

Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television

[Ron Lindeboom]

Hey Todd,

Right off the bat — and I apologize if this seems too direct but I hope you can receive it in the spirit in which it is offered — the demo reel is just too long for what’s there. Tighten it up, a lot. Cut it down to no more than a minute, at most.

Get rid of the orange/yellow overlay that is there with your “Edited with Final Cut Pro” sequence. It is confusing and both Kathlyn and I watched it and were asking: “What is that and why is it there?”

Also, get rid of the names of the tools you use in each sequence. If you really want it there, drop it down to a much smaller size with the type over towards the lower righthand corner. As it is, it is just too distracting.

Pick your four or five best moments and open with those. Lay your name and phone number over those. Seeing your best, someone is more likely to want to call. Seeing your name over a basic animated texture in the background — especially when it is up there for so long — I am less likely to want to call.

Please forgive me if this seems too direct but these are my honest reactions to the reel, along with my suggestions for ways to make it far stronger.

Best,

Ron Lindeboom

[Shane Ross]

I agree with ROn on the demo. Shorten it up…just a few seconds of the graphics would be fine. Rock it out a bit too. And yes…PLEASE get rid of the “edited with FCP” and “Composited with Combustion.” We don’t need to know that. Too distracting. Blow them away with what you can do…let them ask “how did you do that?” when they talk to you.

Now…as for being OVERQUALIFIED…why do people see that as a BAD thing? TOO good at what you do for the job? They should be glad to have someone who can do that…and who needs a job. They’d rather settle for someone with lesser skills? That always amazed me…and is something I have seen quite a lot. Do they feel that because you are so good, that you will want more money than what they are offering? Must be.

YOu gotta tell them that you realize that your skills are more than they need, but that you will still be an asset to the company, and that the pay scale they are offering is good (if it is to your liking).

IMHO.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Timothy J. allen]

The last time we hired, we had tons of applications and ended up watching dozens of demo reels. To me, when hiring an editor, the reel is just as important as the resume. The other responses are spot on… you want the reel to leave them wanting to talk with you (in person) about how you actually did the work. I don’t care whether someone uses Final Cut, Avid or Media 100 to cut, but I do need to know that they can get up to speed on the equipment I have – without excuses.

As far as “overqualified” goes… we had several “overqualified” people apply at NASA the last time we hired. That tended to mean one or both of two things… Number 2 was that they were expecting WAY more money than our budget allowed. When they expected to get twice my salary coming in the door, I knew they just wouldn’t be happy with what we could really afford to pay them.

The other, which is probably more important, is that we needed someone who could be happy doing the “mundane” edits as well as the more “artistic” shows. I didn’t want to hire applicants who made it obvious that they would only be happy producing and editing extremely high end programs. They needed to fit in with the rest of our team, and be willing to pitch in at all levels.

Some of our applicants seemed to think that NASA was a place with hardly any deadlines, all the best equipment in the world, huge budgets and no “real” client pressures. Sorry to say, but that’s simply not true at any production facility that needs to sustain itself. We needed applicants that weren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and dive in, whether it’s an Emmy quality show or a quick-turnaround Video News Release B-roll reel. “Overqualified” was a term we used to try to say politely that they just probably wouldn’t fit in with the rest of the team. (Or if their ego seemed to be bigger than their reel, resume, or references justified.)

If anyone who applied at JSC last time we posted for jobs is reading this, I’m not talking about you… 😉

[Steve Wargo]

Short is good. I can see what I need to see in 90 seconds or less.

I also like to know what tools a person has experience with, but, a small discrete, text in a corner is all I need, like FCP, Combustion, AE, ProTools. Some put up a slate before starting with Name, Title, and Tools listed.

As for “Overqualified”, I am usually concerned that someone will be bored with 50% of what we actually do. Bored is bad.

[Todd Obernolte]

Todd,

I watched your reel. My first immediate thought was your strength is your 3d animation. I could be wrong but I have noticed a division in the employee market. It seems that 3d animators are their own thing. I don’t know of many video professionals that are strong 3d animators, if at all. If I were you I would start putting all my focus into 3d and build a new reel emphasizing that skill set. You might look into taking some graphic design classes and really get into typography play as well. Your obviously competent and experienced. Your just not capitilizing on your strengths.

Hope this was helpfull.
Best success to you.

[Mark Suszko]

Todd, you might consider doing forensic animations for legal firms. The pay will be pretty good. You will have to be able to use real physics in your kinematics though.

Forensic work is highly specialized, with somewhat formidable barriers to entry, but on the plus side, once you’re in there is no kid working in his mom’s basement undercutting you and stealing away the clients. Near as you are to some big cities, you should be able to find a connection to serve some law firms.

[Bob Cole]

Haven’t seen the reel, but to continue Mark’s suggestion to look outside the box, there are plenty of markets for 3d animators: video game designers, architects, planning commissions, engineering firms, and for that matter, documentary filmmakers.

Bob C

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[Mike Cohen]

if you have a master’s degree and have done teaching, and are overqualified for jobs you want, consider trying to get into production or creative management. Perhaps you would not be in the edit suite as often as the editor, but the pay is likely to be better.

Mike

[Gary Chvatal]

I think you hit part of the answer in your question…NE Ohio. When I lost my job in 2004 I couldn’t get an interview in NE Ohio. AS soon as I started looking in a broader geographic area I started getting action. Manufacturing companies continue to close in the area and that shrinks the market for many business to business suppliers. Population continues to leave Ohio and Michigan as people look for other opportunities.

I’m sure they are still opportunities in NE Ohio…but not as plentiful as other booming regions.

On the positive note…continue to network and talk with anybody about your skills. My first job was with a company that did not have a video facility but wanted to start one as they expanded. So it was not a job I could have applied for if I wanted to…and that was in Youngstown in the late 70s and during that period Youngstown was like a ghost town.