Secrets of Independent Film Finance Revealed

How do you finance an independent animated feature film? And what is Gap Finance? If you are trying to raise funds for a movie, gap finance is something you need to understand. In brief, it's the point in the funding process where you bridge the gap between what you have been promised, and what you actually have in the bank to start making your picture. At the European Media Forum Closing the Gap, Ian Hutchinson of Silver Reel partners explained what Gap Finance is, and how it actually works.

The Jobs Map for Animation, Visual Effects and Games

Where are the jobs?

Finding work in the animation and visual effects industry isn't easy, especially getting that vital, elusive first job. Sometimes it seems like every vacancy is advertised for professionals with 2-3 years of experience, which means that finding your first gig can feel like a catch-22. You can't find a job without experience, you can get experience until you find a job. So what is the secret to finding work in these most competitive but most rewarding of industries?

How Do You Get Your First Book Published?

A good animator is also a storyteller, and it's not unusual for animators to be writers, graphic novelists, or illustrators of children's books. But how do you get your work published? The good news is, it has never been easier to get into print. The bad news is, the economics of publishing have never been worse for both publishers and writers. Plus, writing a whole book is going to be a major effort, so you don't want to waste your time on something that no-one wants to read. So what is secret to success? Like so many things in media, what you need is a great pitch. Below is our simple guide to getting it right and ensuring that a good publisher will (hopefully) pick up your first book.

Animation Apprentice featured in 3D Artist Magazine

In this month's copy of VFX industry Magazine 3D Artist, in issue No 71, Animation Apprentice founder Alex Williams offers his Tips and Tricks for a faster animation workflow in Maya. How can an animator work smart and fast, maintaining quality while at the same time being fast and efficient?

Steve Burch Uncovers the Mysteries of Producing Animation

Animation Producer Steve Burch

Animation Producer Steve Burch recently gave an excellent talk on Producing Animation, aimed at students hoping to start up their own small businesses and take on commercial freelance jobs. What are the challenges involved in successfully bidding on, winning - and delivering - a freelance animation job?

Rocketseed - a short film animated by students at Animation Apprentice

Earlier this year students at Animation Apprentice worked on their first freelance commercial project: Rocketseed Email Solutions. Rocketseed is a tech company that offers clickable email banners, with built-in analytics so that a company's email can become an important marketing tool.

Timo Vuorensola, Director of Iron Sky, Explains How to Crowd Finance Your Feature Film

Timo Vuorensola, director of Iron Sky, gave a lecture at Closing The Gap, a European conference on film financing, explaining how to crowd fund an independent feature film. Iron Sky was initially funded through online sources, and later on secured more conventional funding on the back of the crowd-sourced contributions. Timo explained how he pulled off such an ambitious and successful project by starting an online fan base to help make his film.

Animation Apprentice Student Becomes Freelance Animator at Nano Films

Pete Nicholson is a student at Animation Apprentice who has been working on live briefs for commercial clients, doing short films under the banner of our mini film co-operative Nano Films. Last year he worked on Rocketseed, a short film for a global email marketing company, and is now working on The Float Folks, an intro/teaser for a brand new TV series for children. We asked Pete to talk about what it was like starting off as a freelance animator.

Cartoon Brew's new jobs page

Cartoon Brew has long been the most-visited blog for animation news, but just recently they have expanded their remit to include jobs as well. Nowadays graduates need to focus more time and effort than ever in the course of finding that elusive first job in the industry, and part of this involves keeping an eye closely on the jobs advertised online. To find the jobs page at Cartoon Brew, visit this page: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/site-news/introducing-the-cartoon-brew-job-board-102640.html

Nickelodeon Announces 2014 Student Animated Shorts Program

Nickelodeon has announced their 2014 Student Animated Shorts Program, and the deadline for submission is Monday Sept 15th. You don't have to pitch a finished film, just an idea in concept. You will need an idea, characters, a setting, a story, and some storyboards. This is an opportunity to have your idea for a TV series picked up by a major US network - time to sharpen your pencils and start brainstorming.

Animation Apprentice Graduate Giuseppe Candido lands job with The Play Studio

Animation Apprentice graduate Giuseppe Candido has landed a job with The Play Studio, a London based creative design agency specialising in motion graphics across multiple media platforms. Giuseppe starts soon as a Junior Visualiser, working the The Pillbox, a creative hub in East London.

Animation Apprentice founder Alex Williams talks about his work on Harry Potter

Animation Apprentice founder Alex Williams worked on the last three Harry Potter films, while employed at the London VFX house Cinesite, in London's Soho. We asked him to talk about what he did on this very popular films series which help to transform the scale and quality of visual effects work being done here in the UK.

Good news for London - Sarah Smith introduces Locksmith Animation

Good news for animators in the UK! A new studio is coming to town, bringing with it the prospect of jobs, creative success, and - at last - a proper animation studio in London. In this interview a few days ago at awn.com, Locksmith Animation founder and director Sarah Smith talks about her new animation venture, which is backed by London VFX house Double Negative, and supported by entrepreneur Elizabeth Murdoch.

What Skills do 3D Modelers Need to find work in the VFX Industry?

3D render for Bombay Sapphire gin

What Skills do 3D Modelers Need to find work in the VFX Industry? We talked to Royston Wilcox, who heads up the modelling department at Cinesite in Soho, one of London's leading VFX houses. Royston and I worked together on many projects at Cinesite, including Underdog, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Marmaduke. He explained what skills are needed by aspiring 3D modelers who hope to find work in visual effects and build a successful career. 

Golden Street Animation - How to Found Your Own Animation Company

Golden Street Productions was founded by Scott Petersen in 2009

In this 2013 interview at our sister blog FLiP, Scott Petersen, the founder of Golden Street Animation, talks about the perils and pitfalls of setting up his own independent animation company. What are the obtacles to going it alone? And what should anyone hoping to set up their own independent animation business do to make a success of it?

How to Get The Taxman to Finance Your Independent Animated Feature Film

Anyone who has tried to raise money for a film project knows that this can be the hardest part of the whole enterprise. Yes, you may have a great idea, but finding the money needed to bring it to life is no easy task. For anyone in the UK trying to finance an independent film (and every self-respecting animator has a story in them somewhere) - a working knowledge of how the system works is pretty much essential. Sure, you will need a producer to help you out, but knowledge is power, so you need to get educated. One of the best ways to finance your film is called EIS - and it is an excellent way to get the taxman to help pay for your project.

What have our students said about Animation Apprentice?

Spreading The Word

What have our students said about Animation Apprentice? We think we're the best place in the world to study animation, offering the best quality training for the most competitive price. But don't just take our word for it - read what our students have said about our animation course.

What Questions Should You Ask the Client on Your First Freelance Animation Job?

What questions should you ask a client when you start work on your first freelance job - or indeed any freelance job? It's your job as a professional to keep everything on track and deliver what you promised.

All projects start off full of optimism and excitement, but the scope for misunderstanding is great, and the risk of things going wrong is considerable.

So it's worth asking the right questions up front, to ensure that the job goes well and your happy client comes back for more. Below is a list of useful questions to get you started.

When Should You Use the World Control to Animate in Maya?

When Should You Use the World Control to Animate in Maya? The short answer is: "never". But, as with most rules, there are exceptions.

Since this is an area of some confusion for animators learning to to use Maya, here's a brief outline of what the rules of World Control Etiquette really are.

So, what is the world control anyway?

The Demo Reel of Animation Apprentice graduate Benn Garnish

Animation Apprentice graduate Benn Garnish has gone to do some impressive visual effects animation on many films, his most recent being The Fast and The Furious 6. Benn has done high level work on many feature films, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Thor, The Dark World, and Prince of Persia.

Animation Number One at UK Box Office

According to a piece in yesterday's Telegraph, animated films are now the UK's favourite, taking in as much of a fifth of all box office revenues. In 2013 animation became the top-grossing film genre at UK cinemas, making almost £250million, a fifth of total box office takings. This is good news for animators, and good news for us at Animation Apprentice. After all, we're aiming to be the best place in the world to learn animation, training our students to be the very best at this rapidly growing and flourishing medium.