LAUAN502, Study Task 8 (Contract)

 

Study Task 8- Contract

For the second part of study task 8, I started to research a professional freelancers agreement to work contract. Looking at free templates online, I took the relevant information needed and put this into my own contract. To go along with the 'agreement to work contract', I also created a invoice. I think both these documents are clear and easy to read. It needs to be clear so the employer can clearly understand what you are asking for.  Doing this study task made me open my eyes to the possibilities of paid freelance work. During this year, I did my first commission of designing a tattoo for an individual. I took it as a non-paid job as I was not aware that my work is professional and that I am able to charge for the work I am completing.  

LAUAN502, Study Task 2

Study Task 2 

I took this study task as an opportunity to look at animation studios and the jobs that are available within an working studio that I would be interested in.

The first Studio I come across was: Little Motel motion Studio 

The Little Motel motion studio likes to keep their work simple with 'expressive animations', 'slick motion graphics' and films. This studio interests me because their work is commercial as they work for companies creating work mainly for adverts. The studios work is simple yet creative and I struggle with detailed animation as my timing needs improvement.

The second Studio I was interested in was: Disney Pixar

I decided to look at Disney Pixar because their job titles are very specific. My interest is mainly based around character or background design. This is where I came across the job for a Colour Key Artist. This was a big find for me because I have never seen this be a specific job for an individual in a small studio. A colour key artist is an artist that mainly focuses on the colour script of the each scene. This interests me because in the COP lessons I was exploring colour scripts and decided that colour was one of the subjects I could see myself enjoying. 

LAUAN502, Study Task 10

Study Task 10 

This is my showreel for the end of second year presentation. This is an improvement to my first year show reel as not only did I demonstrate the animation I have been involved in this year so far, but I was able to get the right balance of showing backgrounds designs for the modules throughout this year. This was important for me to showcase my background designs because this is what I aim to do when I finish the animation course. What I could improve about this showreel is making it clear what part I had in some of the work done in my showreel, as I should credit the work done by not only myself but the other people involved. 

LAUAN502, Study Task 5

Study Task 5 

As I start to think about posting my work onto social media it was important for me to consider copyright. I wanted to consider my options for copyright because I wanted to know what attempts I could use to protect my work so individuals can not steal my work as their own or use my work to be paid themselves.

 I started by re-reading the powerpoint from the lesson and choosing what copyright options would be best for me. This was the first copyright option that could of worked for me. This allows individuals to use my work in a commercial and non-commercial way however, I would have to be credited in their use of my work. This is a good option for me because sometimes you are unable to take action when someone has stolen your work. This copyright choice allows people to use and take your work for their free use as long as I am credited for the use of my work.

After looking at that option I realised that individuals would be able to possibly get paid for the use of my work and for my name to only be credited. I found this an unfair advantage as the work would purely be mine and I do not think someone else should be paid for the work you have completed unless it is under contract. This copyright option was my solution. This allows a individual to download or share my work however, they are unable to use my work in a commercial way or gain a paid recognition for the work they did not design or make. This option keeps my work more protected as people are unable to claim or change my work into their own and I will seek full credit for what I have designed.

After considering both these options, I decided to look into watermarks. Although this idea is effective and does what it is designed to do, I think this ruins the aesthetic look of my designs and I do not think this is an option I would be willing to use to protect my work as I want people to be able to view my work without a watermark over the top of the design.

LAUAN502, Study Task 3

Study Task 3 

For this task we was meant to do a SWOT analysis on ourselves and then for another peer in our class to fill it out for us. Unfortunately I was not very well during this lesson and did not attend. Due to this issue,  I did not get a peer review for my SWOT analysis. This for me has turned into a negative as throughout this course I have found it helpful to understand how other individuals may view me. This helps me because I am able to communicate with my peers and we are able to give each other advice when struggling with the negatives and how, as individuals, we can turn negatuves into positives in the future. 

For my personal SWOT analysis, I mentioned about the level of my confidence. Throughout the University year we have been given the opportunity to present our work in front of the class and have completed peer reviews for feedback. This has helped me to gain confidence in becoming more comfortable with talking about my work. Which means I am able to gain advice off of other individuals and improve my quality of work. 

What was good about my personal review was my clear knowledge about my strengths and the opportunities that I may have, to improve my weaknesses and strengthen my positives. It is important for me to gain a better understanding of my strengths so I am able to take these skills forward when dealing with my negatives. To gain more confidence in myself and my work, I plan to use social media sites to post my work and designs or sketches I do at least twice a week. This will help me to gain confidence in showing my work to individuals that necessarily do not know me. As well as gaining confidence this will lead into becoming more confident in exploring different mediums and improving on my weaknesses. 

LAUAN502, Study Task 4

Study Task 4 

The ten best networking opportunities for me that I found are: 

One 

Manchester Animation Festival

Two 

Leeds Young Film Festival  

Three 

Animex Festival of Animation and Computer Games.


I chose three festivals I would be the most interested in entering my work into. The festivals are my three choices when choosing the best networking opportunities for me. As festivals are a good way to get your work shown as people are able to view your work and may even go away talking about it. As well as entering your work into the festivals; festivals are also a good form of networking as professionals often talk about their work to a crowd at the events. After these events you are able to approach the professionals and introduce yourself.

Four 

 Creating updated blogs and social media accounts where I can post pictures and videos of my work.

Five 

Entering competitions online such as, LoopdeLoop or character design challenge on Facebook.

Six 

Creating business cards and asking to display them in cafes and to have them on hand for when I'm in a professional situation.

Seven 

Joining a animation group that meet up and present work to each other. This is a positive network opportunity as you are able to discuss and gain ideas from other animations that may be in the same situation as you. Found on the website: https://www.meetup.com/topics/animation/gb/17/london/

Eight 

Arranging my own meet-ups with different designers and animators so we can talk and discuss our work. 

Nine 

Join a club within the university to get into contact with other design students that I could collaborate with. 

Ten 

Create an LinkedIn account as an online portfolio. 

My LinkedIn Account 

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/?trk=nav_back_to_linkedin

LAUAN502, Study Task 8

Study Task 8 

To start my research on becoming a working freelancer, I first thought about what my main subject would be when doing commissions. I am more interested in the preproduction side of animation and mainly focus my attention onto the design part of the course. My commission will mainly be based around paid work for storyboard designs, background designs, character designs, and colour scripts.  I am very unaware of how much I would charge for my work, as I do not have any experience when freelancing. I researched online a job of a freelancer and what a freelancer would  charge day to day or for one design. I came across this website:  https://static.a-n.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Guidance_on_fees_and_day_rates_for_visual_artists_2018.pdf. This PDF document explains what a freelancer should charge based on their experience level. Within the PDF it shows a chart of the prices: 

Even though I think this table is a fair set price for freelancers to use as it based on experience and the type of finished work the freelancer would be able to complete, I would consider charging the individual or company based on how many hours the design took me to do. I would charge by the hours as it may be a simple design that could only take a couple hours; therefore charging a person for the whole day would be wrong. 

LAUAN502, Study Task 9 (part three)

 

Study Task 9 (part three)

The final subject I researched was about market analysis in a freelance company. I used the website: https://easternpeak.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-freelance-marketplace-like-upwork-and-keep-it-competitive/?fbclid=IwAR37E4v8Fs1wdkTEqVHA8fUQVDmRNk-kRYPaoJED3BAbCbdowANAXIFshUs . I started by researching what our target audience would be as a collective; I came to the conclusion that our target audience would be: freelancers looking for guidance when trying to find work and companies looking to find freelancers. 

As well as looking at target audience, I started thinking about what our collective could bring to individuals that other companies do not offer. Cara came up with the idea of having memberships. We chose to do memberships because this offers our customers the opportunity to gain more help or to pick the membership that offers them the package they need. The packages all cost different amounts and there is even a 'free' option. We decided to do it colour ordered because not everyone will be able to start off on an expensive plan if they are a new freelancer, so offering the customer a variety of choices demonstrates that we have the customers best interests and we are here to satisfy their needs. 

These memberships consists of: the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum packages. 

• Bronze is free and offers the customer the ability to contact up to 5 clients per week,  upload up to 2 pieces of work per week, Can talk to the staff at the studio for an queries or help.

• Silver costs twelve pounds and offers the customer the ability to contact up to 25 clients per week, upload up to 10 pieces of work per week, can contact staff at any time for any query or help.

• Gold is twenty pounds and offers the customers the ability to upload up to 20 pieces of work, to contact up to 35 clients per week, access up to 5 online classes, can talk to the staff at the studio for an queries or help.

• Platinum costs twenty-five pounds and the offers the customer the ability to contact up to as many clients as you want, upload as many pieces of work as you want, unlimited access to online classes, V.I.P treatment when trying to contact us.

LAUAN502, Study Task 9 (part two)

 

Study Task 9 (part two)

To set up and organzine the presentation, as well as working as a group, we also set separate tasks so we could go away a research certain topics. I researched studio spaces the collective could rent out within the Leeds and Manchester area and researching market analysis in a freelance company. As well as researching the studio spaces, I was also in charge of the atheistic design of the presentation and putting parts of it together, and lastly setting up the Instagram account for our collective. The whole presentation consisted of seven slide. Within these seven slides we covered: What our company does, What skills and services we have to offer individually and as a group, Market analysis in a freelance company, What form our showcase will take, Final considerations, What media we will use, and how we will manage communication through the group.  

When looking at physical locations, I started off in the Leeds area. The first studio I came across was the, 'Duke Studios'. I chose this studio mainly because of the location. As we all attend a university in Leeds this was an easy studio to hire out as we would all be able to reach this location. As well as the location, I looked at the prices of hiring out this studio; the meeting room hire is free. This was a good deal for us as a collective as we may only need to use a space for a couple of hours at a time as most of our services are dealt with online. However, if we was in need of a rented space for computer use this would cost: £440 per month.

The second physical location was in Manchester, I looked the studio: 'Space Studios' . Manchester was suggested to be by the group as the city is close to Leeds and we are aware of the area due to attending the Manchester Animation Festival. The space does not have a price chart on the website and we would have to contact the company to ask for prices. However, I chose this space because of the facilities they have in their studio spaces. They have many different studios places such as, workshops and prop stations as well as, office spaces.

Lastly, the last physical location was back in Leeds as this is easy for everyone in the group to get to. This studio was called, 'Castleton Mill'. I chose this space because it has been used by the 'College of Art' which is now 'Leeds Art University'. This was a 'green light' for us as this area has been used by our university before and therefore makes this company and space secure and trustworthy.

LAUAN502, Study Task 9

Study Task 9 

For this study task we got set the challenge of creating our own collective or studio. My group consisted of four people: Cara, Gabbi, Rhys, and me. Me, Rhys, and Gabbi came together in one of our studio lessons and discussed what we would want our collective to be based on. We decided on the idea of helping freelancers that specialise in pre-production represent their work to companies looking for certain skills.

I think our idea was well thought out and put together. We worked well as a group and bounced ideas off of each other easily. Me, Cara and Gabbi brainstormed the name of our collective and came up with the title: 'The Hungry Artist Studio'. Rhys was in charge of the logo but was told to stick to the colour theme picked out by Cara as she was the Director. If I was to do this task again I would have more input into the design of the website as my job role ended being to control the social media and website. Unfortunately, due to serious circumstances as home, I couldn't be here for the presentation. 

Once we had settled on this idea we discussed it with Cara and landed on the title, 'Freelance Marketing Company'. The roles we would all be taking were: 

• CEO/Director- Cara 
• Social Media and Website- Me
• Finances/Paperwork- Gabbi 
• Freelancer Consultant- Rhys