Between the Keyframes

In this episode, we talk about a sensitive topic for most designers… feedback. Whether it’s client feedback or internal feedback, often designers get offended and even feel hurt by feedback on their work. 

Hopefully, today’s episode empowers you to keep doing great work, stay gracious in taking on feedback, and always keep an open mind. The biggest reality check we recommend is to remember that no matter how much of your blood, sweat, and tears went into a particular project, the client is still actually the owner of the work, and they are the ones who need to live with it once you walk away and take on your next project.

Discussion Points:

Getting used to feedback

Definition of feedback

Feedback for students

Teaching students to deal with feedback

Dealing with feedback in the industry

Understanding who owns your work

How to set up a good feedback process

Dealing with last-minute feedback

Managing scope creep

Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

In today’s episode, we start off by chatting about the importance of making a great demo reel. Whether it’s a montage or in some other format - it is the first impression people will get of you and your skillset and interests. We chat about what we look for when reviewing reels for job applications and what you should spend extra time on to make sure you don’t blow it in the first few seconds of your demo reel. 

We also dive into a demo reel submitted to us by one of our listeners and make improvements to it in After Effects in real-time. Listen along to find out which changes we felt were necessary to improve John McKinney’s demo reel submission. Maybe you could make some of the same changes to take your demo to the next level. 

Discussion Points:

Making a demo reel of your work (To montage or not to montage)

Less is more

How long should it be?

The demo reel we’ll be looking at

The importance of typography

Feedback and real-time editing of a demo reel

Comparing the original to Austin’s recut

Recap of changes made

Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

Adobe After-Effects

In today’s episode, we share the second part of our conversation with famed motion designer Sekani Solomon. We jump straight into some quickfire questions, getting Sekani’s thoughts on a few interesting topics. He shares some background into two of his most recent passion projects - the short films “Hidden” and “Star Wars.”

Sekani is a deep thinker and extremely insightful when it comes to the way he works. We loved getting to know the artist behind the incredible motion design work and we hope you’ll enjoy listening to the conversation just as much.

Discussion Points:

Quickfire questions - getting to know Sekani

Sekani’s most dominant personality traits

Sekani’s thoughts on ego

How Sekani handles feedback

Ownership over your work

Sekani’s experience as a person of color in an industry that isn’t particularly diverse

Opportunities

NFT’s (Sekani’s short film)

Passion projects

What’s next for Sekani?

Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

Sekani’s Website

Sekani’s Vimeo

Sekani Solomon LinkedIn

Cash App

Sekani’s Film - Hidden

The Making of Sekani’s Star Wars short film

Sekani Solomon is an award-winning Motion Design lead at Cash App. His diverse skill set in design, animation, and compositing allows him to work at any stage of the production pipeline with a high level of proficiency. He has worked at a wide variety of companies, both as an employee and as a freelancer. He is now the Motion Lead and manager at Cash App. In part 1 of this chat, we get the opportunity to pick Sekani’s brain about his career choices and what led him to start working for a tech company.

Discussion Points:

Sekani Solomon’s experience

The value of internships in college

Moving into the tech industry with Cash App

The difference between working at a studio vs at Cash App 

The difference between working at a studio vs Tech company 

Managing unlimited vacation

The transition from being an artist to a manager

Managing your career path

Sekani’s teamCash App’s branding direction

 Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

Sekani Solomon LinkedIn

Cash App

The Mill

Loyalkaspar

Imaginary Forces

Scholar Studios

SCAD

Cash App Clothing Line

In today’s episode, we chat about the role of the producer.

While we talk mostly about the role of a producer in the motion graphics industry, we acknowledge the different kinds of producers that exist in adjacent industries. Going deep into the role we cover both the job responsibilities as well as the necessary personality traits of a producer. Understanding that different companies use producers in a variety of capacities and that personality traits aren’t set in stone, the conversation will go a long way in helping guide a person understand the complexities of the role. We also cover what we look for in a great producer, where producers come from and why are producers so important to the creative process!  

So whether you are an artist or someone looking to become a producer, this episode will give you valuable insight into the world of a producer and how they fit into the process.  

Discussion Points:

Types of procedures

Motion Design studio producers

Executive Producer

Head of Production

Producers

Visual Effects Producers

Animation Producers

Post Producers

Line Producers

Associate/Junior Producer 

Difference between junior producers and senior producers

Where do producers come from?

From artist to producer

Good attributes of a producer

Dealing with scope creep

Bad attributes of producers

Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

This week’s episode is about mistakes. Mistakes we’ve made and mistakes we’ve seen colleagues or employees make. We are sharing these mishaps and the lessons learned from them. While we can’t help you not make any mistakes at all, hopefully, this conversation will open your eyes to things that are potential pitfalls in the workplace. It’s important to note that errors happen to everyone and it’s impossible to learn if you don’t make them. So, if you make mistakes, embrace them, and move forward. We also raise an important topic - the value of team support and everyone taking responsibility for blunders on a job or at the office. 

Discussion Points

Early career mistakes

File organization flubs

Bigger picture missteps

Promoting people who do not have the necessary skills

Toxic gossip - don’t do it…

High-maintenance - don’t be annoying

Not communicating enough

Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

 

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

Karin Fong

School of Motion

Joey Korenman

Ryan Summers

Audrey Yeo

José Manuel Peña (JP)

In this episode, we continue our discussion around freelancing. We unravel the tricky business of setting your rates when first starting out as a freelancer—keeping client expectations in line with your skill or ability as a designer is key. We share the good, the bad, and the ugly around paying (and claiming) taxes as a freelancer (spoiler alert—there is more good, than bad or ugly). There are also some eye-opening truths that come out about what it means to make the move from being a freelancer to starting and running a business.  

Austin has years of experience in freelance, while on the opposite end of the scale, Erin has years of experience working as a full-time employee as well as an employer who hires freelancers. So, you get a great look into the industry from both perspectives. If you are unsure if freelancing is for you - listen up - you will get a lot of information in today’s episode that will help you decide on whether freelance or full-time would suit you better.

Discussion Points:

Freelance rates vs client expectation 

Tax benefits of freelance

The stress of working freelance

Freelancers Union

How to decide on your rate 

Negotiating rates

Sequential Liability

Freelancer Administration

Developing a personal brand as a freelancer

Transitioning from freelance work into starting a company

Advantages of being a freelancer

Learning from people you work with 

   Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

Freelancers Union

Erin has a lot of experience in being employed full-time as well as being an employer. In this episode, Austin picks her brain about full-time employment. The pros, the cons and everything in between. 

One of the greatest illusions of full-time employment is often the idea of “job security” which is really never a given in any position. Things can change at any time - so this is also why it’s important to be adaptable, regardless of your type of employment status. We compare working full time to being a freelancer - focusing on full-time employment in this episode. 

Discussion Points:

Explicit benefits of working full-time (W2)

Less explicit benefits

The illusion of job security

Being part of a culture

The cons of being full-time

Gaining experience and getting promoted 

Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

In this episode we discuss the importance of passion projects—a non-commissioned work that is motivated solely by the maker's conceptual and emotional vision. It’s the act of making that drives you to create. Your desire to put it out into the universe, with no expectations, is ultimately the end result.   We examine how passion projects help with sustainability, reinvention, and opening new doors in addition to overcoming stress and burnout. From investments in PR to leveling up a portfolio, we talk about how passion projects are used for professionals, studios, and students alike. We chat about a few people who are constantly improving themselves and their abilities by working on passion projects. Yes, it often takes some time to pay off, but continuous improvement through doing passion projects could lead to making you a hot commodity in the industry—just look at Beeple.

In this episode we find ourselves reminiscing about the crazy year that was 2020 - the year that forced most of the world into a remote working situation. While Austin has technically been working from home since 2005, the lockdowns had a huge impact on the way found himself lecturing his courses and connecting with his students. Moving to remote teaching was not easy but it did allow for technology to catch up to teaching this way going forward. In-studio, Erin had to deal with a very short-notice work-from-home order in Chicago - and she and her team were reeling slightly in the adjustment process over the weeks that followed. We all, however,  adjusted, along with the rest of the world, and we share some of our learnings and the changes we will be adopting in our processes going forward, regardless of the lockdown situation- because they’ve had such a positive impact on our way of working.

Discussion Points:

Austin working remotely since 2005

Getting thrown into remote working during COVID in 2020

Teradici explained

Improving processes

Let everyone know what the other team members achieve

Full-time remote team members going forward

What it meant to adapt to remote working from a business perspective

Pro Tips from Austin -  a veteran remote worker

The importance of assimilating with the team

    Resources

Sarofsky 

Austin Shaw

Teradici

Vimeo

Gmail

Slack

WeTransfer

Google Drive

Dropbox