Post Magazine

September 2012

Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/82522

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 38 of 51

whole transition, and it worked out that I was their first choice." While Ghayour did an internship back where he lived in Northern Virginia during a winter break, the Trollback gig was really his entree into the professional workforce. "It was great going straight from graduation, and the next week I moved to New York." He describes the interview process, much of which was conducted online: "They want to see if [they] can actually see you being here — creating and having the same views about work. On the Website, I had all my work up and a cut reel, and what I wanted to do post-college. The process was a lot [about] finding similarities between the com- pany and my personal work." Communication was done via email, phone calls and Skype with two Trollback creative directors. As it turns out New York was his first choice for a location to start his post college career. He was hired in June of 2011 as a junior designer and animator. "At that level we do logo explorations, and little end tags, like for MasterCard. I did boarding out for pitches," he says. "It was great coming here because there's a won- derful art director who threw me to wolves "They definitely add to your skill set at the beginning, and the challenges are — whether you use Maya or Cinema 4D — to achieve the right solution. There's people here to help you. One of the first projects he got to con- tribute to was a sports graphics pitch for the upcoming season of Soccer on Fox. "I had my own direction and look, and it was going to be pitched with multiple looks," he explains. He also helped on designs for a major re- brand for Swedish TV network, SVT, which included four channels. "It's very diverse," he says of the studio's work. "You get your hands on a lot of stuff." ESTEFANIA ACUNA Estefania "Fanny" Acuna graduated from the Vancouver Film School's digital design pro- gram back in April and was able to find a position not long after graduation. Acuna is originally from Mexico City. She graduated from a four-year program with a communica- tions degree and later worked for an advertis- ing agency. And it was at DDB Mexico that she decided to improve her design skills. After doing some research, she applied to VFS. "I started looking at different schools around the world, and I heard about VFS and their program. That's why I joined them," she recalls. easy for prospective employers to see her portfolio. That led to an interview, and ulti- mately, a paid position as Creative Engine's Web designer. "During the interview, we talked about my background, what I like to do, and what I'd like to do in the future," she explains. "I took my iPad and showed my portfolio and explained the projects in person, which I think is pretty important. After the interview, I got a job offer." At press time, she had been with the Vancouver Film School grad Fanny Acuna (right) is now gamefully employed as a Web designer at Creative Engine. Pictured is some of the work she completed while interning at Wantering. to get my feet wet. They knew I was an entry-level position and they helped and taught me things along the way." Ghayour says he was well prepared com- ing out of SCAD, but there were still things he needed to learn and processes that school didn't go into in depth. "The techni- cal things: delivery and things that school could never really show, like clients and that stuff. It's a wonderful work environment here, so everyone was really helpful and would show me." He was skilled in Maxon's Cinema 4D appli- cation coming out of school, but not in Maya, which is another tool in Trollback's arsenal. She participated in a one-year intensive program that allowed her to work on her design skills, and got her thinking about the design process. By her final term, she was being prepared for interviews and had a portfolio that she could present. Initially, she took part in an internship at Wantering, a start-up that made use of many of her final designs. She continued looking for work in the design arena and came across Vancouver-based design firm, Creative Engine (www.creative-engine.ca) online. "I contacted them and I got a call back," she notes. Acuna sent a link to her personal Website (www.eacuna.com), which made it design firm for just two weeks, but was already working on a project for clothing store Wear Else. "Basically, what we're doing for the company is a rebranding, because they want to go for a younger audience," Acuna explains. "We are going to launch a fashion look book, there's a logo change, a color palette change, and the new Website will be launching in about a week." She feels that patience and persistence was the key to finding her first position in a competitive design field. "I've found that in Vancouver, it is a big city, but because there are a lot of design graduates, there is a lot of competition. You have to be prepared to be patient, and try to get your work out there as much as you can — send it to as many places as you can — but remember to be patient, and you will get a job." The interview preparation that she learned also played an important role. "I've heard that in a lot of interviews, half of the battle is per- sonality, and having a positive attitude about work ethic, " she notes. "What I really liked about VFS is that in the last term [they] helped us prepare for it." This included resume writing, portfolio presentation and even how to answer a range of interview questions. www.postmagazine.com Post • September 2012 37 Goldcrest's Michelle Ambruz handled scanning for The Chair, a short film that premiered at Cannes.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Post Magazine - September 2012