The job has no official title, or any specific requirements really. No skills or education are necessary, and you don’t even have to show up to work, wherever that may be. For this position all that is really necessary is to do whatever you feel like. You will be payed an annual salary of $100,000 with benefits.

I suppose my first answer is a bit trite, but as unrealistic it is I would consider it to be my dream job. At least this way there wouldn’t be any pressure to perform to a certain standard and there is not any risk involved. However, I get the feeling that this assignment might require me post a more realistic dream job position.

Animation Director

The role of the animation director is to provide an idea for an animation, whether it be a cartoon series or film. They are to be heavily involved in the script creating process and are expected to be involved in the other areas of animation. These include creating storyboards (scene direction through the use of drawings accompanied by short descriptions), animatics (a rough animated outline of how the animation may progress), sound direction (choosing sound effects, music, and voice actors), and background art. The director should make sure that every element of the animation flows correctly to make the idea of the animation come to life.

That is the basic outline of what i would want my position to be. I enjoy the entire process of animation and I would like to be involved in the entirety of its production, and animation director would be the perfect position. In my previous posts I talked about wanting to be an animator. This is true, because before I can become an animation director I need to develop my own portfolio of work and prove that I can produce high quality material. Independent animation is what I will be pursuing for the time being. Eventually I can work my way up to a point where i can work with a team of people to create something great.

Well first off, my intended career is to become a traditional animator either employed by a network or independently (or both). In this profession it isn’t so much the degree that is important, but rather a portfolio showcasing all of my work. The only major offered by the University of Delaware that offers any classes even remotely related to animation seems to be visual communications, so this blog post will be written under the assumption that visual communications is my major.

The visual communications major offers courses related to marketing and graphic design mostly. Graphic design could have to do with animation if it involves graphic animation, in this case on websites with the types of ads you see on the side with the moving graphics. This ties into the marketing aspects of the visual communications major because it is, well, advertising. I would be creating a small, cruddy, advertisement that could be easily be produced in about an hour that would do nothing but annoy people while they are browsing. This is the boring spectrum of animation. As for how the visual communications major connects with my own personal skills, I already have a proficient understanding of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Flash. The classes would be much more manageable, and easier, with this knowledge. The visual communications degree would be most useful if I were applying to a company to be a graphic designer or a web designer.

It’s difficult to discuss this because anybody interested in an animation career really shouldn’t be going to a school for an art degree, unless they go to CalArts which really isn’t affordable for me. It would be better for myself to go into a different major while I pursue my animation career independently, but no other major seems of any interest to me, so I’ll just see how things work out.