3 - Network time

My LinkedIn profile

Updated my banner, showreel and About section

Some people I've connected with (a lot of these had to be online due to social distancing but that's not a problem for me!):

• Renato Roldan
• An art director and a 2D vfx animator I reached out to for advice on 2D vfx and its influence on character appeal for my context of practice module, I was able to do a little written interview over email with them,

• Daniel Hamman
• Held an online storyboarding/composition tutorial during the strange quarantine lockdown period on Zoom, that was incredibly useful (I got a lot of helpful tips and feedback on my storyboards and animations in general).

Dan giving me some storyboard feedback on Zoom (I promise it's him!) 

• Learnt a lot about what the industry is looking for - a specialist is more useful taht a generalist, though a generalist is more suited for their own freelancing.
• Hayk Manukyan - 2D tradigital animator at Warner Bros. Animation, their social media content is very informative and I can learn a lot from their process,
• Thomas & Henry Purrington - went to their talk at Manchester animation festvail and learnt a lot about setting up a studio with a small team (I can put a lot of their advice to practice for Schwa), 
• David Wevill - has a lot of similar interests as me (animation, video games, storyboarding),   
• Ashish Rawat
• Joanna Boyle
• Wayne Maslin

Sound designers/musicians (connections from the Leeds College Music collab meeting):

• Ellie Baker (she's working with us on our 603 film),
• James Hogson (sound designer for our previous Heinz project),
• Rafael Abranches,
• Matteo Falco.

Networking opportunities

• Face to face: 
• Encounters Film Festival 2019,
• Manchester Animation Festival 2019,
• Yorkshire Games Festival 2020,
• Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2020 (in consideration - unfortunately, visa requirements and cost might get in the way),
• Cardiff Animation Festival.
• Online:
• Instagram - have a few commissions on hold (due to my visa restrictions),
• Twitter - also have a few commissions on hold (till I get a work visa and can do entrepreneurial/freelance work),
• Loopdeloop (submitting loops allows me to present my work and link my socials which really gets me out there), 
• LinkedIn
• RubberOnion - a fun animation community I've been part of for a while in quick, monthly 15-second animation competitions, 
• Skwigly events page (for a master list of networking events that I could just list here),
• r/animation on Reddit.