Shane Le Mar

Reflective Statement – Progression Plan

Independent Company – Steampowered Animation (Pioneering a new thing, leader in field)

My Companies Website: https://steampoweredanimator.weebly.com/
To setup my own company I have created an identity that is completely
separate to my Freelance identity despite the fact it is still just me
doing both. The reason I did this is because a huge majority of the
work I do is for a fan-culture called Steampunk. I’ve been a big fan of
all the Artists involved in this genre for a great many years now and as
of about 3 years ago at a convention I got talking to a few of them and
now a few years later I’ve created a handful of music videos, promotional pieces and other
fun things for them all. As a result of that Paul Alborough (the man that plays the character
that pioneered ‘Chap-Hop’ Professor Elemental) who I’ve done the most work for suggested
that I create a business completely tailored to the Steampunk work as this is something
nobody else is doing. I have been marketing and network myself in a this very specific
culture for a while, with social media, business cards and many other things. I’ve at made
initial contact with some of the artists, musicians and creators that exist in this genre but there
are still a few that I have not, so speak to them all eventually.
As this is something nobody else is doing it would be relatively easy to get complacent in the
knowledge that (aside from hiring random people) I am the only person specifically catering
to the Steampunk world. However, I would not want to grow complacent so I will continue to
create work in this community for a smaller handful of artists until enough rapport has been
built between the handful that I can expand out further. I already have Paul and a few others
to mention my name to the rest of the people they know but once Uni has finished, I will
really get any collaborators to promote my company more and more. Once I have that
contact, it’s really just a matter of attaining more work in this field; Touching base with all
creators that will aid in ensuring a steady revenue stream; However there isn’t a wealth of
money in this community as its very niche so I’d most likely need another job (part time) to
support and supplement this.
Freelance – SLM Animates
My Website: https://shanelemaranimates.weebly.com/
One of the best things I can do to enhance my Freelance life is to
Network even more, because you can’t really Network too much. But
one thing that to note is that a lot of people will promise contact and to
throw stuff your way however that rarely comes to anything as people
are unreliable. In response to this anytime someone suggests a ‘way in’
or a job opportunity I try to get as many details off of the person
involved as much as I can in order to do it myself. Once again a big thing to get hired on my
own is to work on my showreel and keep it up to date (at least one small sting a month) but a
great thing for me is that I do keep my Instagram up-to-date with everything I’m working on
amongst a bundle of other things and I’ve embedded this feed into my Website so that it can
automatically update my stuff.

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Another thing to re-iterate is that I need to attend Animation meet-ups all the time, just try to
make as many contacts as possible as that’s the way to get hired in this industry. Then I just
need to keep applying for positions again, and again, and again in the hopes that one day I
can get hired by one of them. Once I’ve heard back from the position I applied for, it is then
commonplace to compete against other Freelancer’s for position through pitching and then
hopefully get the job role. If I got the job, I would keep an eye out for more jobs towards the
end of the contract at the company.
In-house/Contracted – Large/Small Company
For Example: https://www.sixpointharness.com/
In order to begin to get a job at an Established Company (in
either the UK, America, Japan) I would need to Network even
more than I already have. This would hopefully pay out by someone I speak to getting a job
at a big company and being able to throw something my way or they may have already
worked for one in the past and know of a vacancy. In way of networking I’ve touched base
with a bulk of London Based Studios with little success, but a more local company Cranrust
VFX (https://cranrustvfx.co.uk/) has got in touch and I’ve done some work for them in the
past. A great was to network would be to attend Animator’s meetups which tend to happen
around the Brighton, Manchester, London Area, it’s essentially a Pub full of ‘wannabe’
Animators with a handful of professionals that can help juniors out to get employed.
Next up I’d need to be constantly working on and updating my Showreel and Website
(https://shanelemaranimates.weebly.com/) which should be relatively early as I’ve been
doing it a lot recently; However whenever I work on a larger project it’s hard to keep it up-to-
date with smaller stings. Once the Showreel has been updated the next great thing to do
would be to apply for pretty much any and all Animation related Jobs. Hopefully if one of
these applications were to be successful, I would prepare for and go to interviews. If they
went well and I got into the position that I went to apply for, I would keep an eye out for
other jobs as I came towards the end of my contract that would enable me to apply for more
jobs to ensure a steady revenue stream after my current contract was up.
Job, study more Animation, Internship – Get an animation related job eventually
For Example: https://aswift.com/animation-vfx/
Another plan that I have would be to begin applying for Internships,
Workships and Experience based job roles that will help me to get-a-
foot-in the door at some larger companies without the extra legwork of
throwing out showreels all the time. Another great pro about
Internships etc. is that they don’t rely on past experience so they would
be fantastic for an entry level role which could lead to something more.
But as these roles are for the most part un-paid, I’d need to get a regular part-time job that
would support me financially whilst I work on an Intern basis. As Interns don’t tend to do
much actual animation I would (in my free time) need to continue to study animation, hone
my craft and above all keep my working standards to a marketable level that will hopefully
pay off with a regular paid role at a company. A nice thing to happen during an Internship
etc. would be that hopefully some of the higher-ups notice me and my work when I’m either
working at the company or when externally applying for a job role there.

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Educational Institute – College level

For Example: https://www.indeed.co.uk/Animation-Teacher-jobs
Another possible route I could take my skills is that of becoming a
teacher. This would of course rely on extra training to become one
however this could really be an avenue to look into as the
Animation Teaching world isn’t very big and from what I can see
there is a need for more tutors that can teach Animation. To get the ball rolling on this I
would need to study for a PGCE that would open the doors to teaching, now of course this
isn’t my primary goal and if possible I’d love to get a job in the actual animation industry but
it is important to think about things like this to ensure I’ve cover a variety of options should
another fall through and teaching is one of those bases I’d like to cover.