Internships research

I wanted to start researching into internships as a possible route to take during summer or after graduation. I felt that internships was a fantastic route to take with not only getting to learn new skills and getting used to the studio space, but the company gets to know you, they get to know your work and your work ethos. I looked at the bigger companies first, being Disney and Dreamworks, however there were no internships left that I was that interested in, as most were to do with post production rather than the pre production side, that involves character design and storyboards, which was what I wanted to aim for with the internships. I also wanted to try my skills with a possible animation internship if there was one but unfortunately there were none available. I was disappointed with Dreamworks as when I was researching last year for possible internships, I stumbled across an amazing find, a 3 year course of storyboarding at Dreamworks, with the last year allowing you to be involved with the production of one of the films that they would be working on. I couldn't apply for this last year as I had to have graduated university and had my degree before I could be considered, I was absolutely gutted but I do hope that Dreamworks haven't scrapped this course. 

I then researched into Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network for internships. I couldn't find any internships for Cartoon network but I did find a job referring to a position as a designer at the studio, unfortunately it was more of a graphic designer role with the marketing and prop designs, in which you are required to have at least 2 years of experience with graphic design. I still liked the sound of the job, it sounded fun and a challenge as well. I kept on searching for more jobs on the site with in the animation area but I couldn't really find anything that suited the practice that I wanted to do. In order to be able to find good internships I need to search as early as possible and not be shy with submitting my work. This happened twice, the most recent was with the Nickelodeon Artists Program, in which there was a storyboarding track that you could apply for and it sounded perfect. I was too scared to submit anything at the last minute as I didn't have an up to date portfolio, I didn't have any completed storyboards that I had shaded that I wanted to submit and I ended up just missing out on a possible opportunity. This time I am going to submit the work I have so far, I need to start to build up my confidence with my work and show it online to get some interest in my work - I will force myself to submit my work to the program next year, and if I don't get into the program, I will at least get some feedback on my work and how I can improve.