The past few months have found us knee-deep in fall and winter internship applications, and the process revealed a few things. 1) There are a ton of talented young animators out there. 2) Our resident animator Mollie Davis is basically an internship expert. Seriously, she’s had so many awesome internships, she has trouble remembering them all — “I had 4. Oh no, wait! I interned there, too! I had 5!”

Given these two discoveries, we thought we’d share some of Mollie’s best tips for aspiring animators. She not only has great advice for how to land your dream internship but how to get the most out of the experience once you’re there.

1. It starts with the reel.

Though you should give thought to your resume and cover letter, your reel and portfolio are the #1 things potential internships will look at (and yeah, scrutinize a little). Reels should be about a minute long and cut to a great track. However, since so many people watch things on mobile, make sure the reel is compelling when viewed silently, too. Lastly, put your best work at the beginning and the end, since busy internship coordinators may watch the first few seconds, then skip straight to the end.

2. Show your work-in-process.

While your portfolio should include your best finished work, think about including sketches, animatics, whatever pieces you have from the process itself. This won’t just show your technical competency but also your storytelling and revision skills.

3. Once you’re there, listen & observe.

Though you may work on some great projects during your internship (maybe even some for real clients that pay real dollars), just being in a studio setting is a valuable experience, so pay attention to what’s going on around you. How do the the producers and the creative team interact? How does the creative director present work to the client? Though teamwork and communication are referred to as “soft skills,” there’s nothing “soft” about them, and they can help you succeed when you land your first job.

4. Ask questions… but the right questions.

Internships are a time to ask questions, but do yourself — and your supervisor — a favor and make sure your question can’t be answered by a quick Google search first. This won’t just save your supervisor from potential frustration, it will help to spark more thoughtful discussions, since you will have gotten some baseline knowledge about the issue from your initial search.

5. Stay loose & push yourself.

Your first internship in animation can be intimidating, but remember: they like you, and they like your work. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have given you the gig, right? So use this time to step outside your comfort zone and push yourself. The feedback you get from people in the field is so much different than feedback you get from professors, since professors often care about fostering your creative voice, and working studio animators can teach you a lot about the process itself and how to do things quicker, better and more efficiently.

So that’s it! Our resident internship expert’s five tips for how to be an awesome intern. Oh, and speaking of awesome interns… we have one!

Meet David Oneacre, Planet Nutshell’s fall intern. He’s a recent MassArt grad from Akron, Ohio who specializes in 3D animation, and his senior thesis “Maplewood” was just featured in the MAST Film Festival (sponsored by Planet Nutshell). You can watch it for yourself here, and we hope you do. It’s a quirky, heartwarming story that personifies woodland creatures in really imaginative ways.

Want to apply to be Planet Nutshell’s next intern? We’re still accepting applications for our winter internship. More info here.

Want to gain professional experience in a production studio? Planet Nutshell is looking for a stellar intern to join our team.

At Planet Nutshell we’re all about telling great stories and creating animation with impact. We’re looking for someone who wants to learn and assist with our production process, from concept and storyboarding to designs and animation. Under the guidance of our team, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with other designers and animators while honing your artistic skill.

What you need:

• Positive attitude and willingness to learn
• A willingness to look at your own work with a critical eye, listen to feedback, and make changes accordingly
• Length of internship and daily hours are negotiable.
• You must have basic-level skill with After Effects and Adobe Illustrator.

What we offer:

• A casual and cozy atmosphere in Central Square in Cambridge, steps from the Red Line.
• Guidance and mentorship to help you build your portfolio and professional work experience.
• A flexible schedule
• Current students can earn credit, or if you’re just out of school you are eligible, as well.
• You will be paid for any client work you do.

To apply, please complete the Planet Nutshell Intern Questionnaire here.

Whenever our friends at Kentucky Educational Network (KET) call us with a new project, we know we’re in for a good time. I mean, just look at this music video we did for them back in 2017. Or how about this adorable throwback from 2015?

Their request this time did not disappoint. They wanted our help creating and launching a new web series for late middle and early high schoolers that taught them more about the various forms of art and (hopefully) inspired them to try one of these art forms for themselves. 

We pitched them several concepts, the winner of which was called “Artsville,” a town where anything and everything is possible, and creativity is celebrated each and every day.

The first episode of “Artsville” was all about the elements of dance, and our first challenge came in the scripting phase. KET had actually produced two live action videos on this exact subject in the past, but they wanted something that felt a little more engaging this time around. So not only did we have to condense the information delivered in those two videos — totaling nearly five minutes! — to just 150 words, we had to keep it interesting, digestible and fun. We were able to do this by thinking about how the VO and animation would work in tandem to deliver information through voice and supporting visuals or through visuals alone. 

Storyboard

With the script approved, it was time for storyboards, where we didn’t give the client one round of boards but three. We did this not in spite of the timeline or budget but because of it, making sure every part of a scene was to the client’s liking so we could save them time and money in the final and most labor-intensive phase of the project — animating the dang thing.

Style Frames

For the illustration style, we went with something that felt whimsical and portrayed the magic of our fictional town, while still being appropriate for our slightly older audience of late middle to early high school students.

Animation

And the end result? See for yourself:

Stay tuned for more! We’ve already got two more episodes in the works, and not to give too much away, but one involves dogs. Lots of dogs.

As always, a huge thanks to the team that made this one possible. You know what they say, it takes a planet, er, village.

Creative Director: Joshua Gunn
Scriptwriter: Liz Breen
Art Director: Jennifer Sanchez
Storyboard: Mollie Davis
Production Coordinator: Kharma Jones
Illustration: Ethan Barnowsky
Animation: Mollie Davis
Character Animation: Brad Schwab and Jennifer Sanchez
Sound Design: Taiko Sound

And also a big thanks to our client, KET, for partnering with us yet again. Check out their website — especially if you’re a teacher — because they have amazing resources for learners of all ages.

Two weeks. 33 custom animations. To run on some of the world’s most famous screens.

That was the challenge our friends at Adaptive Biotechnologies presented when they asked us to help them pull off a total Times Square “domination” experience. We’re talking animated videos (33 in total) running across four massive placements simultaneously — the Nasdaq tower and Marquee, the Reuters Tower, and the Walgreens Tower. Oh, and they only had 2 weeks until launch. No pressure, right?

A tight timeline meant we had to rely more than ever on our careful storyboarding process, especially because these screens were far from conventional, with crazy dimensions, curved screens and windows right in the middle of the unit. You can preview just some of these storyboards below, and if you want a deeper dive, you can view the complete boards for the Walgreens Tower here.

With the storyboards client-approved, we could move on to a complex set of After Effects templates provided by the panel vendors. We used the templates to set up and create all the animations.

These templates were our lifeline. Since there could be no previewing of animations before they were live (for tens of thousands of people to see – again, no pressure), the templates were a way visualize what the final product would be when viewed from the street.

These templates also allowed us to view multiple units at the same time. Because on top of everything else, we gave ourselves the challenge of synchronizing the animation between the Nasdaq and Reuters Towers, so that when one set of cells leaves the Nasdaq Tower it “jumps” across the street to the Reuters Tower, making for a more arresting viewer experience. You can see a preview of that below.

The previews for the actual production? Well those were much less exciting (below is what the Walgreens Tower looked like just before we shipped it). But the real exciting part was traveling down to NYC for the unveiling.

Fun fact: Before the campaign went live, the Planet Nutshell team got to ride the elevator to the top of the Walgreens tower where the New Years Eve ball resides.

Another fun fact: The floors above the first floor, which contains a Walgreens Drugstore, are completely empty. The building owner earns more money from the displays on the outside than from having tenants inside.

After a lot of hard work and diligent planning, it all went off without a hitch. And we thought the final result was better than any After Effects template. Here’s what the Nasdaq Tower looked like from my perspective, just an average guy on the street:

A huge thanks goes out to all the folks who worked on this:

Creative Director: Joshua Gunn
Art Director: Jennifer Sanchez
Storyboards: Jennifer Sanchez, Mollie Davis
Production Coordinator: Kharma Jones
Animation: Jennifer Sanchez, Mollie Davis, Brien Hopkins, Mac Wójcik, Ethan Barnowsky
Design & Illustration: Ana Hill, Natalia Brondani