film festival failure

Even though I haven't ever submitted any animated shorts to a festival, I can tell you that it's a foregone conclusion that rejection is the name of the game, and you'll have to bite the bullet. Don't let it get you down, because if you do, you'll definitely never make it. So get back up, send it out to any festivals you haven't, and get started on the next one. The worst thing anyone can do is feel sorry for themselves, because then they may just end up being sorry.

Sorry to seem harsh, but you have to develop a thick skin in many industries, animation included. There are basically two types of people - and they are those who stay down when they're down, and those who fight to get back up because not trying is not an option.

You have to keep trying, because like I said, not trying isn't an option. And it shouldn't be. There is an old saying - that those who can't, teach. That's a load of bullshit, I have found. They must be able to if they teach it, and if they can't, then they'll be found out and kicked flat on their ass. A better, more true saying, is that those who can't, have no chance at all, because they think failure means the end of the line when it is but a bump in the road, and only giving up is the end of the line. You'll make mistakes, you'll make good, crap, etc, shorts. You'll be kicked flat on your ass by some critics, while others will praise you as the next Walt Disney. But the defining issue here is whether you simply give up, or see failure merely as a mistake you made, and you learn how to avoid that same mistake again.

In a sense, all mistakes are failure, because you didn't succeed in something when you made that mistake. But all failure is success, because you learnt one way of not doing something, meaning you're one step closer to at least one of the correct ways of doing it. Like Rembrandt said, start with what you know and what you don't know will be revealed. Then there's the saying to eliminate the improbable so that you're left with the probable. Making mistakes and failing is great, because each time it happens, guess what? We're one step closer to getting it right. Or getting acceptance instead of rejection, in your case. Each rejection you get is a step closer to an acceptance.

But don't feel sorry for yourself...that's for those who can't get over themselves and stay down. You made a second film despite the rejections of the first? Make a third. And a fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Many more. You'll never make it if you stay down...so get back up on your feet, and make it one hell of a fight, too.

Failure is a decision. I am in a position where it's implying itself daily, and I just can't afford to give up.

I went to VFS for classic animation-- see rant under the 'animation schools' thread. Since I've been out, I've applied to several studios, and got no response. I don't think there's a lower level of rejection. So I've tried to get a normal day job. Just retail or something until I get my portfolio on its feet. Now, I'm getting the same lack of response from normal jobs.

I had a manager at a local book store tell me I'm overqualified, and they have no confidence that I would keep the job. So, for now, I have gone into an amazing amount of debt in order to make myself unemployable!

I think I'm getting a sense of my strengths and weaknesses, but with the total lack of response, I'm operating in a vacuum. So I just draw, because I enjoy it. As far as I'm concerned, if you've paid off your student loan, you've succeeded.

Have you posted your films on line? I got my film "Buggin' Out!" on Crackle, and it got a lot of views. I mean, a couple thousand over the first couple of weeks vs 300 for a month on You Tube. It has really taken on a life of its own, and reaches an audience directly without me having to pitch it to anybody.

There's really no telling ahead of time what festivals with accept and what they'll reject, and how your film fares has more to do with the festival committee than your film. Is it a wacky comedy? - then you'll be rejected by committees that have a more "artistic" bent. Is it "experimental"? - then you'll get the hook from more mainstream festivals. And on and on...

I've had films in Spike and Mike that didn't make it into other festivals. There are examples of Academy award nominees that were rejected by Ottawa or Annecy (I forget which - could be both!)

When it comes to shorts, you should make films that you want to see, and let the chips fall where they may. At least yours are getting production funding - most people producing shorts can't say that.

Patrick Smith's films were once part of the huge pile of submissions festivals receive. He's achieved what he has by having a unique voice and style that appeals to audiences. Yes, now he's afforded special treatment, but it didn't start out that way.

Whether you keep at it or not is up to you. If you do, great; be true to yourself and tell stories you want to tell. If you don't, great; that's one less person I'll have to compete with when my next festival entry rolls around...:D

For me, it's kind of hard to say anything with out seeing your film. We all can say, 'stick to it' or 'give it up' but in the end it's up to you which route you choose.

Aloha,
the Ape

That's the problem that every creative person has to face - what will go down with the audience. I'm also into novel writing, and although I've never sent any work out, I've heard of people celebrating the number of rejections they get. They advertise it in their signatures. It's basically the name of the game, and you simply have to develop a thick skin.

Just keep at it, like I said, because if you give up, that guarantees you'll never make it. If you keep at it, one day, one way, you'll make it. Or at least stand a better chance at making it than if you didn't.

Y' know, I feel for you, Derick and SPectre.
Risking being candid about my personal life, I think it's the market. My creative "career" has always been unconventional; if not animation, animated-related. For over the past year I have been instructing. I was teaching for several months when I thought, hey, I am actually good at animating; I've seen some advice I give students benefit their work to varying degrees of appreciation. It gave me confidence to get back into the industry.
I would always have more or less positive responses to my work and to tests and then.....nothing....or sorry, try again, always seemingly excited about my work and then don't hire me.
A younger animator probably in his early 30s told me without me telling him my experience that a certain studio likes them inexperienced and right out of school; fast & cheap no "obligations". Maybe it is ageism, maybe my style doesn't suit a project or maybe i do indeed suck but this is for sure: animation is more competitive than ever whether submiting a film or applying for a job.
Think about it, when I graduated in the mid 80s there were maybe 2 prominnent schools in animation internationally. Others that also taught animation were 3 or 4 year courses. When I graduated sure jobs were hard to come by and while there was less grads than today there were still not enough to go around. Today there are lots of jobs and still an astronomical exponential amount of grads. Met a Nick director last year who said getting a job in animation was like getting into the nba. And with so much choice for employers they can afford to "cast" their productions unlike in my day where there was a basically a pool of local animators from project to project from studio to stduio. Today animation is taught at private schools all over in less than a year partially in thanks to technology. There is Cg and "flash" with traditional being more or less a fundemental theory course to apply to non drawn animation. Also thanks to technology it is so accessible and cheaper than ever even for one to make good film on their own. So it's great to have this venue to express oneself creatively but there are others doing so vying for that place in the festival.
For what it's worth I've seen you short, SPectre,and it's as good or better than many grad films.
We have become more like acting and other entertainment jobs; it's a project by project audition and not getting that job isn't necessarily a negative reflection on talent. SOme are knocked out of the game having to choose between animation or survival. That's just the way I see it.

Thanks, Graphite! I think Buggin' Out! works as a film, while a lot of the character animation makes me cringe. I'm going back to caricatured humans, no matter what the "market" is. I'll stick to my comfort zone until I get so good at it that it bores me, which should take quite a while.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but there have been developments. There's a good chance that I might be working with a friend on a show. He wants to do it in After Effects. I kind of didn't like the idea at first, but CS3 is getting to be a pretty good character animation tool.

Ironically, VFS had no bearing on this either way-- the guy's been a friend of mine for years. I just hope it turns into actual money. While the VFS experience was kind of mixed, the real problem is the debt. As I said above, regular jobs are harder to get when you have this specialized training. And studios don't even return messages. But I wouldn't care if it wasn't for the astronomical amount of debt. Pure stupidity on my part. It's still pretty unethical for any school to plunge people into that amount of debt with the market being this saturated.

There are a couple of courses that are only a few months for about $5,000 or less. I wish I'd gone that route. No matter what you do, no one's going to make you "good." That takes lots of time and practical experience. And I still feel like I learned at least as much from books by guys like Preston Blair, Andrew Loomis and Jack Hamm as I did at school.

I have been watching this thread for a few days. I find the discussion fascinating.

Yes, you want to get your film out there...and if the contest is the only thing - then you are bound to be disappointed.

Make your films... and keep making them and making them. You will improve!!!

As others have said you never know where it will strike the audience or the judges.

Especially on independent project concentrate on the art- I don't mena the drawings but animation as an art....and have fun.