MATTHEW BOGAN
Sound Design | Film | Television | Video Games
WORK PLACEMENT SOURCING
RESEARCH STAGE
To begin the process of securing a work placement, it was important to understand recruitment and operation within my desired industry. As discussed, my current interests within sound design are heavily aimed at both Film and Video-Game production - therefore, initial research into positions working within these industries was carried out. Initially, working as an audio specialist or production assistant stood out to me, these are both positions that are achievable with my current skill set - however, progression can be made within the video-games industry in the near future through further training within computer coding as many companies employ audio programmers at all skill levels.
Typically, new recruits within production / development companies will begin their careers as either a junior member of staff or as an independent freelance worker that is contracted by these companies per project. Junior positions are difficult to find on both a local and national level, especially in the current working climate caused by the pandemic, companies aren’t willing to bring in new talent due to the safety concerns of in-person work or the technical difficulties caused by remote work. Alternatively, many companies are currently offering contract work on a per project basis or on a limited time scale. This allows for a company to scale their workforce dependent on their current workload, without the need for redundancies.
At the time of completing this stage (Nov 2021 - January 2022), very few companies were offering junior positions, apprenticeships, internships, or work placement opportunities for individuals looking to start a career in the entertainment industries. Due to the rarity of these positions, the volume of applicants was extraordinary - therefore the positions asked for more experience than a typical junior position, looking for at least 3 years experience within a team and had distributed several projects previously. However, later in the year (March 2022) the BBC began recruiting for their apprenticeship programs across the country. At this stage I applied, completed a questionnaire, submitted a video interview, and to this date I am awaiting their decision.
The rarity of positions lead to creating new social media accounts, allowing for networking on a large scale and a new method of expressing my work and experience. I created a Twitter account and LinkedIn profile focused on my academic work, creating the foundation for a professional presence in the modern working world. Many companies advertise on these platforms, or simply search and evaluate new clients, on these platforms - I believe this was the best decision to make in these difficult times.
GANTT CHARTS
How did I manage to stay on track?
These Gantt charts below were the basis of my organisation during this past year. Breaking down the year into calendar weeks allowed for a visual representation of the time I had to complete my work. At this stage, major deadlines were placed on the chart, this allowed for each individual task to be properly organised from week to week - ultimately reaching each deadline and achieving all tasks required within this module. All together, 10 stages were created, each with their own individual tasks and timescales, these include;
Semester 1
Planning stage
Skills audit
Research stage
Presentation
Placement Research
Future Developments
Semester 2
Placement
Work Compilation
Portfolio Creation
Self Reflection
Each individual chart can be viewed within the gallery below, each displaying their allotted weeks, tasks, and goals.
CONTACTING EMPLOYERS
After the research stage, work began on contacting companies that may be able to arrange a work placement in collaboration with myself. It quickly became apparent that the industry leading offices were only possible to reach via email, with many either not offering a phone number or not being based within their offices at the moment due to remote work, therefore my primary method of contact became email.
It is important to create the best first impression when contacting via email, as many emails are received everyday and a majority of these are simply spam or junk - slipping through the cracks and into the bin of several accounts was the worst possible case at this point. To improve my chances, an email template was carefully created with the aim of seeming both genuine and motivated to work, this is the template used:
Dear [Full Name / Studio Name],
My name is Matthew, and I am studying BSc audio engineering at Perth UHI. I have been an admirer of [Studio name] Games for some time, with personal favourites [Insert Projects]. I have a deep interest in sound design for video games, including foley work, audio processing, and music production. Seeing your team's level of talent so close to home has been inspiring throughout my studies.
I’m writing today to possibly arrange a work placement during this academic year; in either December or January would be excellent. One of my module requirements is to gain a total of 40 hours experience and I would be extremely grateful to be given an opportunity to work towards that requirement within your team. I have attached my CV and a link to my website can be found below:
https://matthewbogan.wixsite.com/portfolio
The skills I currently possess would make me a great fit for this kind of opportunity and I hope to discuss this topic further with [you / a member of your team].
Best,
Matthew Bogan
Sending out several emails in the hopes of garnering a simple response was much more difficult than expected, all together 45 of Scotland's top games development and film production companies were contacted - only 12 responded. Below are their responses.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH EMPLOYERS
Was I offered any opportunities?
Thanks for getting in touch. Could you give me a bit more detail to the kind of work placement you’re looking for? We obviously do a lot of location recording but it would be good to understand your level of ability and whether or not you have any experience using kit, have your own kit etc. We do try to run things down midway through December and wont be opening back in 2022 until midway through January so they might not be the best months. Due to the nature of our work doing all the work experience in one go might be more difficult is the only thing. Are you based in Carnoustie?
Luke Moodley - Edinburgh Film Company
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately, we do not have any work experience or placement opportunities available at this time. However, we can certainly keep your details on file should any opportunities arise.
If you would like to hear about our current opportunities, you can keep up to date with our current vacancies on http://www.stvplc.tv/careers.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kayla Cheung - STV
As you may have seen from our website, Swift Films is a very small production company based in Edinburgh. There’s only really 3 of us who work here and we scale up as required depending on the number of projects we are working on. As such, I am afraid that currently we are not best placed to help with work placements. We tend to advise people coming to us to try approaching some of the bigger production companies based in Edinburgh such as HeeHaw and Tanami to see if they might be able to help.
Richard Nicolls - Swift Films
DID THIS PROCESS WORK?
This process of contacting companies and awaiting a response lasted roughly 4-6 weeks, with little success. In reflection, a combination of my tactics and timing could have been greatly improved. I decided to begin contacting companies in December, a time of the year that production companies are scaling back their workflow for the upcoming holidays - the only production companies doing the opposite are large national corporations such as STV. The decision to begin in December was not a choice I wanted to make, this was due to my workflow in other modules and my personal part-time work commitments outside of my studies. Also, the current stage of the pandemic saw companies returning to full restrictions as cases began to rise again.
Using email is a fantastic tool, however this causes an individual to be lost within a crowd of creatives. While email allows for great amounts of information and resources to be sent in an instant, one thing is not communicated effectively - personality. Instead, a combination of email and phone calls should have been used to create the desired impression with an employer. This would have taken my 12 responses and potentially tripled this number, gaining feedback and experience that is necessary for working within these industries.
Of these 12 companies, only 2 were able to give a positive response that took the conversation further than an introduction.