Interview
Before attending the Factual Animation Film Festival, my friend Ymer told me that she wanted to do a documentary animation about vitiligo patients during her graduation project, and asked me if I had any intention to join the project. And in FAFF I found that Ivyy, the director of the animation “Surrey Heartlands ‘Accessing Primary Care with a Learning Disability’” was doing a documentary animation about learning disability. So after the Q&A session with the directors of the selected animations, we immediately approached Ivvy and asked her some questions about making a documentary animation and careers.
Q: How do you find patient groups that suit your animation project that can be interviewed?
A: My clients for this animation were some of the NHS healthcare organizations who got in touch with me through my company and they helped me to set up contacts with charity organizations. Charity organizations usually have lists of patients who can accept interviews, and you can find your local charity organization and ask them, they will usually tell you if there is a list of people who are suitable and how to book an appointment with them and so on. They will usually tell you if there is a suitable list and how to make an appointment with them etc.
Q: What’s your process for creating a documentary animation? How long did it take to make this animation?
A: I had some ideas when I got the commission, and I recommended some of my friends to my client who were suitable for the project, and put together a small team. The animation process didn’t take very long, about 4 months (not really sure), but the interviews and research took about 6 months. The patient interviews alone were over a hundred hours long, and I had to listen to them over and over again, eventually cutting them down to 6 minutes.
Q: Do you interview patients online or in person?
A: In the early stage, because of the large number of people on the list available for interviews, we conducted some interviews online in order to make everyone’s schedule a little bit more convenient. We would prepare some questions to get a general idea of the patient’s situation and thoughts. After a few online interviews, we will revise and update the questions before moving on to offline interviews. I would suggest conducting offline interviews because the mood and atmosphere you can feel when talking face-to-face are definitely completely different. The final recording takes place after we have almost finalized the questions and the content of the interview, which also takes place offline.
Q: I’d like to ask a question about job hunting. When did you start looking for a job? Did you find a job as soon as you graduated?
A: I was supposed to be close to graduating when I started looking, and I pitched a lot of companies. Never be afraid of getting a rejection letter, it’s very normal. After graduation, I joined a small animation studio, and after working for a year or two, the company I’m working for now contacted me out of the blue and asked me if I was interested in joining them, so I jumped on board. You guys can pay more attention to school careers, they can answer a lot of your questions.
Q: How long did you work on your final project? Did it help you get a job?
A: I was struggling with my final project,. I didn’t start it until the last two months. I would say don’t do it and try to finish the drawing earlier. And yeah, it did help me a lot. I suggest you guys do your final project properly, and then you can submit to more animation festivals and stuff.
Q: I’d like to ask if my less-than-stellar English will affect my ability to find a job. A little worried about this.
A: I think it’s more important to be able to speak up and not worry about not communicating because you might get it wrong. Your boss will probably think you don’t have the ability to communicate. (Here’s an example about her coworker.)
Q: Do you have any advice about applying for a work visa?
A: I think it depends on whether you are determined to stay in the UK or not. If you just want to accumulate working experience, you can apply for PSW (Post-Study Worker) without paying too much attention to whether the company will help you apply for a visa. If you really want to stay in the UK, besides asking your company to help you apply for a visa, you can also look into the Global Talent Visa. This is another option.
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After concluding my chat with Ivvy, I sorted out the following points to keep in mind:
- Ask your local CHARITY organization if there is a qualifying patient group that can be interviewed.
- Pre-interviews about patients can be done online, but always try to meet them face-to-face offline.
- Try to finish your biography as early as possible and submit your animation to animation festivals more often. (Searching for the matching animation festival materials)
- Understanding the Global Talent Visa Application Requirements
I have found charity organizations that can provide patients that can be interviewed (https://vitiligosociety.org/ ) as well as finding out what I need to do to apply for a Global Talent Visa (https://www.gov.uk/global-talent).
I’ve included the website for the animation Surrey Heartlands ‘Accessing Primary Care with a Learning Disability’ by Ivvy at the end: ( https://www.strangebeast.tv/projects/accessing-primary-care-with-a-learning-disability/ ). This is a very touching animation with genuine emotion and well worth watching.