iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I had been talking about her months before, sharing her reel around with the team. My other CD brought up the editor from time-to-time for editing jobs. We were familiar with them already as a team and were rooting for them. That's the thing – studios talk. You want them talking about you.

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The other one was someone I had known since Mograph Mentor and she had made a consistent effort to stay in touch, ask questions, and shared her work with me over YEARS. As soon as I saw her name hit the candidate board, she made it to the shortlist.

One of them, who turned out to be an editor hire, had worked on set with one of our other CDs and had stayed in touch over the years. Just a couple run-ins at events or an email here or there; but our CD remembered his work ethic and curiosity. He had been learning After Effects and reached out.

"The industry doesn't KNOW you, my friend." They spent all their time on the reel, and wanted that to be enough. It never has been – but today it's even MORE not enough: • AI gatekeepers evaluating resumes • Ghost postings on LI • Less job openings for more and more people out there looking.

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I have a friend who applied for over 300 jobs on LI in a year – hadn't heard back from a single one. And they were ready to quit. "The industry doesn't want me." I took him out for coffee, and this was my reply.

Why? It wasn't because they were cocky, or over-qualified, or because they thought they already were a lock for the job. They were further down the path that ended at a role with us – and they knew what we did, what we were looking for, and how we liked to work. Relationships and research.

And the two we hired? Everyone at the studio already knew them. They cut through the noise of overlong reels, people that weren't the middleweight animator we were looking for, or the people that sent in resumes with no links to their actual work. They interviewed as calm, collected, and curious.

True story: A few years ago, the studio I was at put out the call for reels for middleweight motion designers. Within a week we had over 400 applicants. We watched everything & whittled it down to 12. We interviewed 4. We only hired 2.

Is this a conversation anyone here is interested in, because I haven't been able to stop thinking about reels for YEARS now. I think we're going about them all wrong.

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Demo reels – figuring out how to get started? TOUGH. • Who am I? • What do I show? • What do I call myself? • How long should it even be? Once you have it cut and scored and uploaded? EVEN TOUGHER. • Who is hiring? • How do I connect? • What do I do after applying?

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Tourbox has been a certified gamechanger for me in Premiere and Photoshop – still need to put some thought into how I want it to map to AE for sure. I feel like until cloning and effectors and falloffs are native in AE, it's always going to be clunky and/or slow.

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With CHRONOKEYS launching, I'm at peak animating scripts and plug-ins with After EFFECTS: • Chronokeys • Keystone • Kease • Flow At this point, we need the animating experience (timeline + curve editor) addressed by the AE team. What tools would you like to see added natively?

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aescripts + aeplugins @aescripts.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

You could make a very American version of NO OTHER CHOICE set in the mid-2000s feature animation industry where someone goes around Burbank chopping off the drawing hand of the last few lead animators and it would end with the first shot of the all AI-generated animated feature.

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NEW: ChronoKeys. 20% Off until Jan 31. Sync keyframes to layers to dynamically adjust the duration of layers and precomps while preserving your keyframe precision. aescripts.com/chronokeys/ #aftereffects #aescripts

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The whole movie plays like a treatise on the agreements we are finding ourselves being forced into as we try to reconcile where AI tools fit into our working pace as motion designers, animators, and filmmakers. We all have to make up our own minds but it’s chilling to see those last shots…

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The characters breaking bad are given off-ramps over and over but their belief in the implicit promise of heads down hard work sold by culture and society have them willing to compromise on almost every level to maintain the dream. Your salary = identity? Generational trauma we all agreed to.

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Park Chan Wook may have gotten slightly less maudlin in his storytelling but his control of the camera and edit is so much more free than the early days. Match cuts, inventive transitions and an ever changing lens keeps you guessing over and over.

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This damn movie is going to haunt me for a long long time.

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Let’s talk NO OTHER CHOICE: A last gasp of workaday capitalism. Breaking Bad by way of Oldboy. The Tragedy of Craft. A messy gut punch riot for anyone affected by automation or AI, whether you were a journalist, designer, animator, or just hoping to be one. Darkly delicious. 9/10

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It’s time. It’s VADER TIME. Thanks @osmfcpx.com

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Drew McWeeny @drewmcweeny.com · 01/06/2025

BRING HER BACK is some grade-A fucked up shit.

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Rian Johnson @rianjohnson.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

XII.XII.MMXXV on Netflix. More to come…

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Kevin Parry @kevinbparry.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

QUESTION! If I made an intro to effects class (using only your phone), which types of effects would you want to learn?

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

If I told you 1 person had the most popular land in Epic Universe, directed the #1 movie on Netflix, AND created a character w/ the biggest Memorial Day opening of all-time – would you believe me? You should, because that's EXACTLY what Chris Sanders just did! www.keysandcurves.com/p/mission-st...

keysandcurves.com

Mission: StitchPossible

Summer movie season is in full effect – but what does that mean for Animation?

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C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

This shit is hitting a lot of us HARD today

Bernie Sanders Meme.

Bernie bored reading "Seeing the new Superman as Clark."

Startled Bernie reading "Hearing him use the Superman voice

Bernie excited "Seeing Lois be LOIS."

Bernie elated "Hearing Ma Kent say I cleaned your boots, I'll go get 'em for ya."

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Thanks for taking a listen 🙏🏻

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James Gunn @jamesgunn.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Eyes up here. Trailer Tomorrow. #Lookup #Superman

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

That is a VERY long time in one place – how are you feeling now?

Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Sometimes the hardest button to button is just pressing PUBLISH. Today was that day. Let's get real. Let's talk layoffs. www.keysandcurves.com/p/the-hardes...

keysandcurves.com

The Hardest Button To Button

This was a tough one to record.

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

The single best two page story of all-time.

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

What’s up with Animation? We talk about the industry at large, share a jaw-dropping Sonic fan film, and take a look at a very slick new shoe commercial. Check out all this and more in the newest edition of KEYS & CURVES! open.substack.com/pub/keysandc...

open.substack.com

🔑 Darth Vader, Sonic, + a Startling Shoe Spot

Where's animation going and how can we get onboard?

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Alicia Stella @alicia.social · 23/04/2025

Your reminder that Light & Magic on Disney+ is an incredible documentary series you need to watch. What could have just been a behind the scenes look at special effects is instead a heartfelt human story from filmmaker Joe Johnston that has no right to be this good—In season two.

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Valentino Lasso🌿 @valentinolasso.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Earth Day•Every Day🌿✨

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Oh man, Homelander’s looking at me, isn’t he? 🤣

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Is it me or is this Cubs team starting to look like it’s got something magic going on right now?

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

I stumbled into Substack’s podcast-making capability, so now KEYS & CURVES has short quickcasts where I take a walk and record my musing on animation and motion design topics weekly. Today’s topic? Animated anthologies and why maybe we should be making our own? 🤔 open.substack.com/pub/keysandc...

open.substack.com

🎧 Predators, Robots, & Jedi + Us Too?

Animated anthologies are all the rage, but where are OURS?

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Brad Guigar @bradguigar.com · 05/04/2025

Good morning! If all you do today is one tiny doodle in the margins of your to-do list, that still counts as making art. Celebrate the small wins! 🎉✏️

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

We’ve got a reason to survive the next two years.

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

This whole “you’re cooked, artists” thing is the equivalent of someone who tried a microwave for the first time saying it’s over for restaurants now. You better quit now all you cooks & chefs and become a plumber because I can make a limp grey salisbury steak in 30 seconds!

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Oddernod @oddernod.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

I’m definitely building an environment for one of my comic projects to test this out!