no cd's please
 

hi all, i've been having a look around at a few big studio web
sites ie, lucasarts, pixar, pdi dreamworks & under the job opportunity sections they frequently stress not to submit demo reels on cd. They request mainy ntsc or vhs, whats the deal here.
i would have thought cd's would be sufficient.

thx.

What's ntsc?:confused:

National Television Standards Committee - that is the tv norm for america. in europe usually PAL ( Phase Alternating Line) or SECAM is used. the basic difference of pal and ntsc is that pal has 50 half-frames per second (25 fps) and ntsc has 60 (30 fps). the resolution of pal has 625 lines per frame (576 are used for the image) and ntsc has 525 lines per frame (480 are used for the image).

a vhs cassete is the same for pal or ntsc - but if it got recorded in ntsc, then it is incompatible with a pal vcr.

Re: no cd's please
 

one thing i could imagine is that videos look better if watched on the monitor of a computer. the vcr and tv has the advantage that the reel will look like it is supposed to look. images out of a computer will always look good on the screen - but will they still look good with reduced contrast and limited color and interlaced? especially anti aliasing needs to be done different with interlaced video. then another thing could be that a vhs is compatible with every vcr or vcp - but is a cd with whatever video codec compatible with every computer? what about security - virus on cd for example ...

Its actully real simply VCR are cheap and fast to use....

Most companies, from what I have heard, will only accept VHS reels because like Kurt said, it's cheap, and easy to use.

Now, the main reason most companies don't want CD's, or DVD's, is because of all the different codecs that people use. They don't have the time to download drivers, specific software, or codecs so they can view your CD. Where as a VHS tape is 100% compatible with all VHS players.

They aren't concerned with the "best quality image" as much as you think. In fact, if the original quality image is good, it should still look good on VHS.

But this doesn't mean that in light of you getting an interview, that you can't take in a CD or DVD of your work to show. Just make sure you have everything you need to install, or setup the computer so you can show it.

Exactly:)

Or bring your work on a laptop. That way, you have absolute control over the hardware/software. :)

cool thx guys makes alot of sense.

ooo. very thorough. but that if your product you made was a new form of driver.. or something specifically computer oriented? like.. a player or something. shoudl you just take a video of it in use?

Well if the product you made was say a driver, and you’re touting for a job normally you would send the source.

David :)

... what if you made a new type of cd. lol. could you submit it on cd?

*walks away like an idiot*

While we're on the subject of do's or don'ts, one thing I've noticed is resumes.

If you do not have any graphics experience, you'd be better off not putting ANY previous employment on a resume, rather than telling them that you were a manager at a Burger King and a telemarketer for 3 years. During my short month at Warthog TX, there's been a number of people applying (presumably for my job, as it hasn't been taken off their site's job page :p ). Many of their resume's are not exactly impressive with such information included. It'd be better to put "Not Applicable" when it comes to previous work experience.

Of course, this is a view based on the people I've worked with who accept resumes and it seemed like something I should share.

All in all, it's the quality of your portfolio that really matters.

Mike, i think people put stuff like "worked at burger king" etc etc to show transferable skills. And I would say that an employer is more likely to employ you if you have been emplyed before as it shows maturity and responsability. For example I am starting to apply to companies now for graphics based jobs but I am still putting down the fact that I worked in tech support etc for a couple of years just to show them that I have been employed and I have other skills outside of graphics. I agree that you dont need to put every job you've done but I would put something rather than "Not Applicable".

Just my tuppence worth
Alan

in my opinion, tech support for computers is an applicable skill and so, yes, I agree you ought to put that.