Freelancing

Freelance is the term given to someone who is self-employed. They will be temporarily employed by a company to do a set amount of work and then after they have finished the work the employment will end. It differs from a normal job because you aren’t fixed to a single company and your income can differ depending on the amount of work your getting at the time. Some of the advantages of working freelance are; you can get to work from home, you get can work for allot of companies so work on a  wide variety of projects, the pay can be high for a small amount of work. Freelancing does come with disadvantages. Work is not guaranteed so your pay isn’t constant, starting out is difficult because you don’t have a reputation, theres allot of competition, because you work for yourself you have to buy your own equipment and some of the equipment required is expensive. Some freelances are represented by a larger company who find work and freelance there workers out to the other companies. Networking is very important in freelancing because you create contacts which are needed for getting work, also companies recommend good freelances to each other. A good short showreel of only your best work is very important, this is so clients will see your best work but not get bored from a long showreel.

guest speaker- Joel the guest speaker spoke about his work with companies such as cartoon network and nickelodeon, he spoke about how starting out is difficult because you have to get a name for yourself. He said you should do one or two jobs for free to “gain experience” and “for your portfolio” but not many otherwise people will always expect free work. He also said that you shouldn’t take a job if it has an unrealistic deadline because you wont be able to deliver the product.