Being Noticed in the Creative Media

Hard work alone does not guarantee that your work will be seen or heard in the creative media. Sometimes the works of some artists are incredible but unfortunately they might not be discovered at or “was unheralded in their own time, but who has posthumously (after death) been celebrated as a great artist” (SAE creative institute, 2015). An example of that, given in Week 1: Overview: Your Professional Identity & How We Are the Same, was Connie Converse. Her music was about her own experience as an intelligent and creative young woman. Converse was a singer-songwriter. She was trying to establish herself in the mid-century American and to find love. Even though her music was mostly humorous, the characters in them seem lonely, unfulfilled, or somehow misfit to society’s norms. She was not discovered while she was still alive but today her used is loved as “her hipster aesthetic and progressive, melancholic sentiment jibe with life in the early 21st century”(SAE creative institute, 2015). Some of the possible reasons why her music might not have been popular: There might not have been any audience for this kind of music. The content of her music was viewed negatively as it included hooking up with men in bars. She might not have interested the gatekeepers of the live performance and recording industry. She might have had a mental illness, such as anxiety to depression, which kept her away from performing her music. However, since the 1950s the media and society have greatly changed. This does not mean these sorts of issues that Converse faced no longer exist, we have new ways that allows us to build an audience, promote ourselves, and sell our work in ways that were impossible back then.

Connie Converse album cover

This is one of my many concerns in this industry. I get nervous presenting my work and having to show it to people. I sometimes do not even think it is good enough so I prevent myself from giving a chance for my work to be presented. Also having to stand out and present myself is a skill I need to build up. I do put lots of effort in my work but I do not know how to put it out there for people to notice it. Fortunately, since I am doing animation, I do not have to perform or such. This makes it much easier for me. I mostly have to provide good work then share it around on social media and perhaps it could be more noticed.

One example of an astonishing people who have not been discovered or their work until after their death, Emily Dickinson. One of the greatest writers or poets of all times that is being studied today at schools and universities. Dickinson died May 15, 1886. Little of her work was published at the time of her death and few of them were edited and altered to fit the conventional standards of the time. In this alteration, Dickinson's powerful, unusual use of syntax and form was lost. After Dickinson’s death, her sister discovered hundreds of poems that Emily crafted during her life. “The first volume of these works was published in 1890. A full compilation, The Poems of Emily Dickinson, wasn't published until 1955, though previous iterations had been released”(Biography.com Editors, 2016). This proves that some of the best creative people were not discovered during their times because they did not fit in the culture at that time and they could not have access to promoting their own work. Even though Emily Dickinson is not really related to animation, she is still an inspirational woman to me. She puts feelings and emotions in her words that I want to have in my characters.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Emily Dickinson

Creative media is not just hard work. One will not simply just create an animation and will magically pop to people and start to be noticed. In this industry, like many others, you need to stand out and spread your work. It is essential to present and spread your work in order to be noticed. It is much easier today, rather than year ago, with help of social media to show and present your work to the people. It is not just about creativity, it is also the business of being creative.

References

Biography.com Editors. (2016, March 3). Emily Dickinson Biography. In The Biography.com website. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from http://www.biography.com/people/emily-dickinson-9274190

SAE Creative Institute. (2015, February 2). Week 1: Overview: Your Professional Identity & How We Are the Same. In Self-Directed Practitioners. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from https://medium.com/self-directed-practitioners/week-1-overview-your-professional-identity-d3037f34cb8e#.m60ot7wjk