Yes, Whateley, EA does suck.

So what happened? Well, it turns out that EA doesn't really take animation interns. They rarely hire animators straight out of school. In fact, they are only looking for interns in modelling, texturing, environmental art, and lighting.

BUT... did they tell us that? Nooooooooooooooo.

Instead, I stayed up all night to make a stupid DVD of my reel that they wouldn't even look at because it wasn't rendered! The guy told me to use non-generic models, texture them, light them, and basically come up with a finished production piece... to showcase my freakin' animation skills. Because, of course, my modelling and texturing abilities determine how well I can animate.

So it sucks that about half the people interviewing were either animators or concept artists (another position that they rarely hire recent grads for), so we all ended up wasting our efforts for this interview! I mean, sure they gave us feedback, but pretty much, the unspoken suggestion was that we instead become modellers or texture artists, and if you can animate too... well, that's just hunky-dory and maybe they'll have a project for you years later... if they haven't fired you by that point.

My biggest beef with them (besides the f-ed up way they evaluate the reels) is that the least they could do was be honest with us. I'd much rather hear, "Well, we rarely hire animation interns unless you're a genius" rather than, "Well, please submit your animation reels and by the way, we don't really have animation interns, but we don't want to discourage you."

Full production pieces.... I swear. EA's got the rep (that most game companies have anyway) that they just work you to death and spit you out, so I didn't really want to work for them anyway. But I really wanted to have the learning opportunity, or at least the professional experience on my resume, and it looks like I won't be able to really try for it until I finish my final project in December.

So yes, EA sucks.