What you’ll learn
- Know how the art department is structured across design, set decoration and construction, who you answer to, and what an assistant's day actually contains.
- You will have a scored skills audit and a plan to fix the two gaps a coordinator would notice first, including technical drawing, SketchUp, Vectorworks and Photoshop.
- You will have found three real routes to experience this month, including the scenery and prop houses most beginners overlook, and you will know the rules on pay, unpaid work, the union and safety.
- You will have a one-page Stage 1 CV outline built beside the site's example, a portfolio plan, and a way of approaching coordinators and art directors that does not annoy them.
- You will have a saved plan and be able to say MFJF's five Stage 1 exit statements honestly, knowing what to do next: a mentor session, an Academy workshop and the HotList.
Where this leads
By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.
Finish the course and you can build your personal plan: MFJF's three-stage planner for this role, ticked from Your Profile and your CV, with dated next steps and the CV line each one becomes.
The role and the department
20 minWhat the art department actually does from the first sketch to the last truck out, who is in it, and what an assistant's day contains hour by hour.
- readWhat the art department does, from first sketch to last wrap8 min
- readWho is in it, who you answer to, and what your day actually contains8 min
- checkCheck: the department and the day4 min
Before day one: skills, software and the language
20 minThe skills art departments hire for and how to get each one now, the software and paperwork to be fluent in, the jargon, and the ten things every new assistant is told.
- readThe skills the department hires for, and how to get each one now7 min
- readSoftware, paperwork, jargon and the ten things every assistant is told6 min
- taskTask: your art department skills audit7 min
Getting experience at Stage 1
20 minWhere art department experience really comes from, including the scenery and prop houses most beginners overlook, and the rules on pay, unpaid work, the union and safety.
- readWhere art department experience really comes from7 min
- readThe rules: pay, hours, unpaid work, the union and staying safe6 min
- taskTask: find three routes this month7 min
Your CV, your portfolio and your first approaches
20 minWhat a Stage 1 art department CV contains and leaves out, the portfolio that goes with it, the cover email, how to approach people without annoying them, and what a reference means here.
- readYour Stage 1 CV, your portfolio, and how to approach people8 min
- taskTask: draft your Stage 1 CV outline8 min
- checkCheck: CV, portfolio and approaches4 min
The industry around the role
20 minThe wider map: studios, hire houses, the guild and the union, the career path and the site's three-year plan, where else the same skills get hired, and what the people in the case studies did.
- readThe wider map: studios, suppliers, the guild and where the path leads7 min
- resourcesThe art department library8 min
- checkCheck: the industry around the role5 min
Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2
20 minYour plan, saved: the role, the branch, the three routes, the skills to fix and the first approaches. Then the five statements that tell you that you are ready for Stage 2, and what to do next on MFJF.
- plannerYour art department plan10 min
- readHow you know you are ready for Stage 26 min
- checkCheck: ready for Stage 2?4 min
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