on rejection and weather
- Elise Jolie
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
i created this animation/vfx scene to accompany a poem i wrote about rejection, persistence, and navigating today's creative job market. while making it, i found myself reflecting on my own experience searching for work over the past few months.
the piece started with a simple image: sitting beneath a tree while weather passed overhead. but instead of rain, the storm became resumes, rejection letters, portfolio pages, storyboards, and unfinished projects. i wanted the weather to feel beautiful at first. subtle. something drifting through the background. because that's what rejection eventually becomes. not an event. just something that happens.
sometimes when i try to explain the creative job market to people in other industries, they look baffled. especially when i mention things like:
500+ applications...
five rounds of interviews for an entry-level position..
portfolio reviews, test assignments, presentations...
but for a lot of creatives, that's the reality.
i've been job hunting for about two months since my last position ended, and honestly, it doesn't feel much different than when i was applying straight out of grad school. the titles are different now, but the process feels the same. i apply every day. i customize cover letters. i update resumes. i research companies. job searching becomes its own full-time job.
the rejection emails arrive almost daily. i've lost track of how many interview processes i've made it deep into only to hear no at the very end. the most intense one was five rounds, ending with a four-hour in-person interview and a timed assignment.
i didn't get the job.
while animating this piece, i kept coming back to the idea that rejection feels less like a single dramatic moment and more like weather. some days it's barely noticeable. other days it feels impossible to ignore. but eventually you realize that if every rejection destroys you, you'll never make it through a creative career.
so the animation became less about rejection itself and more about staying put while the storm passes.
technically, this project ended up being one of the more ambitious things i've made in a while. i built the environment in after effects using layered collage elements, parallax animation, green screen footage, floating assets, particle systems, and a lot of trial and error. the tree became this giant symbolic structure overhead while pages, letters, and fragments of creative work slowly accumulated around it. there were definitely moments where i wasn't sure if the concept was working, but those are usually the projects worth finishing.
i don't think persistence is always loud. sometimes it looks like continuing to apply after another rejection email. sometimes it looks like opening after effects and making something anyway.
being creative means putting your work—and sometimes yourself—up for evaluation over and over again. it means hearing no far more often than yes. it's frustrating. it's exhausting. but i entered this field knowing it was competitive.
so i'll keep creating. i'll keep applying. and i'm not going to let the storm scare me away.
if you're in the middle of a difficult job search too, i hope you keep going. sometimes the most important thing you can do is stay long enough to see the weather change.
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