The Layout Artist reports to the Director, CG Supervisor and Cinematic Producer. Their first priority is to create dynamic, creative and inspiring cinematic expressions for the film that support the narrative, adhere to the Director's vision (as represented by the story reel) and work within production assumptions. If your interests are in filmmaking, then this is the right position for you!
Responsibilities:
- Work closely with the Director, CG Supervisor and story team to create cinematic sequences in the 3-D environment that both interpret and enhance the unique vision for the story
- Must be able to work from storyboards and/or create sequences from script treatments
- Able to analyze, trouble-shoot and creatively solve cinematic problems that inevitably arise in the course of production
- Able to create entire previs sets from both predesigned set pieces as well as mockup elements from scratch
- Able to pitch and effectively communicate these solutions and ideas to the Director, Pre-viz Supervisor and creative team
- Work with the Director, story team to refine sequence and shot iterations until approved
- Adhere to pipeline protocols for the pre-viz/shot prep department, as established by production
- Identify and flag any pipeline or department work-flow problems that may arise
- Adhere to the production schedule for the department
- Attend department meetings to keep up to date on story reel changes and department requirements
- Communicate in a timely fashion with production for all inter-department issues
- Attend all sequence reviews, launches and approvals with the Director and maintain detailed and accurate notes
- Provide a clean, legible final file and appropriate notes to the next department
- Breakdown final sequences into individual shots ready to move to downstream departments
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in computer Science or computer animation or equivalent work
- 5+ years of experience creating cinematic pre-visualizations or rough layout for CG animation, with multiple feature film experience
- A strong interest in pre-viz/layout, storytelling
- Strong knowledge of cinematic language and the fundamentals of image structure, staging, lensing and composition
- Strong knowledge of story structure
- High degree of experience and skill with editing in Premier and Maya is required
- Shotgun knowledge
Pluses:
- Passion for games and cinematics
- Proficiency shooting with camera capture systems and processing resulting data
- Capable of shooting well exposed and composed photos / videos in practical photography
- Professional experience with game development
- Experience with Python or MEL scripting in Maya
At Blackbird, we're all about being true to our roots. We started small in our CEO's garage, and even though we're expanding, our desire is to stick to that foundation of creativity, community, and collaboration. Our team has proved that great ideas can come from any position in any discipline, so it's important to us to make sure every voice is heard.
Work/life balance is extremely important to us, and we've demonstrated that over the years by severely limiting over-time requirements. We want people to be happy about coming to work every day, and to that end we offer lots of opportunities for growth and development; whether it's lunch and learns, team events, or our generous vacation days, paid holiday closure and flexible schedules. We also try to provide every opportunity possible for our employees to spearhead R&D initiatives through our BlackOps program. In short, don't expect to feel like a cog in a machine working for BBI.
Due to COVID-19, applicants must be eligible to work in Canada, or currently in Canada on a work permit/visa. With the exception of specifically on-site roles, all roles will commence as a work-from-home arrangement. This arrangement will be revisited as COVID-19 government regulations are eased.
Please send a cover letter with your resume and application. If applying for an artistic role, please provide a link to your portfolio and/or demo reel.
If you are interested in the role, please apply even if your experience and skills don’t perfectly match our ideal credentials. We are committed to diversity and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply. As an equal opportunity employer we encourage applications from all qualified individuals. BBI does not discriminate against applicants based on genders, races, national and ethnic origins, religions, ages, sexual orientation, marital and family status, and/or mental or physical disabilities.
