How To Become an Art Department Co-ordinator

How To Become an Art Department Coordinator

What is an Art Department Co-ordinator?
Art Department Co-ordinators provide daily administration and budgeting for the Art Department. This department is responsible for creating the overall look of a feature film or television show, with responsibility for designing, building and decorating the sets used for the production.

What is the job?
The Art Department Co-ordinator is hired at a very early stage in the production. They begin by collaborating with the Production Manager, deciding the Art Department’s budget and maintaining a line of communication to ensure that all costs are kept under control. Their main task is ensuring productive collaboration between crew members among set decorating, prop making, production, location scouting and construction. They will report to the Art Director and the Production Designer.

In addition to this, the Art Department Co-ordinator is responsible for scheduling build, dress and strike, all transportation and travel, shipment of equipment, and construction. On top of this, they will also be required to download, copy and deliver the necessary photos of locations and sets to the Production Designer.

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How To Become an FX TD

How To Become an FX TD

What is an FX TD?
FX TDs are Effects Technical Directors. They create physics-based digital effects, such as smoke, water, explosions and fire. These digital effects are then used by animation artists in their shots.

What is the job?
It is the FX TD’s responsibility to make sure the physics-based digital effects that they create look believable and are also consistent with the style of animation, to ensure that they blend seamlessly with the other components of the film. FX TDs aim to meet the Director’s vision in terms of digital effects, using the resources available to them.

The role of FX TD is both an artistic and technical role. As an FX Technical Director, you are likely to be the one with the highest skill level working in your department. Therefore, it will be part of your role to offer guidance to more junior Artists, give face-to-face technical help to all Animation and Lighting Artists, as well as communicate with other departments and provide a positive attitude to the working environment.

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How To Become a Rigging TD

How To Become a Rigging Technical Director

What is a Rigging TD?
A Rigging TD (Technical Director) is responsible for creating digital skeletons for 3D computer-generated models. They work to program these digital skeletons so that they move in a realistic way, and this is then used by Animators as a basis for their character’s movements.

What is the job?
A Rigging TD will work closely with a Modeller, whose job will be to draw a 3D computer-generated model in a static pose. This is then passed on to the Rigging TD who will program this to move in a realistic way. The Rigging TD may also receive the facial shapes and expressions of characters and it is their responsibility to work out how this character moves when they perform different expressions such as smiling.

From here, Animators will test rigs and then provide feedback to the Rigging TD, who will complete any requested adjustments. This process will continue until both the Rigging TD and the Animators are happy with the final result.

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How To Become a Rotoscoper

How To Become a Rotoscoper

What is a Rotoscoper?
Rotoscope Artists provide traced outlines (mattes) so that live-action objects can be integrated into layers for films, television shows, and video games. Instead of manually tracing each frame by hand, computers and complex software are used to make the process slightly easier.

What is the Job?
The main duties of a Rotoscoper involve tracing over live-action movements on film, in order to create more realistic and fluid animation. Modern technology has allowed this process to become a lot easier than it used to be; the old technique of projecting film images onto a glass panel to be redrawn has almost completely been replaced by computers. Rotoscopers will create detailed digital mattes with 2D image processing and drawing tools. The mattes are then used to remove wires, rigs, and other unwanted elements, as well as to make background fixes and extractions.

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How to Become a Lighting Technical Director

How To Become a Lighting Technical Director

What is a Lighting Technical Director?
A Lighting Technical Director (TD) is an essential member of the CGI team who adds surface qualities to objects, through adding depth to sets and characters with shadows, as well as light to provide illumination that helps accentuate the mood and emotion of a scene.

What is the Job?
As a Lighting Technical Director, you will be responsible for ensuring effects look as good as possible with the available resources. It is also your duty to write tools to facilitate lighting and shading rendering techniques, to ensure that shots can maintain the highest standard and continuity as required.

Lighting Technical Directors often work from references, such as paintings, drawings, photographs and film, as well as actual objects and locations. On top of this, they will work with a variety of different departments, such as art, digital paint and lighting, and will work in a variety of different stages of production (but will spend most of the job in rendering).

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How To Become a Grip

How To Become a Grip

What is a Grip?
A Grip is part of the production team that is responsible for developing and building sets for the production. It is usually an entry-level position and often requires a flexible schedule with irregular working hours.

What is the Job?
As a Grip, you will work primarily on complex equipment that supports the cameras and lighting. It can be a physically-demanding job, as it involves construction and set up, as well as the tearing down of sets once production has finished. It can involve setting up, maintaining and then dismantling backings, which are the large, painted backgrounds. On top of this, you may also have to order and sort out the renting of equipment, and carry out various administrative duties.

There are various types of Grips – the Key Grip, the Best Boy Grip, and the Dolly Grip. Often, individuals will begin as Grips, and then as they gain experience, they will specialise and through promotion may become the Key Grip.

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How To Become an Animation Producer

How To Become an Animation Producer

What is an Animation Producer?
An Animation Producer is an individual who takes on the role of Producer for an animated film or TV series. The Animation Producer is responsible for ensuring the final end product is produced on time, and within the budget allocated.

What is the Job?
The job of Animation Producer involves acting as the pathway for communication between the executives who run a studio, and the creative individuals who are actually making the animated product. Therefore, it is the Animation Producer’s job to budget and control the costs of making the production, in order to keep the executives happy but also to ensure that the creative individuals are able to make a final product that meets their expectations.

The Animation Producer is usually the highest ranking individual who is actually available day-to-day on a production, and therefore anything that goes wrong is seen as their responsibility. They will have to discuss any problems that arise, or any budgetary issues that the company has, with the executives. It is up to the Animation Producer to ensure that the final product is not delivered late, and is not over budget – and if it looks as if it will be, it is their job to fix things.

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How To Become a Development Producer

How To Become a Development Producer

What is a Development Producer?
A Development Producer is at the front of the development team (or on their own in a small independent company), and is responsible for bringing stories to life, in order to generate revenue for the company by securing commissions with broadcasters.

What is the Job?
The Development Producer has to have the creative ability to come up with new ideas, or to help develop other people’s ideas. However, they also need to have business knowledge and drive as they are responsible for pitching to commissioners who are often hard to please. The Development Producer has to know the idea inside out and must be prepared to answer any questions and queries at the pitch.

If the Development Producer fails to sell the idea in the pitch meeting, they will have to think on their feet and they must present alternative suggestions. Put simply: if the pitch isn’t a success, the company risks not securing any commissions, and therefore not making any money!

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How To Become a Texture Artist

How To Become a Texture Artist

What is a Texture Artist?
A Texture Artist is responsible for creating photorealistic textures for mapping onto 3D objects used in video games, films, television, music videos, or commercials.

What is the Job?
Texture Artists use a variety of software systems to create textures for environments, characters, objects, and props within animated films, television shows and video games. These textures will often be created from scratch, in which case the artist invents their own own textures using their imagination and creativity. Other times, the textures can be found in real life, such as wrinkles, fur, scales and sweat.

Texture Artists make 3D models look believable and life-like. They will often add imperfections, for example rust to oil cans, scuffs to trainers and reflections to windows to give the object an extra dimension. They are concerned with making surfaces realistic, in order to help the player or viewer forget that they are experiencing a computer-generated environment.

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How To Become a Motion Graphics Designer

How to become a Motion Graphics Designer

What is a Motion Graphics Designer?
A Motion Graphics Designer is responsible for creating complex graphics, animation, and live video content for the web, television, and film.

What is the Job?
Motion Graphics Designers are a fundamental part of the creative process. They are responsible for creating a variety of graphics, such as trailers, advertisements, movie clips and title sequences. They use visual effects and other cinematic techniques to bring life to paper sketches and ideas. Motion graphics design is really a subset of graphic design, taken to the next level, as designers must adopt graphic design principles in video and film production and then apply animation techniques on top.

A Motion Graphics Designer uses their skills to create moving words, logos, text and numbers on screen during a TV show or film. Day to day tasks can including designing graphics and animations using computer software, creating basic designs and drawings with pen and paper, converting static objects into animated objects through modelling and optical scanning and creating animated sequences.

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