Color Assistant

Job Description

Company: Company 3
Position: Color Assistant
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Hours of Operation: Night Shift - 5:00pm - 1:30am PST
*Pay Range: $25.00 - $32.00 USD hourly

The Color Assistant will work directly with the Colorists, Finishing Artists, and Production Team in a fast-paced environment to help manage project media assets throughout the duration of a title in the studio. Color Assistants must communicate effectively with several departments, execute requests from the client, and be able to quickly diagnose and troubleshoot issues as the arise. Assists are also responsible for the final file deliveries of all projects and must maintain a high level of quality control during the mastering process. Color Assistants must utilize technical skills to ensure all elements within a project are input/output correctly and to the requested file specifications. 

This is not a remote position and will require working in studio on a regular basis. You may be required to travel and work out of our studios in Santa Monica and Hollywood. You must be willing to work overtime and weekends. Available to work variable shifts, including second shift and swing shift, as necessary per business needs.

MAIN DUTIES:
The Color Assistant will be responsible for the preparation of projects/sessions, execution of job, final delivery, final billing, communications, and engineering. Their duties include:
Preparations for Projects/Sessions
• Project and Database setup per the defined department standard.
• Basic Color-tracing of projects.
• Communicate with the project producer and or associate producer any issues that may arise with elements.
• Flag and contact the project producer and or associate producer on any shots that are not delivered in the correct color space.
• Update the project producer and or associate producer on any prep issues or spec changes.

Execution of Job
• Set up color suites 15 minutes prior to session start per session requirements.
• Check color project for issues and playback performance prior to session start and client arrival.
• Keep in communications with the project producer and or associate producer on any outstanding footage needed to complete the project.
• Communicate to artist all project details necessary for the artist to execute the project.
• Confirm details of laydown requirements, etc. with project producer or associate producer.
• Help monitor the progress of a session, keeping the project producer and or associate producer updated on its status.
• Communicate machine downtime to producer, associate producer, production coordinator and engineering.
• Ensure hero stills are updated and grabbed for all timelines.
• Update production team with any spec and or delivery changes.

Final Delivery
• Communicate with project producer and/or associate producer on any additional requests made by the clients in the bay.
• Render/Record project per project specs.
• Label elements as requested per project specs.
• Label finished elements clearly to indicate episode, cut number/letter, date, etc.
• Quality checking all rendered material for any missing material or corruption.
• Update project producer and/or associate producer on any cut-offs in jeopardy of being missed.
• Contact vault once elements are ready for shipping.
• Update producer and vault on any shipping updates.

Final Billing
• Ensure all Tasks are filled out with all relevant details and are submitted once completed.

Communications
• Touch base with producer and or associate producer before leaving shift for handoff notes, etc.
• Update producer and or associate producer all relevant information for all aspects of the project; Prep and Post.

Engineering
• Reporting all system repair needs via the EMR Jira system. For urgent matters immediately contact the operations and your producer.
• Keep production up to date on the status of any situation that directly affects the session and or is deliveries.

Additional Duties:
• Familiarity with various file formats and respective measure units
• Develop understanding of the relation between episodic production team and the various support teams (Operations, Deliverables, Archives)
• Active participation in rotating production meetings

WHAT YOU BRING:
The ideal candidate will have knowledge of digital capture cameras and files and have a background and/or knowledge of offline editing. They will have prior Avid and/or FCP experience, file-based workflow experience, and knowledge of HDR and Dolby Vision workflows and mobile storage devices and formats. They must have strong communication skills and be highly organized, with the ability to anticipate and balance the needs of multiple stakeholders.
• Must be able to work out of both of our Los Angeles studios on an as needed basis.
• Must be able to work variable shifts, including occasional overtime and on weekends, as needed.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to juggle multiple priorities and projects.
• Great interpersonal skills, meticulous, always organized and work calmly and professionally especially during high pressure situations.
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment; and ability to manage ambiguity and competing priorities.
• Highly organized and able to work independently within their own process.
• An appetite to learn and master the digital finishing workflow including image acquisition technologies, digital camera types, best editorial procedure, online-conform, color correction, LUTs, digital cinema, HDR and deliverable requirements and procedures relevant to each of your projects.

Nice to Haves:
• BlackMagic Resolve and/or other color correction software experience a plus.
• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with internal faculties including editorial, color, operations, data, and engineering.
• Entertainment and/or Media Industry experience preferred.
• Experience with Microsoft Office: Outlook, Excel, and Word
• Experience with task-based systems (Asana, ClickUp, Jira)

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d8jvp9-18-116-8-41-42 in your application.