Layout Artist

Job Description

Mikros Animation is a global CGI animation studio, part of Technicolor Creative Studios, located in Paris, Montreal, Los Angeles, Bangalore and London, dedicated to feature films and episodic content. Since its inception, Mikros Animation has always put creativity and CG artistry at the heart of its animation and production activities, allowing our artists to work across a great variety of stories with a high level of stylized craft. So far, Mikros Animation has contributed to ten released feature animations and to numerous high-quality animated series, for the world's best-known animation studios, either as creative studio, line producer or executive producer. Mikros Animation has also produced more than 250 hours of programming, broadcast by notable channels including Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, TF1, France TV, Gulli, M6, Gloob, and Super RTL. Our animated episodic content airs and streams globally, in over 180 countries.

At Mikros Animation, we believe great animation is about making real connections with real people. By partnering with filmmakers to unite their creative visions, with our industry-leading craftsmanship and artistry, we create characters that connect with audiences on an authentic and emotional level to bring powerful stories to life.

The layout artist works in collaboration with the film director, his/her supervisor & lead to establish the camera angle and staging required to successfully recreate the ideas from the script/storyboard into 3D. They are the stylistic and technical eye of the entire scene, as well as choreographers of character action.

Layout artists interpret storyboards & animatics to their final iterations... They determine the position of characters within frame according to the dialogue and action of the script.

Role & responsibilities:
• Liaising with the supervisor/lead regarding the execution of the layout
• Preparing for sequence launches in advance & clearing out all doubts during the launch discussions
• Having a clear understanding of the objectives and director requirements before starting work
• Working from the storyboard/animatic/previz & director notes to set up the layout file for animation
• Setting the camera & staging of characters in a scene
• Ensuring continuity between shots
• Experimenting with camera angles for improvisation to arrive at the best possible output
• Providing various options of scenes (at the behest of the director/supervisor) during the layout process
• Identifying and communicating potential problems to the lead/supervisor accurately (before they become a concern for the client) and also offering the relevant solutions
• Providing assistance & guidance to the newer/junior members in the team

Skills required:
• Good level of prior work experience as a 'Layout artist'
• Exceptional knowledge of cameras and lenses
• Advanced visual skills of scale, proportion, point of view, perspective, size, color, form, composition and depth of field (experience in photography is an advantage)
• Strong understanding of film language & filmmaking techniques such as cinematography, staging, lighting, acting, choreography, etc.
• Knowledge of the basics of animation, with a good understanding of anatomy & posing
• High consistent standard of quality and speed
• Planning and organizing – ability to work on a number of priorities and turn around shots in a timely manner
• Ability to operate independently with minimum supervision
• Good communication skills
• Ability to problem solve
• Knowledge of basic editing skills

Qualifications

Layout Essentials:
• Experience with Maya
• Experience with physical cameras, photography and image composition

Any of the following experience is a great advantage:
• A demonstrable interest in the more technical areas of CGI (Rigging, FX, etc.)

The details above provide an outline of the key requirements for candidates to apply for a role in this department. At Technicolor we have a number of job classifications within our artist team structure. These are:
• Artist
• Senior Artist

Based on your skills we will assess your suitability for a particular role during the application process.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g43qpq-18-224-53-202-42 in your application.