Jr Technical Director

Job Description

Jr Technical Director (Project Hire)

Lucasfilm Animation and creators of the Emmy award-winning animation series ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' and the highly successful animation series ''Star Wars Rebels'' and ''Star Wars Resistance'' are looking for a Junior Technical Director who reflects the innovative spirit, creative talent, and passion for great storytelling and filmmaking that define Lucasfilm Ltd.

The primary role of a Junior TD is to support the CG Supervisor & Lighting/FX Lead for development, execution, and delivery of visual effects for internal shot production and assisting overseas teams with upcoming visual challenges.

Relentless, inquisitive, resourceful, and energetic are key words for the Jr. Technical Director.
On any given day, you might be working closely with the CG Supervisor to create a light-rig to test a new Star Wars character, set, or vehicle. On this same day, you might also be asked to help our Matte Dept. to set up a Maya & Nuke matte projection setup. That might entail building some new geometry or maybe just digging through past episodes to find something that can be resurrected and used again. Some days might include a screening of a new episode during which our Show Runner or one of our Directors might one day turn to you and ask for your ''fresh perspective.'' Every day you will attend Lighting Dailies with the Director of Cinematography and CG Supervisor, observing the creative collaboration that makes Star Wars ''Star Wars.'' But mostly, you will be asked to be a highly creative problem solver.
Being a part of the Lucasfilm Animation team that creates animated Star Wars content means that we work together as a team to make every single episode better than the last. You will be tasked with challenges, some more difficult than others, and bordering impossible. However, as a team we can make the impossible happen, and learn together.

Responsibilities:

Look Development for Internal/External Shot Production
• Work with CG Supervisor to foresee challenges in all upcoming episodes for all shows in production, as well as prototype development for new productions.
• Continually developing and maintaining CG Lighting methods, Compositing Tools, Matte Projection, and FX rigs to use internally, and to document and share with overseas teams.
• Test rendering of all CG Sets, Vehicles, and New Characters to ensure that a desired look for a given episode can be achieved by the lighting team.
• Communicate with internal teams, and as requested, with the overseas team to aid in development and delivery of visual targets, and increased efficiency with FX, Lighting, Matte Projection setups.

Internal Shot Production
• Render and Composite internal/external animation selected for internal shot production.
• Create FX elements and final composite using all available tools.
• Collect elements internally and/or download delivered files from the overseas team.
• Optimize render methods for enhancing internal/external shot production.
• Present completed shots to CG Supervisor for notes and address any notes given to achieve final approval.
• Communicate daily with the department Production Coordinator for progress updates on development, and internal shot production deadlines.
• Document methods used for future use and external education.
• Re-render and composite non-motion blurred frames as requested by the Image Unit team.

Pipeline Development
• Work with CG Supervisor and/or Digital Asset Supervisor to further develop inefficiencies of internal/external pipeline and work flow demands.
• Aid storyboard and asset departments with creation of proxy geometry, matte/projections representations and FX proxy stand-ins as requested.
• Maintain and document development methods directly related to internal/external shot production (Animation/Lighting/FX).
• When requested, attend meetings with internal teams and external studio development teams.

Lighting/FX Dailies and Reference Research
• Work with CG Supervisor to collect footage of past show episodes to aid in current episode/show look development and reference.
• Research, collect, and catalog reference imagery as requested by CG Supervisor that pertains to upcoming Lighting/FX Kick-off meetings.
• Attend after hours Lighting/FX kick-off meetings with overseas vendors as requested.
• Assist CG Supervisor & Lighting Lead with FX and Lighting annotations.
• On request, attend Color Grade sessions.

Basic Qualifications:
• 2+ years' experience in animation, feature, or video game computer graphics pipeline workflow.
• Solid understanding of lighting, photography.
• Admiration for great filmmaking.
• Basic knowledge of Art History.
• Excellent communication, time-management, and organizational skills are a must.
• Ability to plan and execute complex 3d lighting scenes including working with layers and passes, doing complex comps and optimizing scenes and renders.
• Solid understanding of 3d Geometry asset build, rigging, and texture material creation.
• Highly proficient skills in technical problem solving.
• Must be able to communicate with the crew and production team accurately and effectively.
• Demo reel and/or portfolio required.
• Strong working knowledge of Maya/Houdini/Nuke/Photoshop/SubstanceDesigner&Painter/Arnold/VRAY.
• Basic knowledge of MEL/Python.
• Basic knowledge of UNREAL or similar workflow.

Required Education
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Art/Science or Computer Graphics or equivalent work experience.

About Lucasfilm:

Lucasfilm is a global leader in film, television and digital entertainment production. In addition to its motion-picture and television production, the company's activities include visual effects, audio post-production and cutting-edge digital animation, interactive entertainment software, and the management of the global merchandising activities for its entertainment properties including the legendary STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES franchises. Lucasfilm Ltd. is headquartered in northern California.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with the following business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney's stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d5b897-18-191-132-194-42 in your application.