Animation Supervisor (GENERAL)

At Mainframe Studios, we’re creators first. We eat creative and technical challenges for breakfast and come back for more. We’ve been doing this for 25+ years, and we’re still going strong. We’re lucky enough to have the best team in the business. From our artists to our technical and production folks, everyone is passionate about collaborating on some kickass projects. We’ve partnered with the biggest names in the business to create a huge library of content. With partners like Mattel, Netflix, DreamWorks, Sony, Silvergate, and Nickelodeon, it's no wonder we’ve established ourselves as a creative force to be reckoned with.

WE WANT YOU (and your mad skills)! 

We are looking for a talented Animation Supervisor to join our team! Under the guidance of the Director, on a CG animated film, the Animation Supervisor provides creative mentorship to the animation team by example.

Responsibilities and Duties

  • Facilitates efforts to define and set the creative standards for the project.
  • Collaborates with Animation Director, Leads and Principals to define and implement techniques and processes that help realize and enhance the performance of characters.
  • Motivates, mentors and supports the crew to consistently strive towards excellence within the parameters of the production plan.
  • Oversees character consistency throughout film, ensuring that key character and story moments are supported through performance.
  • Evaluates and casts animators to characters/sequences/shots that best suit to their skill set.
  • Collaborates with creative and technical staff to ensure animation feasibility within the confines of schedule and budget.
  • Seeks creative options to maximize re-use when applicable.
  • Collaborates with Producer and HR on managing performance.  Responsible for completing artists’ performance reviews.
  • Attends meetings and coordinates efforts with other production staff and supervisors to facilitate optimal production flow.
  • Provides vision, feedback, motivation and support to the team.
  • Provides coaching, mentoring and training as necessary.
  • Partners with production management to establish and manage the department workflow in order to facilitate high quality animation and consistent delivery of weekly quotas.
  • Ensures that the animators are achieving balance, composition and timing requirements in a way that enhances story and character performance.
  • Guides animation team to creatively enhance material in order to achieve set standards of performance and complexity.
  • Interprets, implements, and facilitates notes and feedback from Director in a timely manner and of highest quality.
  • Adheres to digital file management protocols.
  • Aligns and engages with the values of Mainframe: a culture of community, connectivity, creativity and collaboration.
  • Interacts respectfully and professionally with colleagues, staff members and clients.

Qualifications and Skills

  • Degree and/or diploma in fine arts or animation or equivalent experience required.
  • 4-6+ years of experience working in a professional environment within their discipline.
  • Highly skilled in traditional animation, stop motion or claymation.
  • Expertise in principles of animation (i.e. squash and stretch, overlapping action, weighting and timing).
  • Superior knowledge anatomy, perspective and composition.
  • Expertise in acting skills that in turn set the standards for the project's character performance.
  • Advanced knowledge of modeling, character rigging and facial animation.
  • Superior knowledge of software is required. Advanced knowledge of Maya animation tools.
  • Excellent storytelling skills along with expertise on how to enrich acting performance.
  • Ability to communicate ideas clearly both verbally and visually; excellent communication and inter-personal skills.
  • Ability to collaborate and facilitate feedback requested by executives and/or clients.
  • Demonstrated excellent leadership skills inspiring the team to work as a cohesive unit and deliver high quality animation.
  • Ability to liaison with production management to define and articulate production requirements; Ability to predict potential problems and troubleshoot as necessary.
  • Adaptable and able to change course of action quickly per production needs. Highly motivated, pro-active, solutions-oriented, solid work ethic and positive attitude. Ability to work well under pressure. Consistently strives to expand knowledge base.
  • Outstanding organizational and time management skills. Ability to multi-task and delegate. Thorough knowledge of the production process and pipeline
  • Exceptional problem solving skills and ability to work collaboratively. Actively improves skill set to remain at cutting edge of industry trends.
  • Ability to oversee and deliver the highest quality animation feasible within the production parameters and consistently meet departmental production quota requirements.