B - Animae Caribe

28
Careers in Animation & Film
The goal of the Animae Caribe
festival is to propel the animation
and new media industry of Trinidad
and Tobago into the forefront of this
region’s multi-billion dollar industry.
Careers in animation are very
rewarding as the industry develops
worldwide. Almost all animation is the
work of a team consisting of positions
listed below.
Animator: Animators produce
computer-generated images,
animations for advertisements,
television stations, video games,
training films, feature length films and
other projects.
Assistant Animator: Prepares
drawings to fill the intervals between
key poses or frames. In betweeners
also refine the sketches, clean and
tighten up lines, and darken shadows.
Producer: Hires the team, locates
investors, manages expenses, handles
distribution, and is responsible for the
overall development of the film.
Writer: Identifies the subject of the
film, defines the characters, and
develops the story line and dialogue.
Charter Developer: Makes model
sheets, sometimes called “roughs”
(thumbnail sketches and models of
the figures depicting the range of
movement, key poses, expressions
and emotions of the characters) based
on the designer’s concepts.
Storyboard Artist: Creates
sequential drawings or storyboards
that show the scope of the film’s
action.
Backgrounder: Studies what’s
happening in the scene and draws
appropriate backgrounds, usually in
watercolor.
Director: Responsible for the overall
coordination of all animated characters
within a project, including layouts,
storyboards and voice talent.
Assistant Directors: Work in any
artistic department supporting a wide
range of digital artists and/or TDs.
ATDs will be expected to execute:
muscle and skin dynamics simulations,
particle simulations, cloth simulations,
Shell or Mel scripting, shader writing/
support and implementation of a
rendering pipeline.
Inker, Opaquer and Checker:
The inker traces the outline of each of
the sketches onto an acetate sheet.
An opaquer then takes the outlined
acetate sheets completed by the inker
and paints the colors of the characters
on the opposite side. A checker makes
sure all the cells, layers, exposure
sheets, bar sheets and backgrounds
are executed, marked and registered
prior to the beginning of filming.
Film Editor: Cuts together the
pieces of exposed film, matching the
images to the sound track. Prepares
footage for duplication and printing.
Special Effects Animator:
Special/Visual effects animators
are used in film, television, and the
entertainment industry to create effects
that cannot be achieved by normal
means or are otherwise too expensive.
Project Manager: A business
position that acts organizes and
oversees an animation project hiring
and supervising a team and ensuring
that deadlines and budgets are met.
Modelers: Create complex,
organic models needed for character
animation, prop elements for effects,
and environmental sets. Applicants
must have strong expertise in complex
3D modeling package(s) such as
Maya.
Lighting/Compositing Artists:
Understand color, contrast, and
lighting design, along with a solid
familiarity with 3D lighting in a
production environment.
Visual Development Artists:
Explore a literary or musical property
under consideration for and adaptable
to animated films. These artists will
experiment with the diverse elements
of film presentation to manipulate
dramatic-comic story moments (and
plot thrust), moods, character conflict,
place-time motifs and possible
stylization.
EDUCATION THE NEXT STEP – local
institutions.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
UTT – Diploma in Animation.
UWI – Visual Arts Degree,
where animation is introduced.
UWI - Film and Video
Certificate in Animation.
Ministry of Tertiary Education
– re-training programme in
animation and multi-media.
Private institution which provide
software training.