CG Supervisor

Description

Reports to: Producer/Chief Executive Officers

Position Description:
The CG Supervisor, in collaboration with the Director & Producer (as well as with the Art Director and departmental leads), determines the technical approach needed to achieve the desired look and behavior of the assets in a 3D Stereoscopic Feature Film via use of CG software within the agreed upon pipeline for the production. The CG Supervisor works with the Producer to estimate project schedules and monitor project progress while ensuring that the assets of the production are created, constructed, and structured to look the way the Director has determined. The Supervisor is also responsible for all assets to function and move efficiently, shot-by-shot throughout all the departments across the entire pipeline.
The CG Supervisor is also responsible for designing, developing and improving production focused pipeline workflow processes while also acting as Senior TD during visual development on the teaser. The CG Supervisor may also be called upon to do shot work when necessary during visual development while spearheading the goals of the departments.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Identify, define, prioritise, and implement specific creative and production workflow processes to enhance the production's creative tools;
• To oversee the leadership of Department Leads and Technical Directors working directly on the production;
• To create, develop, and build consensus between Technology, Artists, and Production Management to assist the Director(s) to realise their vision;
• To collaborate with Producer(s) and Director(s) to formulate bids and time lines for various aesthetic and technological aspects of the production;
• To develop a strategy for the successful integration of the studio’s art and design skills/resources by implementing hardware and software and workflow solutions that best suit the needs of the production;
• To help to develop and implement training programs to enhance skill sets within departments;
• To work with Head of Production to define recruiting goals to achieve the appropriate balance of qualified personnel;
• To set goals for Production Management to successfully manage the day-to-day production needs in a manner that instills trust and confidence from the Producer(s) and Director (s). This day-to-day production management should include an effective process for communicating required staffing changes and judgments with some mechanism for planning, forecasting (and ultimately delivering on) potential staffing scenarios for anticipated work;
• To oversee asset and shot creation for feature film production as well as other projects in development per established guidelines and timelines;
• To help identify and troubleshoot and debug creative and technical issues as they arise over the course of visual development, pre-production, or production to ensure teams meet quotas;
• To ensure shots meet established render requirements;
• To spearhead the supervision of file management during pipeline creation;
• To work collaboratively with other departments such as Technology, Texturing, VFX, outsourced R&D solutions;
• To define and produce R&D goals for the production based upon the aesthetics, the pipeline, and workflow of the departments;
• To maintain awareness of the broader show needs, specifically as they relate to the Lighting and Compositing Department (schedule, complexity of setups, etc.);
• To troubleshoot production problems, and proactively work to minimize their impact;
• To design and execute project work plans to produce known deliverables on a pre-determined timetable;
• To be aware of new technologies, techniques, and processes that will benefit studio’s production processes for current and future projects;
• To share and present new research, ideas and technology with others in the studio;
• Perform shot work/fixes as required during production.

• Proven ability, supervising a CG Animated Feature Film through the complete production process
• 5+ Years of (CG) Experience, Feature Film experience a must
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent job experience
• Proven experience as a production Technical Director with expertise in one or more commercial applications including: Maya, Houdini, 3Delight/Renderman, Arnold, Nuke or Fusion. Programming experience in Python, Perl, MEL, C++ or C is also valuable. The CG Supervisor should be highly proficient in technical issues surrounding all aspects of simulation in Maya, including particles, soft and rigid body dynamics, cloth, fluids and hair.
• Strong communication skills, with proven ability to communicate creative and technical ideas
• Superior time management and prioritization skills
• Self-motivated and able to work with minimal supervision
• Flexible and adaptable to change
• Responsible for the leadership of Department Leads/Sequence Supervisors and Technical Directors working directly on the production
• Coach and mentor junior coworkers as required
• Ability to communicate well to those that might not yet understand the technology
• Ability to successfully delegate and mentor people and projects

• A strong combined technical and creative background with in-depth knowledge of 2D and 3D computer graphics
• Knowledge of the successful combination of 2D design and 3D execution
• Ability to write code and assist in tool/pipeline R&D development
• Experience with PyQt or wxPython
• Experience using various scripting languages - primarily Python, Mel, CShell
• Experience in C/C++ or some other object-oriented programming language
• Experience with subversion, cvs or another revision control system
• Excellent troubleshooting/debugging skills