Prep Lead

Company Description

As a company founded and run by an artist, it's our mission to provide talented artists with the freedom and resources they need to deliver quality work and to thrive in a fun and creative environment.

**Job Description**:
The Prep Lead is responsible for leading Roto or Paint tasks and ensures that quality standards and deadlines established by production and supervisors are met.

**Main responsibilities**:

- Use paint and compositing techniques in Nuke to produce clean plates, remove rigs or other artifacts, etc. This may involve generating pre-comps for use by Compositors, or may require taking shots to completion;
- Create rotoscoping masks for digital image compositors and understand their use in the compositing process;
- Remove and restore grain from images before they are routed to another department;
- Use expressions in Nuke to facilitate digital painting;
- Have a good understanding of the 3D environment in Nuke, and be able to use geodata to do projection;
- Perform image integration of base plans in Nuke, and demonstrate skills in color difference masking (keying), color correction, resynchronization, and screen integration to the original image;
- Work closely with the Compositing Supervisor and Production to find creative and technical solutions and approaches that meet project requirements and deadlines;
- Participate in the creation of tools for their speciality. Test the tools before their integration, and ensure clear and accessible documentation;
- Oversee the work of a team of artists on a show, demonstrating an expert standard of skills in the specialty and a positive, solution-driven attitude;
- In collaboration with production, plan and assign appropriate tasks to team members, taking into consideration their abilities, level and the project workflow and timing;
- Provide feedback on internal artist’s and outsource vendor work to ensure it meets quality standards and corresponds with client’s artistic vision;
- Communicate promptly with the Production Team and Department Manager regarding any artist who may not have enough work. May assist in finding alternative tasks (training, R&D pipeline tools, etc);
- Mentor members of their team by providing training and sharing knowledge. Communicate any training needs for their team to the Head of Department. May participate in preparing training materials or giving group training sessions;
- Participate in mid & post mortem reviews, and annual reviews of artists by providing feedback to the Head of Department;
- Keep Production and the project team informed of the status of work, issues to be resolved, ramifications of problems encountered and recommend potential solutions;
- Ensure deadlines are met, advising the project team promptly if delays could be expected, whether by themselves or a member of their team;
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of their specialty and be on the lookout for the latest technological advances in methods and approaches.

**Qualifications**:

- 1 year experience as a prep artist in the VFX industry;
- Knowledge of English and French - should be fluent in one of these languages, functional in the other;
- General knowledge of the steps of a visual effects production and the numeric image composition;
- Experience with Nuke software;
- Knowledge of Mocha or Tracking-3D is an asset;
- Knowledge of image composition and colour;
- Knowledge of photography and lighting is an asset;
- Sense of prioritization and respect of deadlines;
- Ability to stay calm under pressure and act as a positive role model and mentor.

Additional Information
- Full-time, Permanent Contract;
- 5 paid sick days;
- 2 additional statutory holidays in the winter holidays;
- Group Insurance, access to Dialogue online support and to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP);
- RRSP with employer contribution.
- Diversity is a core value at Rodeo FX. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable work environment where diversity is celebrated and valued. We believe every member on our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to perceive and interact with the world, identify challenges, and to design and deliver projects._