Animator

Job Description

The Animator / Video Editor is responsible for animation and video editing. The Animator / Video Editor works from approved concepts, scripts, style frames and creative direction to produce engaging motion graphics and video content that meets client and project objectives. This role uses music, sound and strong editorial judgment to support the tone, pacing and engagement of the work, while contributing creative ideas and improvements throughout the process.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• The Animator / Video Editor does not supervise other employees.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Pre-Production Collaboration – Working with Creative Directors and designers to help translate approved concepts, scripts and style frames into motion, including creating motion tests when needed to establish or prove out an animation approach.

• Footage Preparation – Ingesting, organizing and reviewing raw footage and production assets; preparing project structures; generating and managing proxies; relinking full-resolution media; syncing external audio; and preparing multicamera footage as needed.

• Video Editing – Editing raw footage into polished content, including selecting footage, establishing pacing and narrative structure, and incorporating music, sound and graphics.

• Animating – Translating approved concepts, scripts and style frames into polished 2D motion graphics, including typography, logos, icons, illustrations, UI elements and informational graphics.

• Compositing – Performing masking, tracking, keying, cleanup and other basic-to-intermediate compositing as needed.

• Color – Performing basic color correction and shot matching, including applying and managing camera/technical and creative LUTs as appropriate.

• Sound Design – Adding and editing music and sound effects and performing basic audio cleanup and mixing to elevate the piece.

• Accessibility – Generating, editing, timing and quality-checking captions and subtitle files, and applying Section 508 video accessibility requirements as appropriate.

• Revisions – Working closely with Creative Directors to interpret feedback, incorporate revisions and finalize work to meet client and project goals.

• Exporting – Creating deliverables in various resolutions, dimensions, aspect ratios, bitrates and file sizes to meet placement and platform requirements.

• File Management – Maintaining organized project files and efficiently managing and transferring large media files and project assets.

• Support the Creative team as needed or assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Strong proficiency in Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro.

• Working proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

• Strong understanding of animation principles, editorial pacing, visual storytelling, typography, composition and design.

• Demonstrates strong creative judgment and attention to detail in pacing, composition, typography, motion, imagery, music and sound.

• Ability to take an established concept, creative direction or brief through finished execution with limited supervision.

• Ability to work from creative direction while contributing ideas and improvements.

• Ability to interpret creative feedback, incorporate revisions effectively and understand the intent behind the direction.

• Ability to collaborate effectively with Creative Directors, designers, writers, animators and team members throughout the creative process.

• Resourceful and able to solve creative and technical problems independently, while recognizing when to seek additional direction.

• Flexible and able to adapt to changing priorities, schedules, creative direction and project requirements.

• Strong attention to detail and the ability to interpret and follow creative, technical and delivery specifications.

• Knowledge of media ingest, footage organization, proxy generation, relinking, audio synchronization and multicamera preparation workflows.

• Knowledge of common video formats, codecs, resolutions, frame rates, color spaces and delivery specifications.

• Knowledge of basic color correction, color management and LUT workflows.

• Knowledge of audio editing, cleanup, mixing and sound design for video.

• Knowledge of video compression and how to apply it to meet file size and delivery requirements.

• Ability to organize, manage and transfer large media files and project assets efficiently.

• Understanding of Section 508 video accessibility requirements and captioning workflows, including common caption and subtitle file formats is a plus.

• Experience with DaVinci Resolve, particularly for color correction and finishing workflows, is a plus.

• Experience with Blender, Cinema 4D or another 3D package is a plus.

• Familiarity with After Effects expressions and procedural animation techniques is a plus.

• Experience with character animation, advanced compositing or VFX is a plus.

• Experience with camera production, lighting or on-set workflows is a plus.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in communications, media, visual art, film, television, multimedia, graphic design or a related field.

• Advertising agency experience preferred.

• 5+ years of related professional experience preferred.

• Strong portfolio or demo reel demonstrating both animation/motion design and video editing work.