Flying Bark Interview

面试主要是了解我本人以及与我介绍项目。 

了解我本人：

1. self-introduction

2. why did you choose to be a layout artist? What's your career goal? （可增加一些自己走上layout道路的细节）

3. workflow, software knowledge

与我介绍项目：

需要准备好问题！！！(这里疏忽了)

比如：

1. 项目计划工作时间的长短

2. 电影或剧情的类型

3. 多少艺术家在项目上？

4. show的长度

...（至于澳大利亚人骑不骑袋鼠上班的玩笑真的有点不得体了...哎）

准备的文稿

Hi, Good morning! I’m Samar, Thank you for having me here. 
I’m originally from China and have worked in the animation industry for the past 3 years.
During this time, I’ve contributed to 3 different animation studios, worked on 4 animated feature films, and participated in a lot of short film projects.
Layout has always been my greatest passion. I can find so much joy in moving the camera and shooting the characters. I am happy to learn about your process and bring my perspective to the studio. 
Right now I’m at Pinta Animation Studio, mainly focusing on exploring cinematograph style and the scouting work for layout. 
At Disney, I worked on two feature films: Wish (2023) and Strange World (2022), and one Disney+ series. I was the layout artist and final layout artist for all three projects. Like all the layout artists would do, I was responsible for camera work, blocking in animation, effects work, and lighting while working closely with the editorial and animation team.
Before my time at Disney, I worked as a 3D animator at Light Chaser Animation Studio, where I animated dialogue and action test scenes for the feature film New Gods: Yangjian (2022). It’s about an ancient god in Chinese mythology and it has a lot of martial arts. I also did motion capture for that film.
 
Furthermore, at ArtCenter College of Design, I directed two films and worked on seven short films. As I worked in a small group, I became familiar with storyboarding, modeling, lighting, and editing and have had great success with my films being selected for 17 different film festivals. 

Working process: 
Based on the storyboard and notes from the sequence assignment meeting, first, I'd like to do a quick scouting to present general camera ideas, possibly proposing multiple camera angles. After ensuring I'm on the right track, I'll gradually polish my work and remain open to any other changes.
I'm surprised by the amount projects and styles Flying Bark has. It would be a great honor if I could work with you.
I'm also in talks with Disney because they plan to bring back some layout artists early next year, but there's no confirmation yet. If I have the honor of getting the job, what date you’d prefer me to inform you of my decision? 
Yes, I’m in China now, I went back and visited my family. 

Onsite, end of January 

面试结束后，Indigo（HR）发邮件来需要提供两位reference。我给了六六和方钲的信息，直到他们收到邮件后才发现需要回答的问题真的蛮多。💦

Hi Indigo,

Thank you for your email. I'm more than happy to serve as Samar's reference.

I have worked closely with Samar for two years at both Light Chaser Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios. During our time at Light Chaser on 'New Gods: Yangjian,' we both served as animators. She’s very diligent and her pace and work ethic are very high. While working with her we always discuss shots together, I very quickly realized that she has the automatic instinct to look at a shot or sequence of shots and see ways to make them even better.

At Disney, we did WISH together. The layout team as a whole is approximately 30 people. However, this is broken into two teams - “Layout” and “Final Layout”. There are generally about 4-6 final layout artists. Samar held both positions on Wish. This is fairly rare. I like she is a smart decision maker and sticks to those decisions. Additionally she is very easy to work with and communicate with.

I hope those are helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Zheng