PROFILE

​

Technical and Creative Skills

• Modeling including polygonal and NURBS

• UV mapping and manipulation.

• Animation from motion graphics to, solid body and character animation

• Rigging, bipeds and quadrupeds

• Dynamics - soft and hard body dynamics, cloth, particles, fluids and biFrost

• Paint Effects

• Arnold

• Houdini - Rigid body dynamics/shatter, pyros, fluids, particles

• Mel scripting and expressions

• Python GUIs

• Compositing, tracking, keying,

• Live action editing + motion graphics + FX 

• Social content formatting 1x1, 9x16, 4x5

• Language re-versioning

• 2D animation.

• Lidar/Sonar/Photogrammetry experience.

• On-set VFX supervision.

 

Software

• All aspects of Maya,

• Adobe After Effects

• Adobe Premier Pro

• Adobe Photoshop

• Cinema 4D / Redshift

• Houdini

• Avid Pro tools

• RealFlow

• Bojou, Matchmover, 3D Equalizer

• Unity

• UE5

• Excel - budgeting and scheduling

 

 

AWARDS Either Team lead or principal animator/ compositor on;

 

˗BAFTA – Best Titles Graphic Design Award WINNER – Restoration

˗BAFTA – Best Titles Graphic Design Nomination – Formula 1

˗BAFTA – Best Titles Graphic Design Nomination – Eurotrash

˗Sportel - Golden Podium Nomination for Formula 1

˗Royal Television Society – Graphic Design, Titles Nomination – Formula 1

˗Royal Television Society – Best Graphic Design Nomination Restoration

• Promax – Silver Medallion Award WINNER CITV stings

˗International Monitor Awards – Best Graphic Design WINNER for Discovery Networks Europe

• BDA – Best Graphic Design Gold Award WINNER In Exile

 

• BDA – Best Graphic Design Silver Award WINNER Eurotrash

• BDA – Best Graphic Design Nominee Discovery Diginet channel branding

• BDA – Best Graphic Design, Best Mixed Media Animation Nominee Top Gear

• BDA Europe – Best Programme Branding ITV England – Silver WINNER

• Leaf – Best Graphic Design Nominee – Discovery Diginet channel branding

• Promax BDA Global Excellence Promotion Marketing Art Direction and Design In Sport Programme

• Open Titles Award Silver WiNNER – UEFA 2016

• Royal Television Awards Design Titles Trails and Packaging – Crazy Head WINNER

 

​

​

Employment History

​

Freelance

(March 2022- Present)

 

 

Head of Animation & Company Director - Liquid TV

(April 1993 – March 2022)

 

 

RESPONSIBILITIES

 

I managed a team of in house animation staff, including freelancers. I was responsible for their recruitment, from initiating the job description to vetting and arranging any visa requirements. I lead my team through annual appraisals and training, managing their contributions by carefully scheduling workloads within the team and playing to their individual strengths.

 

I lead from the front making templates and assets for the team and coming up with the correct pipeline for the job. I’ve also executed hundreds of jobs myself, doing all aspects from modelling to final composite.

 

I oversaw the company's IT provision, from label printers to network switches across the company, which included data security policies, disaster recovery plans and forward technology reports.

 

Through the company's expansion, I project managed the opening of five new studios. This included the design of bespoke cabinets, overseeing the joinery as well as the wiring and services, whilst monitoring the projects through chaired meetings with various contractors.

 

As a company director, I was also responsible for making corporate decisions for the company alongside my two partners. This included property, legal, accountancy including cash flow, finance agreements, insurance, future planning, corporate culture, IT planning, staffing and salaries.

 

​

WORK LANDMARKS

​

Acted as the company's producer dealing with clients, contracts and invoicing during the normal producer's maternity leave and recently filling in between producers.(2021/2)

 

EURO 2016 UEFA 2015 - Responsible for the team and the majority of shots both 3D and compositing. First use of Massive for crowds.

 

F1 titles BBC 2009 - Ran the team that produced this BAFTA nominated sequence, responsible for blocking out the animation to music, the car model, rig and texture,the track and environment textures, particle effects and trails, all final camera moves, the overall look of the CG and final composite.

 

Restoration (Endemol -BBC2) - BAFTA award winning title sequence for Restoration.(BBC2/ Endemol) Wrote a set of mel scripts that built and animated building parts which won the company the VFX contract for the three year run. 2004-2007

 

Battleplan - El Alamein with Jon Snow 2005 using 3D camera tracking for the first time.

 

Built the company's website in Dreamweaver. 2001

 

Wrote a mel script that would read a marked up map and built a city from the data, did pilot episode of San Francisco for DK. 1996

 

 

 

 

 

Animator - The Traveling Matte Company

(1986 – April 1993)

 

 

Achievements and responsibilities:

 

 

• Working directly with clients, both in the studio or in the clients edit facility doing corporate graphics such as graphs, maps, 3D logo animations.

• Wrote a 3D model editing programme in Pascal and used it to make assets and animation.

• Wrote softbody animation programme that would generate animation files for Frame3D.

• Wrote 2D morphing software, used for a pilot programme for Anglia TV called "Beasties"

• 1986-1991 Computer operator in studio for ITV's Knightmare kids series. This was shot 'as live' and I was responsible for chasing children around a virtual set, triggering animations and image changes. I conceived and introduced a 3D animated floor in series 3 with three sets of turning cogs the children had to time their run for. A 3D face was made and animated with my model editing programme. I animated a new timeclock of a knight walking.

 

​

​

Interests

 

GAMING: Playing, writing and building computer games has always been a part of my life. From Gran Tourismo (PS1,2, and3) to Skate 3 were particular favourites, but I also spent many hours in Lego Marvel Super Heros with my children. 3D games take most of my available time when not working or writing games. It's the writing and creation of games for mobile and PC that takes every other spare moment. (see link to reel at top)

 

MUSIC: I consider myself as much a musician as an animator, having played something from an early age. I played guitar in a couple of bands; there is an album out there somewhere with one of our tracks on it. I'm a self-taught pianist with blues and jazz interests. Since then, I have a home recording setup and have written and recorded my own material.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY: I photograph more objects and landscapes than people, which annoys my wife, but I find the huge variation in natural lighting, texture and possible compositions very rewarding. My photography has appeared in many TV pieces over the years, most recently in drama titles for In the Dark (BBC Studios) where I shot an empty swing for one scene. Also, for Thirteen (BBC Drama) starring Jodie Comer where I shot many textures from a local woodland, which were layered throughout the titles.

 

QUANTUM MECHANICS and quantum cosmology. I have read many and understood a small fraction of books on quantum mechanics and more recently, quantum cosmology. I've always been interested in physics and engineering, from this to electronics in school to interest in electrons and then the larger particle world. It has been fascinating to see this field develop in real time as ideas have changed over the years.

 

 

 

References

Nick Mophat nick@moephatproductions.com.

Tim Varlow  tim@timvarlow.co.uk