STEPHEN WESTON
Animator/Cinematics Director
623 Ferdinand Ave, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
Mobile: 1.650.393.3999
E-mail: stephenbweston@hotmail.com

OBJECTIVE
Seeking position as senior or lead animator, cinematics director in entertainment software industry

SKILLS

• 30+ years experience as character animator and team leader in both traditionally drawn 2D and 3D CG
• 8-years experience as senior or lead animator with leading game developers. (EA and Z-axis)
• Highly proficient in character combat animation and lip-sync acting
• Strong background in all aspects of visual storytelling from concepting to storyboarding and through animation to final lighting and rendering
• Excellent communication and team management skills
• Software: Maya, Softimage, 3dsMax, Photoshop, Premiere, AfterEffects

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

May 2009 - May 2010

Secret Level- Sega Studios - San Francisco, CA
Cinematics Director

Iron Man 2
Managed team of 7 in-house artists and 3 outsourced venders to produce storyboards, animatics, layouts through finished pre-rendered and in-game cinematics

April 2008 - May 2009

Underground Development - Foster City, CA
Lead Animator

Guitar Hero - Van Halen
Responsible for managing team of three animators and for delivering all aspects of motion captured band performance animation using 3DS-Max and extensive in-house tool set

March 2007 - April 2008

Z-Axis / Underground Development - Foster City, CA
Lead Animator

Call of Duty - Devil's Brigade
Using Maya and Motionbuilder, created key animation facial system and complete Motion Capture character locomotion system

June 2006 - March 2007

Emdigo Entertainment
Lead Animator

• Managing team of 3 animators
• Creation of 3D animated downloadable content for Web-to-mobile technology company

Oct 2005 - May 2006

Z-AXIS - Foster City, CA                                                                                          
Senior Animator

X-men 3

• Responsible for the creation of all in game animation assets for “Boss Sabertooth” , “Lab Tech Bruisers” and “Lab Tech Lancers”
• Used in-house tool set to export finished animation into game
• Worked directly with lead game designer to develop hand to hand fight system for Finale Boss Fight

January 2005 - August 2005

GURL2GURL PRODUCTIONS INC - Los Angeles, CA
Animation Director

• Worked directly with designer to create structure and content for new commercial web site.
• Animated music video and Demo for http://www.call4ally.com/

Oct 2004 - Dec 2004

Sabbatical
Travel to Canada and UK 

September 2001 - September 2004

ELECTRONIC ARTS - Redwood Shores, CA

JAMES BOND 007- EVERYTHING OR NOTHING
Directing Animator

• Hands-on directed in-game cinematics team of ten animators to produce 45 minutes of character action and dialogue
• Designed and key frame animated in-game hand to hand fighting assets and weapons fighting assets
• Created blend shape phoneme facial system for Bond and main characters for in-game cinematic sequences

JAMES BOND 007- AGENT UNDER FIRE
Senior Animator

• Responsible for in-game cinematics Key Frame character animation (Maya)

FREEKSTYLE
Lead Animator

• Lead team of 7 animators, 1 modeller and a rigger to produce 30 minutes of character animation for action and dialogue sequences

LORD OF THE RINGS 3
Lead Animator

• Keyframe animation and motion capture for complete in-game move sets of human and non-human characters including facial and clothing

LORD OF THE RINGS (PC)
Lead Animator

• Lead team of 4 animators to create in-game assets for both human and non human characters

THE SIMPSONS DEMO

• Won in-house award for work on 90 second exec demo working around the clock for 4 days

September 1999 - September 2001

PDI/Dreamworks - Palo Alto, CA
Directing Animator - Commercials Division

• PDI Proprietary Software/MAYA
• Projects include: Coca Cola, Dreamcast, Tsunami Splashdown, Mercedes, San Diego Wildlife Park

October 1990- September 1999

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR - London, England
Director/Animator

• Client list includes Channel Four Television and the BBC, numerous UK animation production houses (references available)
• Directed and animated commercials on Softimage for Chex, Taco Bell, Transamerica Bank, Kellogs Ricicles, Smarties, etc.
• Visual Effects Director on BBC production “Elidor”, 6 part series combining animation and live action (1994)
• Visual Effects Director on Gerry Anderson's “Lavender Castle”, 26 part series for television combining puppet and computer animation (1996)

COMPUTER ANIMATION AWARDS

FISHERMAN'S FRIEND (1998) - 30 second television commercial
(Director/Animator/Modeler/Rigger/Texture/Lighting - Softimage)

Winner
Best Animation in a Commercial at the British Animation Awards

Prizes
LA Animation Celebration, Prix Ars Electronica

THE WRONG BROTHERS (1996) - Independent Short
(Director/Animator/Modeler/Rigger/Texture/Lighting  - Softimage)

Nominee
Best Use of New Technology at the British Animation Awards


HELICOPTER MAN (1993) - Independent Short
Director/Animator/Modeller/Rigger/Texture/Lighting  - Softimage

Winner
Best Shorts and Features Category at the first British Animation Awards

ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION as Softimage Director/Animator:

• Interviewed or cited as a pioneer in the field of computer animation in numerous articles in UK publications such as Broadcast, Cuts, FAB Magazine, and the Guardian and Evening Standard newspapers.
• Featured in an in-screen interview in ELECTRONIC PASSIONS, a major 5 part TV series on computer animation produced for UK broadcaster Channel 4 Television (c1998).

EDUCATION

• Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada
• Classical Drawn Animation Degree (1977)