Recruiter's Glossary

Examples: Lip Sync • Particle Systems • Skinning

Facial Animation

Term from Animation industry explained for recruiters

Facial Animation is the art of bringing characters' faces to life in animated films, video games, and digital media. It's like digital puppetry where artists create realistic facial expressions and mouth movements that match speech and emotions. This can be done through various methods, from hand-crafted animation to motion capture technology that records real actors' facial movements. When you see characters talking and showing emotions in movies like Toy Story or games like The Last of Us, that's facial animation at work. It's a crucial skill in modern animation because audiences pay special attention to faces and can easily spot when expressions don't look natural.

Examples in Resumes

Created realistic Facial Animation for main characters in a short animated film

Utilized motion capture technology for Facial Animation in video game cutscenes

Supervised a team of artists working on Facial Animation and Face Rigging for animated series

Typical job title: "Facial Animators"

Also try searching for:

Character Animator Technical Animator Animation Artist Character Technical Director Face Rigger Motion Capture Artist Character FX Artist

Where to Find Facial Animators

Online Communities

Job Boards

Events & Conferences

Professional Networks

Example Interview Questions

Senior Level Questions

Q: How would you manage a team working on facial animation for a feature film?

Expected Answer: Should discuss project planning, breaking down work among team members, ensuring consistency in animation style, meeting deadlines, and maintaining quality standards across all character performances.

Q: How do you approach solving complex emotional scenes with multiple characters?

Expected Answer: Should explain their process for handling complicated emotional interactions, timing of expressions, maintaining character consistency, and coordinating with voice actors and directors.

Mid Level Questions

Q: How do you ensure lip-sync animation matches different languages?

Expected Answer: Should explain their approach to adapting mouth movements for different languages, understanding basic speech patterns, and techniques for efficient animation adjustments.

Q: What's your process for creating convincing emotional expressions?

Expected Answer: Should describe their workflow for studying reference materials, understanding facial muscle movements, and translating human expressions into animated characters.

Junior Level Questions

Q: What are the basic principles of facial animation?

Expected Answer: Should be able to explain fundamental concepts like key poses, timing, spacing, and how different parts of the face work together to create expressions.

Q: How do you prepare before starting a facial animation shot?

Expected Answer: Should discuss gathering reference materials, analyzing the audio track, thumbnailing key poses, and planning the timing of movements.