Sean Wallitsch

Work History

• 

  Sr. Specialist Solutions Architect - Visual Compute

  Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  December 2021 - Present

  Los Angeles, California, United States
• 

  Department TD

  DreamWorks Animation

  November 2014 - Present

• Lead Programmer

  Thorium

  February 2014 - Present
• 

  Lead Department TD - Pipeline X

  DreamWorks Animation

  October 2018 - December 2021

  Lead designer and developer on DWA's PipelineX pipeline redesign project. Working closely with other R&D teams to design workflows and user requirements for a "next gen" cloud based microservices pipeline.
  
  Work with executive leadership to determine program goals, MVPs and execution strategy. Coordinate with production management to determine schedule and best use of team resources. Liaison with other studio teams as a primary point of contact for their concurrent deliveries. Determine ideal user experiences and migration strategies to move from the current on-prem terminal based pipeline.
  
  Supervise other programmers to accomplish tasks on time and within spec, as well as providing general department leadership and guidance on a variety of projects and initiatives.
• 

  Specialist Department TD

  DreamWorks Animation

  January 2018 - October 2018

  Glendale, CA

  Design the foundation for DWA's new digital asset management pipeline- PipelineX. Later focused on leadership and design of several specific workflows in the PipelineX project, including compositing and editorial.
  
  Basic UX studies in conjunction with in house UX researcher to drive change management and improve artistic experience.
• 

  Compositing Development Supervisor

  Rhythm & Hues Studios

  May 2011 - October 2014

  Supervising, designing and developing software tools for Visual Effects Compositing. Working in an Agile environment to develop and design applications, tools and workflows.
  
  Projects include the integration of studio’s pipeline and asset system with the Foundry’s Nuke Compositor, git backend development and testing for the studio’s transition from CVS to git, studio transition to python packaging standards for package version control on studio projects, and the design of a prototyped collaboration and review application.
  
  Other duties included handling

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• 

  Lead Compositor

  Rhythm & Hues Studios

  July 2010 - October 2014

  Supervising a team of Visual Effects Compositors to build, iterate and finalize hundreds of shots with tight turnaround times for shows with over $3.8 billion in gross. Coordinating asset workflows and delivery with other departments. Setting color grades for sequences and R&Ding; new effects and techniques.
• 

  Compositing TD

  Rhythm & Hues Studios

  November 2008 - July 2010

  Using R&H's proprietary compositing software to composite shots for major feature films. Shots include plenty of CG character and FX integration.
• 

  Flame Artist

  Lola Visual Effects

  May 2006 - November 2008

  Working on Autodesk’s Flame compositing system, shots completed involved compositing CGI, green screens and creating 2d solutions to 3d problems. Routinely using particles, projection and 3d space to create seamless effects for major motion pictures. Because of the small size of the company, work would include doing camera tracking, 3d work inside Maya and Massive, and creating innovative solutions to complete shots on time and with minimal demands on other departments.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• 

  Inferno Artist

  Hydraulx

  May 2006 - November 2008

  

  

  

  
• 

  Teaching Assistant, Advanced Editing

  Loyola Marymount University

  August 2004 - July 2006

  Solo instructing two one and half hour classes consisting of graduate students and undergads. Types of cuts, fine tuning, audio work, color correction, uncompressed video and delivery standards, as well as a variety of other topics, were covered. Programs covered were Final Cut Pro and Avid Xpress. Under Professor Luis Proenca, SJ.
• 

  Teaching Assistant, Advanced Post Production

  Loyola Marymount University

  December 2002 - June 2006

  TAing included an hour lab segment with a additional private instruction to students in After Effects and Shake. Also included teaching schoolwide workshops and seminars solo to any students in the school who signed up. Programs covered in the course were After Effects, Shake, DVD Studio Pro and Motion. Under Professor Luis Proenca, SJ