Cinematic Designer - Agency Contract

Playground Games is looking for a Cinematics Designer to join our talented Forza Horizon team here in Leamington Spa.

About us

As a premier first-party Xbox Game Studio, we are passionate about making genre-defining games that are accessible, beautiful, and most of all, fun. We are looking to expand our diverse team as we continue driving forward our BAFTA award-winning Forza Horizon franchise. 

Playground Games is an equal opportunities studio and encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply.

Summary

As a Cinematics Designer, you’ll work with the Lead Cinematics Designer to drive cinematics in collaboration with other disciplines to ensure all needs are understood and met, resulting in the delivery of high-quality cinematics across all areas of the game.

You will identify risks or opportunities for improvement, must have a proven track record, be highly motivated and detail conscious.

This position is offered on an agency contract, with the successful candidate employed by one of our trusted recruitment partners and assigned to work with Playground Games. The role is based at our state-of-the-art studio in Royal Leamington Spa, operating under our hybrid working model with a minimum of three days per week in the studio.  

Please note, as this position is offered through a managed service provider, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role.

What you’ll do

• Create, iterate on and polish high-quality cinematic sequences using our proprietary engine and cinematic tools, working with cameras, vehicles, characters, and props
• Apply strong cinematics principles and storytelling techniques
• Render, edit, and assemble pre-rendered cinematic content using video editing and motion graphics software such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects
• Develop and integrate scene compositions, masking, visual effects, and motion graphics elements to enhance presentation quality
• Collaborate closely with Art, Design, and Engineering disciplines to deliver memorable cinematic experiences
• Help shape the future of our cinematic pipeline by identifying workflow improvements and working with Leads and Engineers to see their evolution through

What you will bring

• Solid understanding of modern and classical cinematic fundamentals with an application towards establishing mood, tone, and emotion
• Strong understanding of cinematic storytelling, composition and pacing
• Versed in a variety of cinematic presentation styles and up to date with the latest cinematic techniques and innovations
• Understanding of modern trends within the entertainment industry with an ability to successfully apply to cinematic style as needed
• A strong showreel showing recent work
• A genuine passion for video games

Why join us? 

This is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to a world-class game while working alongside an established, talented, and collaborative team at one of the industry's most exciting first-party game studios. Although you will be employed by an agency partner, you will work day-to-day with the Playground Games development team, helping bring the next chapter of Forza to players around the world. 

If you require any reasonable accommodation to apply for this position, please contact us on recruitment@playground-games.co