About Michael Cawood
Michael Cawood, has been creating animated films since 1994. He’s a multi-award winning British Animation Director and Supervisor based out of Los Angeles with credits in Film, Commercials and Games working with Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Microsoft, Activision, Nintendo, Sega and many more.
Michael has a broad creative skillset including directing, story development, character design, storyboarding, producing, previs, layout, rigging, editing, and supervising. He has a unique strength in directing online collaborations as first showcased in his 'Orson Welles Award' winning short film, 'Devils Angels & Dating', which attracted over 18 millions of views online. He repeated this success again with 'The Wrong Rock' which is currently touring Oscar qualifying festivals worldwide. Both films won 'Best Short Film' at the Burbank Film Festival (2012 and 2019). He also served as Head of Story for the multi-award winning 'The OceanMaker' which was screened at South by SouthWest. All three films screened at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, at the Hollyshorts Festival.
Michael supervised both, the previsualisation for Universal's new take on 'The Mummy' with Tom Cruise, and the postvis animation for 'Bumblebee'. Credits also include 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes', 'Happy Feet', 'Pete’s Dragon', 'Ghostbusters', 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5', and 'Night at the Museum 3'. He was the Animation Director for the game cinematics in 'Skylanders Giants' and Lead on 'Starfox Adventures' and the XBox 360 launch title 'Kameo'.
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Dustin Gaspard,
Production Supervisor - Kinsane"Working with Michael was a great experience. He managed and completed a large volume of work in a very short period of time with poise, creativity, and professionalism. His ability to lead a team with a variety of personalities and talents surpassed my expectations and the project delivery was effortless. I hope to hire him again for many projects on the horizon."
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Stuart Allan,
Previs Supervisor at Proof"I've worked with Michael on several feature projects, and always find him to be a talented addition to the team. Regardless of the assignment he finds a way to produce good-looking, well-thought-out work. He's an artist to rely on when creative challenges arise and when rock-solid results are needed quickly."
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Irene Parkins,
Senior Animator - Encore VFXThe thing's I'm most impressed about Michael are his multiple talents and his passion for animation. He is a Filmmaker, Animator, Previs Artist, Postvis Artist and a good friend. His passion is contagious. He's always using his talents for something. His Podcasts and ideas are always helpful to the animation industry. His short films are inspiring and wonderfully done. He's a great story teller and I enjoyed hearing all his funny stories during our lunches. Besides being a joy to work with, Michael is a take charge kind of guy who is able to handle any task with speed and accuracy. He's great at solving technical problems and was very helpful to many of us transitioning to working from home. No matter how busy he is, Michael is always willing to help. I highly recommend Michael. He is a true talent and would make a great asset to any studio.
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Shaun Reed,
Design Director at Rare / Microsoft"I worked with Michael several years ago now but still remember him as one of the most driven and professional people I have made games with. At the time the animation work we were doing was leading the industry and Michael drove this with passion and expertise. I would not hesitate in recommending Michael and wish him every success in the future."
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Keith Sintay,
Animation Supervisor - Encore VFXDuring the time I have worked with Michael, I have seen first hand his skills and abilities as a solid animator as well as a first rate previs and shot planner. He has a great work ethic, a friendly disposition and a willingness to learn and take direction to further improve his animation. I was very impressed with Michael's ingenuity and problem solving abilities. I strongly recommend Michael Cawood for any animation position.
