Who can you help, and how? Who? Anyone interested on improving their cinematic approach to animation/storytelling. How? When defining the visual language of a cinematic piece (animation or film), the first thing to have in mind is to know what the main message of the film is, whose POV is the story bing told through, and what is the desired emotional impact. Once we answer these questions I´ll help define and make sure the cinematic structure of the piece helps to answer those questions in a clear and strong way. I´ll do that by designing the rhythm, style and movement of the cameras as well as the layout work: camera angles, composition, lens, etc. Can you tell us about yourself and your background? I´m originally from Malinalco, a small town in Mexico where I started drawing at a very young age. After finishing high school and traveling around the world for a couple of years I ended up going to college at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where I got a BFA on Experimental Animation in 2007. There I completed several award winning shorts like Topializ (2007) and Mandorla (2009). After finishing school I lived eight years in Los Angeles where I worked on commercials, music videos and films like AstroBoy (2009) and The Night Fisherman (2008). While working on AstroBoy I discovered the importance and creativity involved in the Previs and Layout processes when developing a movie and I decided to focus my creative energy on those disciplines. Since then I´ve been involved in the creative pre-production and production stages of several movies working as a senior and lead layout and previsualization artist. How did you get to where you are now? I got my first job in the movies through my short film Topializ which had a lot of camera and staging work. Once I started learning the dynamics within a film studio and the principles of cinematography all it took to get me where I am now was dedication, mastering those basic cinematographic principles, good vibes and learning how to work with a team. What projects have you worked on? The Night Fisherman (2008) Astroboy (2009) Happy Feet 2 (2011) Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) Epic (2013) The Lego Movie (2014) Mad Max: Fury Road (2014) Where do you draw inspiration from? Music and nature... and some times other movies. Music helps me define the timing when doing previs on a film´s sequence or scene. Nature is always a good source of inspiration when designing sets, props, etc. And although I don´t watch too many movies to use as reference, watching films always helps you to be more objective on your own work. Tell us something odd about yourself? I´m addicted to granola.