Screen maker vs compositor

The differences between screen makers and compositors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a screen maker and a compositor. Additionally, a compositor has an average salary of $45,101, which is higher than the $30,963 average annual salary of a screen maker.

The top three skills for a screen maker include silk screen, RAN and quality checks. The most important skills for a compositor are VFX, visual effects, and animation.

Screen maker vs compositor overview

	Screen Maker	Compositor
Yearly salary	$30,963	$45,101
Hourly rate	$14.89	$21.68
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	7,687	154
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Screen maker vs compositor salary

Screen makers and compositors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Screen Maker	Compositor
Average salary	$30,963	$45,101
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $37,000	Between $23,000 And $85,000
Highest paying City	-	Pittsfield, MA
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	Dassault Systèmes
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between screen maker and compositor education

There are a few differences between a screen maker and a compositor in terms of educational background:

	Screen Maker	Compositor
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Animation
Most common college	-	-

Screen maker vs compositor demographics

Here are the differences between screen makers' and compositors' demographics:

	Screen Maker	Compositor
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 68.3% Female, 31.7%	Male, 62.7% Female, 37.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 6.7% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 7.3% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between screen maker and compositor duties and responsibilities

Screen maker example responsibilities.

Maintain professional correspondence with pressroom and with prepress department.
Remove rough spots and smooth surfaces to fit, trim, or clean parts, using hand tools or power tools.

Compositor example responsibilities.

Work closely with lighting and fx leads to help achieve an efficient workflow.
Work include matte extractions, tracking, color correction, paint fixesand integrating cg elements.
Direct a small VFX team, create consistent, realistic 3D environments/effects; integrate live-action (film) into the CGI.
Apply FX stage makeup efficiently and quickly for several characters using stage blood, liquid latex, and other FX materials.
Install signs, and apply graphics to cars, vans, trucks, semi-trucks, boats, and windows.
Hand cut stencils and hand letter signs.

Screen maker vs compositor skills

Common screen maker skills

Silk Screen, 38%
RAN, 16%
Quality Checks, 14%
Reclaiming, 12%
Ink Colors, 11%
Clean Screens, 9%

Common compositor skills

VFX, 19%
Visual Effects, 13%
Animation, 11%
CG, 11%
Maya, 7%
Mocha, 6%