Work Placement - Conclusions

My placement is now over, and in many ways I am glad! London is too much for me; every cliché you hear about the 'rat race' and the London mentality is true. I can now however reflect properly on what I got out of my placement, and what was learned.

Many of my daily posts were brief affairs, as I was really busy from 9am until 7pm (with a couple of hours of commuting thrown in and sleeping, this meant every day was full). I had posted on technical things and day-to-day stuff in the limited time I had.

I gained an understanding of how their designers work, their backgrounds and how they got where they have by working with them.

Process - Research, design, development, team-work, time management, elbow-grease, perseverance, enthusiasm and dedication.

I have learned that everything we are taught at college is useful (The 1st year goes by so quickly, yet everything taught then is important). The principles of what we call 'paperwork' are all utilised on every job, although there are a number of alternative ways of doing the same kinds of things, and it seems the processes are generally covered intuitively (and at great speed!)

Initial Stages - Pitching and Development

Many jobs start out with a pitching process, which will start with a meeting amongst the designers concerned with production staff, before a further meeting with the client (if they are nearby) - however much can be done digitally, enabling them to do the same processes by sending ideas digitally, combined with phone calls. The digital process would likely feature whether the clients were near or far - PDF's, QuickTime videos or Powerpoint presentations can all be sent via email or FTP.

During this process, research will be undertaken, references images, reference videos and facts gathered. Mood boards can be made up from here whilst a concept can be formed, and initial design work and approximate colour palettes can be made up. There is no standardised way of doing all jobs, as they can vary, but in very general terms initial design work can be combined with the concept, and 'boards' can be made up. These boards would most likely be 'style' boards made up of strong visuals, which would give the client a good idea of what they would be getting. There may be many variations for the client to choose from. The designer should have a good idea in mind on how these will work in production, and can write this into the brief.

These jobs will vary - some will be corporate DVD's, some will include live-action, green-screen, complicated 3D animation work, HD formatting and various other factors which may be required for to win the pitch. This might mean more development, shooting boards indicating camera movements and direction. The work we did at college recently looking at storyboards in detail were exacty the right thing for cases such as these, and there are a few other additional ways to pre-produce this work, such as a floor plan, a location map so that the 3d space can be navigated, and the actors are doing the right thing in the right place. The client may want to see these shooting boards (which are typically non-decorative line drawings in pen or pencil - like a cartoon).

I have learned for a much of the 'simpler' motion graphics jobs, a 'shooting board' isn't required; the designers have described how the pieces will move and have designed logos, style boards etc already, and many of the idents are only 10 seconds long. There is still loads of work that goes into these jobs, but shooting boards aren't really needed. (I think I would most likely do some quick thumbnails on my jobs of this nature, as I am lack experience, but more experienced desigenrs appear to be able to ahve it in their minds eye). Experinced designers work through the motion in After Effects, as a series of tests, as it is quicker.

There are usually about 5 boards for each ident, and as they are only ten seconds in length each, the boards and a detailed description are enough to show the client. The results of this initial work can are put together for presentation, (as well as working as an in-house 'manual' which can be referred to if/when the pitch is won by any member of staff). These are PDF documents, which may have been done on Acrobat in the past or even Powerpoint, but are now all done in InDesign. They can then be formatted for web as a PDF and sent out to clients in addition to being retained on the server for any staff member to be able to access.

My Reflections on Pitching and Development:

I found observing the process of organising the work highly beneficial, and have began basing my work on these techniques. The universal standard for organising and breaking the work into various components leaves the mind free to concentrate on the task at hand. I now realise that structure, discipline, and elbow-grease can mean the difference between success or failure! I am a lot more realistic about how my life might be when i begin work as a designer. This placement differed greatly from my five-day stint at BDA's Sydney office. I went to Sydney when they didn't have much on, and although it seemed that they were busy enough at the time, I realise that it was easy-going. The London office was like punch in the face - very busy, very intense, brutal. I feel I have leaned a huge amount in a short time, but also found it hard-going.

The designers are all very god and have all worked prolifically and on a variety of work. This covers everything from print, brand identity, animation, graphics, motion graphics, film directing and what I have learned is a huge part of the industry these days - pitching. A huge amount of work is covered to win a pitch (refer to the examples above), and a lot of the creative work is already done by the time the pitch is put forward. The work is then presented to a very high standard, by smart PDF's and confident personal presentations. I think this part is so important; if pitches aren't won, there is no work and no money coming in! It is also interesting to know that on a creative level this part is where you have the opportunity to shine - the latter part is often a time-intensive slog which involves real-graft in After Effects or a 3D application, but once the look and idea is agreed between the client and the designer, there's not a great deal can be done later, just get it built *

* I have been told that there are situations where the designer comes up with a better idea after the pitch process - there is an option to go back to the client with this better idea, and negotiate. Al cases are different, and there may be all kinds of practical problems.

Production

The rest of the work happens once pitches are won, which typically covers an amount of on-air and off air production work. There might be up to 10 different idents for a variety of uses, such as differing times of the day, different types of program content or there may be a family of channels. In addition there are 'menu' screens, 'break bumpers', 'end-pages' 'cross-promotionals', 'transitions' and probably a whole load of other particulars to the broadcast industry. I had made attempts to find out as much about these technical terms as possible, but due the busy nature of the office and slightly aloof nature of the other designers, had trouble finding out what exactly what each one meant!

I did however observe a lot of the production work for a family of African channels, GTV. I saw all the pitch work, and got involved in production for the idents and transitions. This is in some ways the less 'creative' part of the work, but in many ways more challenging. The designers have to realise their plans and supply everything that's promised. This could involve various processes, but in this case was made entirely as graphics in After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop and Cinema 4D.

Production consisted of many stages of testing. The design director set up one of the original basic idents, by going through a series of sequences in AFX, then pre-comping them and building up all the components needed for the final ident. Time is set for experimenting on various techniques to build the idents, tests in both After Effects and Cinema 4D, 2D and 3D examples which are saved and rendered as 'work in progress' files. Other designers tried all a few different ideas involving sound synch, test music, expressions to use to make the ident. This enables the team to make decisions on how best to progess, and also gives them something else to show the client (who would be paying the best part of £100k for the work!)

My Reflections on Production

BDA is on the commercial side of the business, they are not really about a 'fine-art' mentality. They have to operate as a business, they have investors, just over 100 staff worldwide with pension plans, maternity leave and all the complicated stuff that comes with the territory. This, I believe, has a very direct impact on the day-to-day operation of the workload, and how the company culture is. All jobs are budgeted for costs and for time, and everything gets done on time, even if that often means that the staff work up to 13 or 14 hours a day and come in at weekends (for no extra pay!) - this isn't a thing I am that keen on, as I have children and a wife that i like to spent a bit of time with, but on the other hand I do understand the workload. In the 10 years BDA has been running they have expanded greatly, whilst some of the competitors such as English and Pockett (and lots of the small 'boutique' outfits) have gone bust. The stakes, it appears, for a company like BDA are high.

General Conclusions:

My conclusions from my work experience have taught me how hard I need to work to get good - this means trying to double my hours and efforts from where they are at the moment, and do it now! (if students don't put the work in now, they end up having to do it after college is finished without any student finance, before they can get a job).

Work prolifically, and to do something that is just about within your capablity but to also always push yourself on every job, trying something new to build your skills.

Work on a variety of types of job to gain experience, as versatility is highly sought after.

Don't be too precious - I have also observed from working in a team, that designers are often not precious about the work; if one designer if off or away on sick leave, another designer will jump on the job and complete. This is also true when big deadlines are on, or if another designer is still finalising a previous job, someone else do the pitch, and you may be assigned to build it (or vice versa).

I have also been advised on many ways to improve, words of wisdom on many technical issues (which I have covered in part, but there were loads more), and also on how to become a good designer: There are jobs for folks who are simply great at the technical stuff, many at post-production facilities, but if you plan to gain creative job satisfaction and want variety, work really hard on stills/boards/ideas and ideas as well as production.

on Portfolios:

Do lots of different jobs to learn more, but don't simply stick it all on your website - If a lot of good work is produced, it is best to hand-pick the relevant two or three projects to show the prospective client.

Think of a good angle on every job:

I have seen designers do great work for corporate in-house dvds for British Gas and Barclays Corporate Banking - there is usually an angle that will benefit you, the designer, and will work for the client. Think positive! it might be the case that it takes a very long time, several years to earn the kind of freedom you'd like. This is 'paying dues'. It takes time and elbow-grease to gain the clients trust and get a good reputation!

On Presenting Work:

Work is always presented to the highest possible standard. This is the same as the year end at college, except it happens all the time! This is essential, and can really help things go your way. Put yourself in your prospective clients shoes.

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My final conclusions are a reflection on myself - I realise I have loads of weak points, which were glaringly obvious at BDA. There were:

Lack of experience

Lack of confidence - I have very little at the moment.

Prone to distraction - internet etc. total focus and graft is required

Isolation - I'm not getting anywhere near as much inspiration at college from other students or teachers as I was at BDA, and even less working on my own. This means having to work everything out for yourself. Skills are gained far faster when you are nurtured and advised by others who know what they are doing!

Time management - too many other things taking up my time - DJ job etc

Not used to employment - the last 18 years of self-employment has left me ill equipped to deal with the 'real world' - I now have a far greater idea, so know what to expect. BDA really shook me, and much my time there wasn't particularly enjoyable (although I think it will do me a lot of good). This was a very scary experience indeed!

Slow Computer - Whilst it isn't all about technical stuff, I now know that my laptop won't really run after effects well enough for anything a bit more complicated - render times are way to slow, and it creates restrictions.

General Slowness - do good work, but hurry up!

I am acting on all the advice and the above weak-points with immediate effect.

The work I produced is here:

Wave for BDA website - this will be composited into a flash site using the alpha channel, hence this version is just plain grey against a transparent background (which appears as black in the Quicktime Video (see posts below)

Transition - this is for a big project. I had to make a transistion which would be used as a matte, which on the final version was coloured and the big white balls in the piece will have video (VT) composited. This has made it into the production package as a small part of the branding package for the TV network in Africa.

Squiggles (test movie) - To build a big project, lots of small compositions are made, then nested inside a big project. I made this from one single traced pebble shape, then naimated the single stone, before nesting and building a bigger sequence. It actally looks a bit rubbish, but I get the the idea of how it works, and will utilise this techniques all the time in future.

Brand Identity - I worked on a pitch with 2 other designers when I first got there, which BDA went on to win. Here are some of the ideas I had (I have no idea what they actually went with as there were about 20 different logos presented (out of a pool of about 70).

AND FINALLY A NOTE ON WRITING BLOGS ABOUT THE INDUSTRY:

I have come to realise that looking at things on the internet and writing about the industry doesn't really count for much - nothing can replace the real world experience. I do however believe in this case it has been worthwhile documenting my experiences in an honest and detailed way; I had a hard-time on this placement, and want to remember so that I can get better. This blog will remind me how hard I need to work, and what I should do for the rest of my time at college.

Days 12 & 13

I have been a bit too busy to post properly for the last 2 days, as I haven't brought my own computer here this week.

I have been shown in great detail what goes into one job (for G Africa) - and been given access to the array of files used to build a series of idents, interstitials, end-pages, links etc

I could have got more involved in trying to put this stuff together, but the machine I was using was just a Macbook Pro running AFX 7 (through Rosetta), and just wouldn't run it. the laptop's fan was going nuts.

I have since done some logo and initial brand identity for Q Music, a Belgian/Dutch radio station brand. This has been pretty interesting as there's a large brief, many elements from the existing design need to be used, and the "Q" needs to be kept in tact, as well as the company colour palette. I have seen multiple examples of this kind of brand extension carried out very well, most notably by the various arms of the Virgin brand.

Virgin seem to sell everything, and London is covered in posters for everything from travel, trains, media, gyms and various others. These all use the company red, and have a fairly unified look, but also have their own voice. Airseide have produced great advertising for Virgin Trains TBC

Day 11 - Mo Techniques

All good at BDA - I feel quite at home there already, and 'get it". Those guys work really hard, and tend to constantly work at it.

There are 9 full time designers, and many of them have attended really good colleges such as the LCP (London College of Printing) or worked at ITN. They are all 'careerists' and will work 12 hour days if the job requires it. This kind of work mentality is very London (I guess it costs that much to live in London, long hours in work is normal). I also found that many of those guys and gals did a degree over 4 yeas, with a 1 year work experience year.

The upshot of that is, I now realise that success only really comes from elbow grease, enthusiasm, perseverance and more perseverance.

I have learned piles more techniques this week, from research, a way of going all that same processes we do at college, but digitally (this means the whole team can access the same info via a server) and quite rapidly. they probably research for a couple of days, but they go at it. Storyboards are done on Illustrator and Photoshop (for motion graphics), and on paper if they involve more work, such as live action shoots and 3D (or combinations of both).

Presentations are often made digitally, via phone and comprehensive PDF documents (created with InDesign)

This week, I have been mostly doing After Effects. Using solid layers with masks, animating them, then using effects and expressions to animate in time to music. These single objects are then pre-comped, then combined, pre-comped again to develop busy and interesting animated screens. I think once you get better at it, the results look better than this.

The idea with that test movie is everything is made from the same single shape, which is animated, comped, dupliacted, effects etc all combining to create a richer animation.

Day 10 - The Good and the Bad

I am really getting into the work now, but unfortunately the machine they gave me to use is knackered. Much of my time overt he past 2 days has been spent waiting for the IT guy to come and get it going again.

In the end they got me a laptop, almost exactly the same as mine.

The only problem is that they run After Effects 7, and the rest is the CS2 suite, so they run quite badly on an Intel machine (the other machine was a PowerPC chip). It runs loads slower (lots of spinning rainbow wheel) and is a bit frustrating (plus the screen is too small!)

Moaning aside, I am able to access the big full production files they are working on and able to see how they're done. Mutiple elements are pre-comped, then repeated with stuff like expressions to create a rich moving texture. It looks quite complicated!

Day 9 - Balls

More balls animations for GTV

I worked on two today - both short, plus tweaked the one from yesterday. Unfortunately the machine i use at BDA is a bit old, and knackered - every now and then it just switches off, and I think i may have lost a few hours work. Ihad to wait about for ages for the IT guy to come and get it working again.

I did save off one of the movies, which is here.

It is for an transistion (see day 8)

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Day 8 - More Masking

I have finally started getting really into the work placement, and I am getting over the 'culture-shock' of it all.

I have started asking for a little bit more help, and am picking things up a lot quicker. I am starting to get the feeling that if I could simply continue the placement I'd learn lots of tricks and would maybe be just about good enough in 6 to 12 months time to be able to get work at the most basic, entry level. This isn't possible, so I am now on a mission to pick up as many techniques as possible in the remaining 7 working days I have left.

I have been working on some transitions and menu / end pages for GTV in Africa. The idea is to make small pages (similar to the kind of things Channel 4 have with the '4' shape, used as a matte, with VT footage showing through). The GTV package covers all aspects of the on air branding, and there is a system of connected circles utilised on the main idents.

I have been working on some simple, short animations which will be used for mattes (the video will show through the large circles). I have a test movie here.

I had previously only designed in Illustrator and Photoshop, and then animated in After Effects, but this process involves working directly in AFX. Multiple solid layers are created, then masked with paths. This is a a bit like Illustrator or Photoshop, and every path can be animated over time. These solids and masks can transformed in any of the usual ways, and grouped, parented to Null objects and so on.

This example is very simple, but I think the same processes are utilised for complex work.

Day 7 - End of Week 2

I have now done 7 days at BDA and am still finding it hard to get used to it. I know one of the newer recruits in the design department is still finding his feet, so that's not so strange!

The pace is really fast, the work is hard and there's no shortage of it. There are also lots of technical terms which they all use, the greater proportion of which I don't yet understand.

I have also found that the designers there have to do everything, and be good at it; they research, concept, design pitch and produce the work, as well as liasing with the producers on things like scheduling, budget and music synchronisation. On a technical level the more senior designers know a lot of different software packages thoroughly. This includes Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D, as well as having knowledge of non-linear editing software and many areas of design. This means good typography, illustration, film-language, knowledge of virtual 3D space, colour grading, conceptualising and pitching work. The mid-range designers are not far bahind, and most them also know After Effects and Cinema 4D well. The most Junior designers have a decent knowledge of After effects and are good designers, and plan to get into the 3D ASAP.

The days are long; it seems that no one ever goes home at 6pm like they are meant to, and many don't take a proper lunch break. There is a definite culture of hard work, and there's a definite hierarchy within the firm, which means the whole company works hard. This is ok, but not something that is explained - I think it becomes apparent after a few days, and the whole place 'falls into line'. I have tended to feel rather anxious and a little confused at times. It's a learning curve!

I have learned lots of valuable things this week about working methods, processes, and 'technical stuff'.

Pitches:

These are made in a variety of ways. I would have thought that face to face pitches which are made in the same physical spaces are preferable, but the design department is currently working on jobs for TV companies in Vietnam, Sub-Saharan Africa, Belgium, Australia in addition to jobs for long term client, international station Hallmark TV.

Many of the pitches are made by presenting a PDF document. This is a PDF file, created in InDesign, and typically consists of:

some text - concepts etc

Basic Logo(s)

Colour Palette

Copylines - (and example of this would Honda's "The Power Of Dreams")

A couple of paragraphs describing how the idents would work, descriptions of proposed music, sound design for the ident, (or idents). A description of how the idents intend to work, movement, why it looks the way it does.

Mood Boards - assorted images and some statements. This would reinforce the concept.

Style Boards - mocked up frames from the idents

Alternative graphics, such as break bumpers, menus and mocked up print ads (in situ) such as billboards or screens installed in public locations.

There may also be additional information, such as varieties of logos, which could cover sister channels, all with their proposed colour palettes.


This is submitted, and would be sent digitally, probably supported by phone conversations. If the pitch is won, work begins on moving into production, schedules are set, musicians/sound designers sub-contracted and everything is set to a deadline.

I gather such deadlines are always met, and if the team are up against it, freelancers are brought in to help on a job, and the relevant staff end up having to work (even more) over-time.

It appears that the team enjoy their work. They seem to virtually live there from Mondays to Fridays, and I gather come in on weekends too when necessary. Yikes!

On a technical tip, I have leaned a lot about animating masks in After Effects, and am currently learning about more complex After Effects work. This involves lots of pre-composed and pre-rendered parts, all combined to produce richly layered projects which are typically seen in broadcast and motion graphics.

My next job involves 3d space, animated type and video layers.

Day 6

Got the wave thing finished, and I think it's almost right. There's a test version here.

I spent a bit more time today being less timid, and went to see what the other designers are doing. These guys seem to build complex layered animation very quickly, and they really know their shit.

There's so much to learn!

Day 5

I have had trouble getting this wave job right, and it's supposed to be completed ASAP.

i'll have to ask one of the others for help today.

Day 4

There's not much to report today as I have just been finishing off this wave animation for the BDA website.

I plan to finish it today and tweak it in the morning.

Day 3

Work Experience 14/02/08

Today I am working on some After Effects stuff.

BDA is undergoing a global re-brand at the moment, and the whooshey wave animation on their website is being changed from a 3d thing to a flat vector (as this flat graphic style is now being applied to everything from business cards to dvds etc). The Sydney office had done an amount of the re-brand work, and had done some of the animation (masking a solid layer to make the wave shape). My job was to rework it for different sections of the DVD they are producing in a couple of different sizes.

I then spent the rest of the day doing the main wave animation, as half of it seemed to be missing. This basically involves going through frame-by-frame and tracing the wave with the pen tool, and altering the paths to look like the rest that came from the Sydney office.

I also found out some great info off some of the other guys, as I went for lunch with the design director and another senior designer:

They all say that they have pretty much given up using After Effects for 3D (For motion graphics). This is because it's actually better in the long term to learn Maxon Cinema 4D. After Effects 3D (2.5d) is a bit more fiddly to use, and when you finally get there, all you actually get are 'postcards in space'.

You can cheat After Effects so that it looks almost the same, but that involves building sides on objects to make it look more real. I have been struggling with this on my project, and now I know why!

I plan to start learning Cinema 4D at some stage this year, as this will help with After Effects. The two programs work really well with ether. 3D objects can be exported to After Effects along with the cameras and lights, and I have been reliably informed it's not so bad doing 3d for Motion graphics (unlike doing 3d animation proper).

BDA London Day 2

Carried on with the logo design work for a tough 8.5 hours

There is now a defined direction, but the work was a lot harder going. The idea was to link the idea of "Today TV" with a weekly calendar, tying up the concepts. There are 7 letters in "TodayTV", and there are 7 days in the week.

I have done more work here in 2 days than I get done in a week (or even a month) of college.

I also realise that I could do with practice making other shapes (apart from type), and just more practice on vector work and logos. I have seen a big improvement here in days.

I have some examples here They wanted something based on the 7 day calendar. I couldn't really think of anything suitable, but tried 7 sided heptagon shapes (50p pieces) and took it from there.

BDA London - 12th February (1st day)

I started work today at BDA London a day later than originally scheduled, due to a wierd 36 hour flu-type fever.

BDA London's work hours are the same as BDA Sydney, 9am until 6pm (with a 1 hour lunch break at 1pm). May day began with a quick introduction to the rest of the design department (about 10 people), although on previous visits I fond there are about 60 employees in total.

My day from there on consisted of a quick set up on their machine, using their network, and briefing on the next 2 days work, which consisted of logo designs for a pitch for a Vietnamese TV station. This is slightly familiar territory, as my previous placement in Sydney was similar. The logo design and brand set up could lead to winning the pitch, then the whole channel job will follow.

I am very much into branding and logo design, and am competent, but there's plenty of room for improvement! A good knowledge of type is needed, and it is important to know what the client wants (in this case a fairly commercial/corporate & contemporary feel). To avoid using stake fonts, I searched out some very expensive ones, set them online and traced them off in Illustrator with the pen tool. It just so happens that I am pretty good at Illustrator, and this is what I am comfortable with. I must stress that I don't believe my logos are really that good yet (it's an art-form innit!), but I do want to be great, so will keep trying.

I picked up a few new tips and places to look for type.

I think I have the right kind of qualities for this kind of job, and can easily see myself doing this kind of thing full time, however so far I haven't had to get into more complex work like After Effects projects, and Cinema 4D. I can see from what was going on around me that once the projects get the go ahead there is a constant rapport between the design production managers and the clients, and other departments such as sound design and editing. There is definitely plenty more to learn, and I imagine it's an ongoing process.