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)

zzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

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.