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.