Delivering lower thirds
by Keiko Ozaki
on
Jul 17, 2008 at 9:15:53 pm
What is the standard for delivering lower thirds? or any graphic that would need to be edited on a regular basis? Editable AE projects or a quicktime with alpha channel and providing a font for the production company to change in FCP? Or would a prodcution company usually go back to the graphics provider and have them make the changes?
I got a degree in animation and have worked mostly in a TV production environment, and only recently decided to pursue motion graphics further. Currently I freelance at a production company as a production coordinator/post production assistant, but they don't have any in house graphics besides me. Any recommendations on good sources for more information on questions like the one above? I know an internship at an actual motion graphics company would probably be the most educational, but in the mean time I'd like to become more knowledgeable about the industry.
Re: Delivering lower thirds by David Rickles on Jul 18, 2008 at 7:55:47 am
Is your text animated? My assumption since you brought up AE is that the backplate for the text is...but for the font itself, is it?
In a post-production environment, I've built things in nearly every context you mentioned. As a freelancer, I usually would try to iron out the details before hand -- and either sell the the AE template, or sell my services to design and produce the lower thirds. With the production companies I've been with, we'll design the graphic backplate first and render that out, and depending on whether the text is animated or not, either 1. type them in one at a time in AE and render out, 2. Build a data spreadsheet and automate the process of building the type with Photoshop and combine in FCP, or 3. If it's only a few names, build the lower third text (and sometimes basic animations) in FCP and combine them there. A tip for the second and third methods is to build your lower thirds once and nest them into their own composition, that way should you need to use them again, the lower third is more contained.
As far as resources to ask these questions, Creative COW is a great one. Lots of brilliant people on here that have helped me a few times!
Hope that helps!
--D
David Rickles
Motion Designer | Editor
David.Rickles@gmail.com
www.davidrickles.com
Re: Delivering lower thirds by Dave LaRonde on Jul 18, 2008 at 4:24:10 pm
[Keiko Ozaki]"What is the standard for delivering lower thirds? or any graphic that would need to be edited on a regular basis? "
Sorry, but there is no set standard. For example: in my station's graphic package, the company delivered alpha-channeled animations, including lower-thirds, at 720x486 in Quicktime's Animation codec. We use 'em every day, along with may other things in the package.
Obviously, we add our own text using a CG, and we use the designer's font specifications, which came with the STYLEBOOK -- a very key thing for any package designer to create.
But they also included the looping animation and graphic elements used to build these backgrounds -- as targa sequences, and at 720x540. Thus, we can re-create and modify the backgrounds, build something entirely new, or migrate from 720x486 to 720x480 if we wish.
The one thing we did NOT get were the AE projects. We had to figure out how they worked their voodoo on our own.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Delivering lower thirds by Joseph W. Bourke on Jul 21, 2008 at 2:21:44 pm
Keiko -
At my station there are a couple of ways I deliver lower-third graphics, depending on where the project is ending up. When delivering a lower-third for our Promotions Editor, I simply create a Quicktime movie with a built in alpha channel (Animation codec, millions of colors+) - this would be for an AVID system, not to be played back live, but post-produced. I generally either create more animation than needed (if they need a :10, I make it :15), or make a seamless loop, so they can make as much lower third background as they need. The text is then added in post - sometimes I make an example of how I want the text design done, then send it as a Photoshop file for reference (FPO - for position only).
If the graphic is destined for live playback on the air, I have to make a two part graphic which is actually two files - a Fill file and a Matte file. The Fill file is the graphic and the Matte file is the alpha channel. In AE, I render off the Fill as a Quicktime Motion JPEG-A, then render off the alpha from the same codec, checking off the Alpha Only choice in the pulldown. This file is saved with the same file name as the fill, but with a "k" appended to the end. When it is loaded, the fill matches up with the matte, and it airs with an alpha.
As Dave said above...every client/facility is going to have a slightly different way of doing things. Talk to the producer or client and find out what they need. We also have Graphics on our playback system which are created as Templates, so that in our News playback, the producer can open the template, type their own CGs, and then save the file to the News Rundown. It goes straight to air (usually mis-spelled) and our Graphics Operators then have to run the traps on the spelling.
