My Head Is An Animal

9.30 - Sent emails to Declan.

1.15 - Edits as requested by the client.

2.30 - Exporting videos, emailing client.

1.30 - Called a courier service and printed off a label for Declan.

2.30 - Started working on clients edits for IWAK animations. Helped out with a client meeting.

3.30 - Fixing IWAK.

4.30 - Exporting IWAK. Emailing to client.

9.45 - Started animating pt 4 of IWAK, emailing the client.

10.45 - Animated pt 4, slight fixing of the timing per client’s request, started pt 5.

11.45 - Animating pt 5.

12.30 - Lunch

1.30 - Finished animating IWAK 5, started IWAK 6, have some issues with the file as some of the images are missing.

2.30 - Asked Diego for help with the missing files, finished all the other animation I could on IWAK 6.

3.30 - Animated IWAK 7. Diego helped me solve the image problem. Finished animating IWAK 6.

4.30 - Exported all animations. Sent them the client.

9.30 - Animating edits on IWAK project as requested by the client.

10.30 - Animating IWAK, rendering project, sent Declan the hours I’ve done on the project so far, sent the revised version to the client. 

11.30 - Animating part 2 (there are 7 parts in total) of the IWAK project.

12.30 - Lunch.

1.30 - Animating part 2 of IWAK project.

2.30 - Animating part 2 of IWAK project.

3.30 - Animating part 3 of the IWAK project.

4.30 - Having trouble with some of the illustrator files not working in AE. Working with the boys to resolve this issue. Resolved the issue, I thought it might be because the file names were the same apart from a number and it turns out that was the case. AE was merging the two Illustrator files together. 

9.30 - Designwest Logo, having trouble making the shadow, material options not coming up.

10.30 - Showed Declan what I had so far and he was happy with it for the time being. He wanted to put it as the screensaver for all the macs in the studio so I had to research how to do that because Macs are weird and complicated. IWAK files finalised so started working on that again. 

11.30 - Problem with text on IWAK files so I have to stop working on it again until the boys fix it. Got the logo on the screen saver by using Quartz. Declan got me to add it to the other computers as well. 

12.45 - Lunch.

1.45 - IWAK Files

2.45 - IWAK Files

3.45 - IWAK Files. Started reanimating some of the first part of the IWAK file and the second part. Exported.

4.45 - Send the two examples to the client.

9.30 - Declan is gone to a meeting until 1 and the spanish interns are currently working on edits for the IWAK project as suggested by the client so I’m waiting until these edits are done before I continue with the project incase there are more changes. The client is notorious for changing things. Declan didn’t leave me anything else to do so I am working on my presentation while I wait.

10.30 - Helped Diego with his emails. Working on the presentation.

11.30 - Working on the presentation.

12.30 - Practised editing.

1.00 - Lunch

2.00 - Declan came back and since I can’t work on the IWAK files until they’re finished, he tasked me with making an animated screen saver for the Designwest Logo.

3.00 - Designwest Logo.

4.00 - Designwest Logo.

9.30 - IWAK edits as specified by client, uploaded Interactive Motion Videos to Dropbox for Declan.

10.30 - Tried out Dave’s suggestions, copied Designwest’s passwords on a usb for Declan. Emailed Declan’s motion designer, Chris, for help with the IWAK project. Cleaned up the studio.

11.30 - Trying to fix the IWAK. Trying different format settings. Separated another IWAK file.

12.30 - Lunch.

1.30 - Emailed Chris back. Separated more IWAK files. Chris asked me to call him, talked to him about the file, he gave me some tips on how to make it sharper and what to export settings to use, he seemed to think the quality was good though. I rendered the file as both a H.264 (what Chris suggested) and a MOV because I think it looks sharper (on this computer at least) as an MOV. 

2.30 - Helped the spanish inters with writing an email. They helped me with some Illustrator files that weren’t working by saving them as EPS files.

3.30 - Still separating files.

4.30 - Copied videos on a usb for Declan. Declan set me up with a company email for the IWAK project.

9.30 - Declan gave me a new project involving editing the Interactive Motion Videos individually and adding the Motion Monsters branding to each one.

10.30 - Still Editing.

11.30 - Still Editing, rendering the videos, ran them through Handbrake, copied files to the server.

12.30 - Uploaded finished files to Vimeo, put links in an email for Declan.

1.00 - Lunch.

2.00 - Continued working on the IWAK project.

3.00 - Animated the writing on IWAK project. Showed my work to Declan, he liked it, asked me to animate the IWAK logo, I did that, exported it for him.

4.00 - Emailed the IWAK video to Declan, started separating the other IWAK files. Declan reckons the video is too small/low res. Wasn’t sure how to go about fixing this so I emailed Dave for advice.

9.30 - Declan got a new computer in the space where I sit. He had a minor edit he wanted me to do on the Interactive Motion Design video, but my files didn’t all save properly to the new computer because I made the mistake of saving the files I was working on the Desktop. So I had to redownload some things and chop up the finished video from last week to edit the video. Was having trouble getting the audio working on the new computer and after effects as well so I spent a lot of time trying to figure that out.

10.30 - Editing in the text to both version of the videos, Declan approved it.

11.30 - Still editing, the audio not working is a big problem because the sound of the video is edited to it and because I had to chop it up the sound was thrown off. 

12.30 - Got the sound working and was able to start editing the parts where the music was off.

1.00 - Lunch.

2.00 - Finished off the edits, exported the videos, ran them through Handbrake, started working on the Ireland West Airport project from scratch. The new computer can open up the Illustrator files without any hassle thankfully.

3.00 - Separated all the layer from the Illustrator file so I can animate them on After Effects.

4.00 - Started animating the project in AE.

9.30 - Shoed Declan my edits on the Interactive Motion Design video from yesterday. He gave more text edits to do and wanted me to add two more clips.

10.30 - Editing the video.

11.30 - Showed the edited videos to Declan, he gave me the go ahead to export them and re upload to vimeo. He asked me to email him with the links to the videos. Also met his friend Andrew who was talking to me about adobe programmes and how he thinks 4D Cinema is the best programme for 3D work but that you need a really powerful pc to run it.

9.30 - Editing the branding end screen in motion video. Edited text as well. Showed it to Declan, edited as to his suggestions. 

10.30 - Edited text/video. Added text to long version and edited to fit. Declan asked me to speed up the logos on the end screen even more.

11.30 - Rendering new edits. Uploading them to the Designwest Vimeo account. Accidentally exported extra seconds of black at the end of the short version so re-exported it.

12.30 - Lunch

1.30 - Declan pointed out edits he wanted me to fix, I made the mistake of exporting it before showing him again. Fixed the short version.

2.30 - Fixed the long version. Declan gave me a new project involving using Illustrator. He wants me to take the different elements of an Illustrator file and animate them on After Effects. However to be able to do this I have to separate the individual elements of the file.

3.30 - Illustrator is not working for me, asked the graphic design interns for help and they don't know either, Declan is out at a meeting. Also asked college classmates. We believe it’s because my version of illustrator is older than the version the interns and Declan are using. Declan came back and told the boys to save the file for me in such a way that it can be used on a lower version so that it will work. The boys did that for me and it is now working.

4.30 - Learnt how to separate the elements of the file the way I need to thanks to youtube. Started separating every aspect of the file onto a new layer in a new file on Illustrator. 

9.30 - Started off by double checking the motion video, noticed there was a problem with the font on the wow part of the motion animation. One of the letters was different from the other two. The font I has used seemed to have disappeared. Tried downloading different fonts to fix it, no luck. Shut down after effects and started it up again and it was fine, just a glitch. Made minor edits to the video.

10.30 - Edited the music for the short version. Edited the short version. Declan suggested to speed up the timing of the branding endcard so I did that and edited both versions to fit it. 

11.30 - Ran the files through Handbrake. Declan then had me look for wood/timber stock footage for our next client project.

12.30 - Lunch

1.30 - Declan showed my video to a client to show them Interactive Motion Design. I uploaded both videos to the company Vimeo account. 

2.30 - Declan wanted me to add more text to the Interactive Motion Design videos so it would be more obvious to the clients what is going on. I decided where in the video to put the text, started editing it in.

3.30 - Editing the video/text.

4.30 - Declan gave me some more suggestions for the branding end card to do.

5.00 - Finished up, locked up.

^ Long Version of the Interactive Motion Design Video

9.30 - Started off by running the clients clips from yesterday through Handbrake because the file sizes were too large for the website. Client wanted all of the videos used so I went back and edited a video I had left out yesterday because I thought it was too shaky to be used. Also worked on the logo a bit while waiting for the files to convert.

10.30 - Continued working on the Trident logo. I applied some of the effects I learnt from youtube yesterday to the second version today. Declan was happy with what I had done so I exported it. 

11.30 - Started working on the interactive motion design video again.

12.30 - Fixed the alignment and little animation issues with the motion design text for the interactive video. He wanted me to change the hand in this section to something more stylised and to make it red in colour.

1.00 - Lunch

2.00 - Transferred the logo files to Chris, someone who works with Declan who is going to use my animation in a promo video for the client, animated the new hand, continued editing the video.

3.00 - Declan seemed happy with the motion text, he suggested an end screen for the brands instead of a scroll. I made that and edited the timing. 

4.00 - Continued editing the video, finished Draft 2.

5.00 - Finished up, locked up.

9.30 - Opened up, today’s first brief was to edit some clips for a client again. Main thing I had to do was get rid of the audio and I used the warp stabiliser effect and attempted to use it on the clips as they were very shaky.

10.30 - Editing clips for client still, was having trouble rendering, it kept cutting off the end of the clip. Figured out it was a glitch due to trying to save directly onto the company’s server instead of on the desktop. Saving to the latter made it work.

11.30 - Continued editing video clips for client.

12.30 - Started working on animating a logo for a client, brainstormed ideas.

1.00 - Lunch

2.00 - Started working on an animation of the Trident logo flipping in space with some cool effects by following a tutorial online.

3.00 - Finished the animation, Declan liked it but he said he wanted more animation of the individual parts of the logo itself so I started again following some ideas he suggested. Doing motion design on my own has been very challenging so far, I’m struggling to make it as cool as I’d like. 

4.00 - Still working on the second version of the logo, had to make a phone call to return a delivery. 

5.00 - Finished up for the day, locked up.

9.30 - Opened up, Declan sent me an email featuring brand logo’s that must be included in the video I edited yesterday. I worked on the motion graphic’s brief from yesterday.

10.30 - We listened to potential tracks for the shorter video while I continued to work on the motion graphics. 

11.30 - I experimented with different effects on after effects for the motion graphics brief.

12.30 - Began re-editing the video from yesterday to Declan’s specifications (included certain clips he wanted etc). Got a brief to do some editing for a client.

1.00 - Lunch.

2.00 - Edited the client’s and after some trial and error rendering (thanks after effects).

3.00 - Started working on including the logos in the first video. I tried a few different ideas and wasn't happy with them but I finally decided to do a scrolling banner on the bottom of the screen featuring the logos. 

4.00 - Worked on the scrolling banner.

9.30 - I had trouble with my computer not starting up correctly so I called the technician to resolve the problem. Continued editing/finding music for the project I started editing yesterday.

10:30 - Still editing/looking for music. Declan said he wanted something “edgy and quirky”.

11.30 - Found a vaporwave track called Division Ruine by Carpenter Brut that I thought had a cool feel and an awesome drum intro.

12.30 - Still editing.

1.00 - Lunch.

2.00 - Editing, finished draft one of the video, showed it to Declan, he liked it, suggested edits such as shortening the clips, possibly finding music with a more rock feel that they used in their branding. I was then briefed on the next part of the project he wants me to do which involves using motion design for text he wants to include in the video.

3.00 - Began motion graphics work, did quick thumbnails based on the brief with Declan, looked for more music.

9:00 - Declan (head of the company) showed me various projects I can work on such as photos/videos he needed editing and logo designs. He showed me the file organisation system and some cool examples of interactive motion design.

10.00 - Worked on my first project which involved using the pen tool to clean up the backgrounds of photos of tractors and trailers that Declan wanted to use for a sign for a cilent.

11.00 - I continued to work on the first image with the pen tool only to find I had fudged up somehow and made a mask instead.

12.00 - I started editing the image again, I was much quicker this time because I knew what I was doing.

13:00 - The edges of the wheels were a bit rough so I used the clone tool to round them out.

13.30 - Lunch

14.30 - Worked on the second photo for the client.

15.00 - Worked on my second project which involves editing the motion design videos Declan showed me earlier. He wants the most interesting examples in one video to show clients. I started off by watching all the videos and picking out the ones I thought were the best.

16.00 - Began editing the videos and looking for “cool” music to play in the background.