Video Effects, Editing, Etc.
I recently wrapped up my placement at 3am design in Toronto this past May, and I couldn't be happier with the atmosphere of the office, the people to work with and the work that's done. The company is just beginning to expand (from 2 guys to 5 guys) and they've offered me a full-time, well paying job out of school. Any graphic designer with proper knowledge of this industry knows that being offered a full-time position in a major city at a studio with a great rep and lots of connection is a huge coo, and an even better opportunity to learn precious secrets not taught in books or in classrooms. There is a catch, though.
My creative directors love my skills as a designer, they like my adventuresome attitude to design problems and how I don't mind trying things a little bit different from the rules if it works. They also like that I'm fast and proficient with photoshop, and especially illustrator. But this is an animation house, primarily, that incorporates design to produce commercials so before taking me on with a salary they want me to learn Flash, After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I know quite a bit of flash animating, but my knowledge of actionscripting is limited to presets (although I do know how to use labels) and I knew nothing of After Effects or Final Cut Pro. I figured that after 2 weeks I'd be a pro at both programs and be on my way to the design industry in Toronto.
I assumed AE would be harder to learn than Final Cut Pro (FCP), and boy how wrong I was. After Effects is a different working space entirely from a Photoshop or Illustrator, and the rules between spacial and temporal design change dynamically as you learn everything there is to learn. So I bought a book and now I'm semi-proficient with the program and was wondering if anybody did broadcast design? Broadcast design is what the industry I'm going into is apart of, and it's an extension of graphic design and advertising. From here I can do many, many avenues of animated or film work. I can learn cinematography and become a lighting guy, or become a primary photographer. I can also go into 3D work and become an animator, or modeller, maybe even working for Nintendo, or Take-Two, or *gulp* EA. So I'm excited, but the task is daunting.
After Effects is entirely subjective, like Photoshop, whereas FCP is more of a cut and paste job that helps you reduce file sizes of video. This kind of work will allow me to work for TV stations if I desire to and am good enough. AE is even more sophisticated with the advent of 3D space and linkage with Maya and 3ds (as I mentioned 3D above being a branch), but these are babysteps into an industry I hope to do after I'm done school (visual effects and 3D animation work).
So I was wondering if anybody here knew any tips, workarounds and general ideals that people should know about this stuff? I'm learning from the people who do motion picture graphics, are considered some of the best up and comers in Toronto, and are financially very stable. Now I'm finding myself decomposing title graphics in movies like The Wedding Crashers and Kill Bill. These motion graphics are simple, and something I can already do myself with a week's experience in this program. But then again, the same thing happened when I first learned about tracking, leading and typography. I began noticing errors on graphics I otherwise had no knowledge of.