Professional Practice – Week 06

I most definitely disappeared into After Effects over the past couple of weeks. Somehow I had it in my mind that I could output a vector animation from AE and keep it nice and lightweight for PDF presentations and the web, just like Flash. Wrong. Similarly to Photoshop, even though you can create vector shapes in AE, they will be rendered out as pixels and therefore chomp up disc space pretty quickly. Figuring this out only after spending an inordinate amount of time struggling with the software was kind of embarrassing. Chalk that one up to experience…

This work was the lead-up to our first of just two Professional Practice assessments this semester, where we are asked to present a project proposal brief, along with some self-promoting work (resume, business card etc). I decided that it made sense to use my Digital Studio work as the subject, as I’m already having to present concepts to some serious people, like Council.

First of all though, I had to get the visual id part behind me. In the end, I probably got too caught up on this part, so it was good to finally let it go. Heading over to Flash, I used the logo I have been working with for some time as the basis for the e-card. I also took advantage of the requested electronic format, by using a small amount of animation and web/email links…

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I think in the end, I was trying too hard with this part of the project, and overcooked it a bit. I really needed to rein in all the work I had been doing on it and move forward with something simple. It will be good to get some feedback on this one – after all the working and re-working, it was a case of not seeing the woods for the trees.

Moving on to the weightier part of the assessment, I prepared a project proposal brief. I’ve been living and breathing my Digital Studio/Professional Portfolio project all year, so it was nice to get some of the ideas down onto paper – even if it was electronically. I did my best to keep in mind that this could potentially be seen by Marrickville Council as part of my application process, so I kept the structure and wording as professional and concise as I could.

So there’s probably no need to repeat myself: here is the proposal brief. I’ve removed the animations to cut back on file size – they’ll be available to view in my next Digital Studio post.