I started consulting with Mindspring, working alongside their creative team to update and enhance a series of training videos for their client.
I had dabbled in After Effects and animation before this, but it was my first real work in the tool. I interviewed with the creative team. They gave me a 15-minute overview of the work, and I picked it up right away.
I started on my MacBook and finished one video. I was excited. I was learning a lot about After Effects and animation.
After two videos, I felt confident about what the work looked like and what done meant. I looked at how I could speed the work up, and at what ate the most time. The work was updating typography throughout the videos, replacing and rigging 2D vector characters, and animating their movements to match the original training.
Two threads
I pulled on two threads.
- Typography
- Exporting
How I solved them
I researched and specced a workstation, then reinvested the money from the work into a dedicated machine for animation and export.
I wrote a JavaScript script that updated every text layer to the typography the videos were supposed to use.
I started delivering finished videos at a quicker pace than the in-house team. I shared the script, then offered to spec and build custom PCs for the team, which we did.
What I love about this project is that I could blend engineering problem-solving with creative work, and elevate the people around me.