Good Advice is Great Advice…
Over my lifetime, there have been two fantastic pieces of advice that I have been given in relation to work that I always keep close to me.
Hello, my name is Holly and I am a Video Editor and Motion Graphics Designer, one of my first jobs in television was creating PowerPoint presentations for Simon Cowell to watch for work purposes.
The first piece of advice I was given was by a teacher at college. I cannot remember by who but the advice has definitely outshone and stayed with me.
I have always had an interest in design and initially as a teen at college I thought magazine layouts may be a way forward in my career. Whilst I didn’t pursue this, I got some great advice related to it that I have transferred into other parts of my career.
I was told if you like a magazine layout then you should rip it out of the publication and keep it. Not to copy but give you inspiration. All these years later I have that folder I created at 17. I haven’t used it in ages but it can be a really helpful reference point - even for Motion Graphics.
I have also extended this advice by taking notes of graphics that I find inspirational in television shows and films. Some of my favourites include the opening credits of Spider-Man 2, Sherlock and Bear Grylls Mission Survive.
Another great piece of advice I was given was by a sound engineer in Newcastle at the BBC. It was a simple thing that has stuck with me throughout my career.
He was in charge of training me on the programme Quantel. It was pretty easy to understand as I found it similar to other edit systems. The best advice he told me was all about sound! Which I suppose you wouldn’t expect anything less from a Sound Engineer.
He told me that when you finish your edit, close your eyes and listen to it. It will give you a much better balance of the sound and you will hear where a transition or sound needs to be adjusted much easier.
It is the one piece of advice I use a lot and if I have a complicated sound edit I will always do this to make sure that it is smooth.