Essential Graphics
Essential Graphics:
content
Fast
Consistent
easy to make
At GamerzClass/Metafy (previous employer) we were met with a challenge:
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how to streamline the post-production process of considerable amount of content.
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My personal highest amount was ~10 hours long educational masterclass with a teaser and a trailer on the side, over a single month. This feat was only achievable with the integration of Essential Graphics, a user-friendly interface within Premiere Pro, that allows to use and customize motion graphics built in After Effects.
The skills to build the Essential Graphics aligned with my professional experience and it quickly became a big part of my duties. I was in constant communication with the companies' Design team to build brand style assets, followed by code-writing & developing these graphics into fully functional automized templates.
Over the 3 years of my tenure, more than 20 unique in-house and freelance editors have used these templates to kickstart their work without any on-boarding, many of them without having notable motion-graphics experience. These tools allowed anyone to create content with a plethora of graphics, on-brand and on-time.
Further on this page I will expand on how it works and why it can be a powerful instrument in a post-production pipeline.
the problem
Many video formats require both precise offline editing and advanced motion graphics.
Think masterclass, video course, advertising, social media post, films, music videos, etc...
To achieve best results, an editor has to employ both Premiere Pro and After Effects. This usually means a lot of switching between applications.
It's like going to a different room and forgetting what you came for.
tHE SOLUTION
If the motion graphics are of consistent style and often replicated, they can be turned to Essential Graphics.
An editor can use Essential Graphics as simple clips. All the needed parameters and infinite duplication.
It's like a mini adjustable After Effects composition, without ever leaving Premiere Pro.
The challenge
As one starts to see the effect of using Essential Graphics, one pushes the limit to automate every possible aspect and leave the editor with most ease-of-use experience.
This requires time. Every automated part has to be hand-written with modified Javascript.
If creating motion graphics was a Designers job, turning them to essentials would be the Developers.
The Result
Using Essential Graphics substantially speeds up post-production. An editor only needs to care for correct information and timing*, and leave the design to work for itself.
*timing, which is even easier considering the ease of matching it to the footage.
Design stays consistent every time. Helps to stay on-brand and allows multiple editors to work on a single piece of content maintaining uniform style.
Essential Graphics allows editors with little-to-no experience in Motion Graphics to create brand-based content.