I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude to all staff at 44 - 48 Foley St London post production, for their time and exceptional hospitality they showed us on a recent visit.
When we first arrived at Envy we were offered refreshments and a choice of waiting area, my eagle eye drew me to the balcony to look at the view of London over the rooftops and to the work being carried out just below. We all had time to take advantage and photograph it. We then all took our seats inside on the settees already to listen about the information about the company.
It started off with all of the group being asked questions, such as what course we were on, what we were studying and what other companies we had visited.We were then given a chance for us to ask questions straightaway. We were actually in the offline area of the company and there was also another offline area close by. At Rathbone Place they have another offline facility but it is also their main on line centre. This is where they had all of their VFX ( this is grading), smoke (is where everything is done after the tidying up of graphics). We were then told the difference between offline and online. Clients can spend up to 3 months in a suite offline and only two in a suite online and they do post op for what ever comes in.
The four main areas are broadcasting, commercials, film and pro - mo.
There are many advantages to keeping off-line separate such as - it is slower pace and people tend to be the building a lot longer and it is important to give people space where they can relax before the go over to the main building where there is such a fast pace. The Software they use in their visual effects is often client led, depending on what the industry demands. The simplest could start from Photoshop upwards,to Nukes and the Adobe suites.There is always guidance and help when working with clients to make the desired effects they want.
The process was then explained in depth as to how people can come into the company as a runner, this is the largest department and within a time process of you own pace. How they could work their way up the company ladder to other areas. It is important too for you to be able to do the next job before promoted but it depends on your enthusiasm, willingness to learn and interaction with people.To know how far and how fast to climb, a good asset to have is to be able to identify what you don't know!
Time as a runner can determine if you are going to like the job and it also gives the employee a chance to see if the individual is also suited to them. The difference between editing at Uni and in a company was explained by the fact that at Uni you have control over what is in and out of the film that you have made, whereas in most companies these choices are taken out of your hands and are that of the production company. Sometimes people realise that it is the production side that they prefer to work in and viceversa. He thought that it was a good idea that we were going into different companies to actually see the differences, such as some firms work quite a lot on commercials and others may work mostly on films.Some firms especially the smaller ones you may get more hands on.
His advice was that due to us being in the second year that for those who are interested in getting into companies to go out and get as much work experience as possible. This is a good opportunity to be ticking things off your list of what you would like to do. There are also many questions that you should ask yourself, such as do you want to move location? Would you move to London or abroad? Make contacts where you can and be memorable for things like reliability, punctuality and work abilities, willingness and having people skills etc. From work experience there could be a possibility of a future job.
I asked the question " What has been his favourite project that he has worked on"?
He explained that favourite can mean so many things, in terms of things that he watches he likes light entertainment, grand design programs and as for media that the company has made - he likes and would watch them any way. The commercials are interesting to see once the finished work has all of the VFX and grading applied. The short form showreel is also something that is appealing.
We spent approx 55mins listening about the company with chances to ask questions and we were then offered a chance of refreshments again, which we accepted and this gave us another chance to ask questions on a one to one basis.
I really enjoyed my time spent in the company. The atmosphere was so relaxing and due to this I think we all felt more at ease to ask questions. We were also shown around a few areas such as the suites that the clients hire and work in. I thought that the information was delivered with such great passion it - was so nice to hear this as there are so many people in jobs that they don't enjoy and feel like they have become a part of that conveyor belt routine.
Hearing all about the company and having an insight into what work goes on in each area, how everyone is a part of a bigger team and also how steps can be made towards achieving being able to become a part of that team was interesting. The advice that we heard was like gold even if none of the group end up working in these areas. I felt privileged to have had this opportunity, it was a real eye opener.
For more information about their software it is listed on their website or anything else,
Please click onto the link below.
http://www.envypost.co.uk/recentwork/longform
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