With Pulse College striving to give our students real world work experience, we could not think of a better way to advertise the college and the talent of our students than through an ad that was produced in-house. Our Full Time Film students stepped up to the challenge and took on the mammoth task of putting our Pulse TV ad together, which is to airing on Sky, MTV and Comedy Central. With extremely tight deadlines and a short turnaround time, at Pulse News we thought there was sure to be some stories behind the lights, camera action. We talked to two instrumental crew members Eoghan McKenna the producer and Gavan Murphy graphic and animation editor about their experience.
“Hi my name is Eoghan McKenna and I am on the full time film course. Recently myself and a couple of other students from the class were asked to make an advertisement for the college. We were coming up to the final weeks in college so it was a hectic time, but the draw of a broadcast advertisement was obviously enough for me to drop everything else.
I was chosen to be producer on the short film. In a nutshell I had to organise the shoot and make sure things ran as smoothly as possible. This was a lot of work but a great opportunity getting a leading role in a product that is going to air. It was incredible chance for somebody only starting out in the industry.
We had three advertisements to make, one for each course type on offer at Pulse College, one for gaming, audio and film. It was interesting working on the three because we had varying levels of knowledge on each subject subjects. Lorcan, the director, and myself decided to work on the advert for the film course first as this was the area we had the most knowledge. We created the idea and wrote the script first, this was then used as the template for the other ads. We then got in contact with a couple of the lecturers so they could fill us in on the process of audio and games production. After all the pre-production was finished we began shooting straight away.
As the locations of the three ads overlapped we did not allocate different days for shooting the different ads, we did it all simultaneously which took 3 days in total. They were fairly uneventful and ran smoothly thank goodness, but that's not say they weren't a good laugh. Lorcan was absent for one day due to prior commitments so I had to take the helm as director. This was an easy transition because I worked very closely with him on the pre-production and had already helped arrange the shot lists etc.
It was at the post production stage where the ad came into its own. As with most video or film productions, it is made or ruined in the edit. Gavan took on the role of editor and motion animator and I took on the role of colourist. It was at this stage that Lorcan and I worked closely with Gavan to achieve the desired look.
As Aidan had a deadline for the finished product we were put under strict time constraints. This was both a good and a bad thing. We had to work hard to have a finished product for the deadline but also it gave us a real world experience. It showed us the type of pressure that we would be put under in our future jobs.
After we had finished the product Lorcan and myself had to bring the product to the Oscar nominated studio Brown Bag Films to have the advertisement made broadcast safe. This was a very interesting trip as they gave us a full tour of the studio and introduced us to many of the staff, one of whom was Dominic Lawrence who previously graduated from Pulse College. They also ran through what was required to make it broadcast safe.
All in all making the ad was a very rewarding and informing experience. Not only do I have a great addition to my CV, it helped me realise that all the skills I have learned at Pulse can be incorporated into the real world.”
Here is what Gavan had to say about his experience on set.
“Hi my name is Gavan Murphy and I am a student on the full time Film Production course here in Pulse College. I was the motion capture editor on the Pulse Television Ad' which was divided in to the three key college course areas, Film, Audio and Gaming areas. We started working on the ads about 5 weeks ago when Aidan asked us to come up with some concepts and ideas. Lorcan was made Director, Eoghan was Producer, they wrote the original ideas for the ads and I worked on the Motion Graphics. I have a background in Animation from a previous Diploma course and I had the chance of working in The Mill as a Leonardo Intern in London. I was able to translate the design skills and the tips I learned in there to help make the ad look as good and high-end as possible.
After shooting the live footage for the different ads, Lorcan, Eoghan and myself sat down in the editing room and started to work on the idea and look for the ads. We wanted the three different ads to have a distinctive look and feel that would separate the three areas of education offered at Pulse College. This would ensure the core message of each ad would stand out. We used different colour schemes and motion graphic backgrounds for each ad, giving a specific connection to each area within the overall design.
After 5 weeks of pretty hard work and long hours, we finally finished editing, graphics and colour grading the final product just in time to be sent off to Brown Bag. Here they checked and made them broadcast safe so that they look as good as possible on small screen. The whole process was very long and difficult but I have found it has given me a greater understanding of post production. It has been a great experience and I can’t wait to see our hard work on the television screen when the ad's start to be broadcast.”
The ads can be seen on MTV, Comedy Channel and Sky. I am sure you will all agree they did an amazing job. Thanks to all those involved well done.
