Work Experience

For my Work Experience hours, I was shown various roles and aspects of the Art Department of a local television series.

I spent one day shadowing the Production Designer and Art Director, and two days building props, pieces for set decor, and I got to learn about graphics designed for the show that are used in many ways throughout various departments.

The Production Designer and Art Director had many meetings that involved everything from product logo design, layouts, and parts for building paper props. They broke down scripts and location notes to determine what the sets would need, such as fake street signs, store signs, and vehicle graphics.

When building paper props, I mostly worked on file folders. Background files required fewer details, but "Hero" files, used by actors, required careful placement of specific labels, scripted contents, and needed to have exact duplicates made. Other props designed and built included name bages for background performers, dust jackets to cover books on set, and signs made to cover logos that weren't cleared to be used.

On location, I was tasked with finding all of the logos and registered graphics that the show might need to either cover, or find legal permission (clearance) to use.

SOmetimes graphics are given to the Video Playback department so they can be used for content on phone and computer screens in the show. This includes video files of computer screen content made to look like actors are interacting with it.