Digital Corps

Digital Corps Video Bios: Review Checklist

Quick Tip!

The Digital Corps rolled out video bios for all of its employees in Fall 2020. You can watch everyone’s bios via the Digital Corps Ultimate Info Sheet.

Helpful Staff for this Topic

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When the Digital Corps hires a new group of employees, a few things need to happen. One necessary task is to create a video bio for each new hire.

This article covers the basics of this process, but you will need to work with your project team to cover the nitty-gritty details.

The process has five main steps:

1. Work with the project team to get footage from the new hires.
2. Find instrumental versions of each new hire’s theme song.
3. Use After Effects to combine the animated graphics and footage.
4. Walk through the “Review Checklist.”
5. Submit the video bio for review.

Getting Footage

The actual videos should be approximately 1 minute long, give or take ~10 seconds.

Your JPM and PM will organize the footage in folders for each new hire. Depending on the number of new hires, they may be further organized by team.

Be sure to ask in the Slack channel if you can’t find it.

Theme Songs

Everyone listed in the Digital Corps Ultimate Info Sheet has the option of proclaiming a theme song.

To add some personality to the video bios, an instrumental version of an individual’s theme song is used as background music.

As the video editor, it is your job to find the instrumental version of their theme song.

Quick Tip!

Some people have a unique taste in music— if you can’t find an instrumental version of their theme song, ask for their runner up!

Using After Effects

Download and install the font called “Not Just Groovy” from OneDrive.

Download the After Effects template that matches the student’s team. The templates and font can be found in this OneDrive folder.

Import the student’s video into After Effects.

Double click on the composition in the timeline called [EDIT – NAME], select the text tool, click on the text layer in the composition preview, and type in the student’s name.

Next, select the student’s video from the project tab and the track called [EDIT – EMPLOYEE VIDEO]. Hold the option key and drag the video to the highlighted track. It will replace the sample video that is already in the timeline. 

Adjust the length of the timeline based on the length of the video submitted. This can be changed by opening the Composition Settings or hitting Command K.

If you adjust the length of the video, make sure to line up the outro graphic with the end of the video. There is a marker and text on the timeline that shows you exactly where to line them up. Make sure that the video ends before the circle graphic opens at the end. A black screen needs to be behind the graphic.

Adjust the audio levels so they peak at -12 dB. Add in the instrumental music and adjust the levels so you can hear the person speaking. If you do not feel comfortable editing audio in After Effects, you can export the project and edit the audio in Premiere. 

To export the final project, add the custom Video Bios template into Adobe Media Encoder. Use this preset to ensure the video is the right size and resolution. 

Review Checklist

Confirm the following information BEFORE submitting a video bio for review:

• Is their name spelled correctly? Triple check with the Ultimate Info Sheet.
• Did you use the correct After Effects template for the person’s team?
  • Admin/PM = Pink
  • Comm = Red
  • Design = Yellow
  • Dev = Blue
  • UX = Green
  • Video = Purple
• Does the font look like this? (Click that link and type their name to see).
• Is the video 1080p and h.264/mp4? (We don’t convert to 720p until uploading.)
• Does the audio peak at -12db?
• When the circle animates out at the end, does it reveal black?
• Does the timeline Work Area (and the export) end as soon as it’s all black?
• Does the music fade out at the end?

This article has covered some of the basic considerations that go into making a video bio for the Digital Corps Ultimate Info Sheet.

Remember that your project team will provide additional details, so use this article as a final check before submitting a video bio for review.