Motion graphic deliverables, industry standards, post production

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Almak,

Yes, motion graphics and deliverables…

The secret is that there are no standards.

That does not mean that you should make it up as you go along, but that you have to find out who your client is.
Some will demand Rec709 within a specific file-format container, like a ProRes .mov file.
However, everybody is individual, and often your work will go in as part of a bigger project. Where the video editor and/or the colourist will “bash” your work around until it fits the program, and is legalised.

A Broadcaster or a streamer (not forgetting digital cinema) will normally have specifications for you to meet.
From the questions that you are asking, you clearly have an idea of what you are looking for.

Find yourself a target broadcaster and Google search “[name] specifications” and you’ll soon hit the jackpot.

Here is what searching on BBC gave as a result:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/delivery/technical-requirements/

You’ll find much more info than you ever wanted, but as BBC are also a global producer/distributor/broadcaster you are most likely to get something that as a base standard, will work everywhere – until it doesn’t.

Hope that this helps!

Good Luck – and just keep going, you are already doing very well.

Atb
Mads

bbc.co.uk

Technical requirements

Technical delivery standards for file, sound, re-edits, programme copy policy, durations and UID

[Eric Santiago]

Don’t forget the one key point (pardon the pun), Alpha Channels.

I find it odd that even after 30 years in this business, I meet users with no idea what that is.

For me its ProRes4444 and in the old days it was QuickTime Animation.

[Eric Santiago]

I work with all mediums in Digital.

As far as mograph deliverables you have to be on top of your clients needs.

I always do the trickle down for most of my broadcast/film projects since they all seem to shoot at 4K DCI.

However, you have to keep other aspect ratios in mind such as Quad HD which equates well to HD for titling, credit rolls, mograph, etc…

Lower thirds I dont worry as far as resolution but I build everything in AE vectors (as much as I can) so that I can go up and down.

But if you build it at a decent size e.g. I do a ton of VFX and always told to keep that to 2K so at times I will do the mograph in that size and it seems to scale nicely up and of course down.

Its a deep subject but you will run into some funky ones such as digital signage.

Ive had to do some weird sizes when dealing with sports venues, entertainment installations, special events etc…

As Mads states, you need to be aware of it all.

[Michael Gissing]

You will likely find that editors also do not know what online and grade facilities prefer. Everything depends on what the final output files are to be but a safe bet is to be using png for still graphics which supports alpha and is certainly compatible with major software, especially Resolve which is a very common grade tool. Mostly people work to rec 709 but increasingly Rec 2020 might be requested especially if HDR deliverables are required. For animation with alpha, ProRes 4444 is popular although it is notoriously bad at maintaining correct gamma translation. I’ve had mixed results with DNx codecs with alpha so apart from ProRes 4444 you can use image sequences in .png . Regardless of how you have built the assets you will need to work within the post pipeline when it comes to those final deliverables for online.

[Tom Morton]

Agree with this, there are no real standards because it’s a creative process – it’s all subjective and usually down to the editor. Editing for TV / broadcast is a totally different ball game with very specific standards. As far as I’ve seen, most editing studios that are creating videos for companies to put on social, youtube and so on will generally edit to these settings:

1920p or 4K resolution

Aspect ratio of 16:9

Rec.709 color space

H264 in a .mp4 container

Bitrate of at least 20Mbps.

These are the most common settings we work to, and the most common that I’ve seen – it’s what we use for probably 95% of our projects. But yes, can’t stress enough that it’s a creative process and all these things can vary depending on the clients wants and the end goal.

[Eric Santiago]

I want to say “I sure miss the good old days of Chyron” LOL!

[Glenn Sakatch]

You also have to be very aware of what frame rate your editor is working in for motion graphics.

Stills obviously don’t care.