Hello everybody,
My question is a bit off-topic but I hope the moderators will forgive me for this as this is the only place where I can find so many Xpression-users at the same place.
I bought my first Xpression in 2008 and have been renting my machine and myself as an operator ever since. It was the very first Xpression in Belgium, which was traditionally dominated by Avid's Deko at that time. In the meantime Xpression has been chosen by a number of other broadcasters, some of which don't have operators themselves and rely on me for their projects.
In the recent past I've been doing the Belgian versions of international formats like The Voice, Britain's Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, Minute to win it, X-Factor, and many many other televisionshows.
In that case it's probably safe to say that I'm the Belgian expert when it comes to Xpression.
However, when we look at other countries, there are many differences when it comes to graphics.
In Belgium graphics is still considered as a sort of 'add-on' for a televisionshow. It's literally something that goes on top of the program, and for producers it more often an obligation to use graphics then anything else because they have to put a name in or they have to show voting-information and so on.
Graphics in Belgium are quite often just boring lower thirds. They are basic shapes such as rectangles. Every once and a while they will have something animated in them but most of the time they're pretty basic.
We try to show producers what we are capable of with the Xpression to create better-looking graphics but it's very hard to get the graphics designers to think out of the box and to create visually stunning graphics.
The only time when they put some effort in graphics is during elections. Then the they becomes a weapon in the battle for the viewers between the different broadcasters. But that's one night every two or three years...
If you compare that to the US or UK for example, graphics there are an integral part of the programme. It stands almost on an equal level as the camera images do. There is much more integration of graphics & content displayed in a graphical manner than in Belgium. Also the animations are much more advanced than what they do here.
However, I've made it my mission to try and push the graphics in Belgium to the next level.
But for that I would like to learn first how it's done in the US. And now we get to my question:
Does anybody have an idea where I could find an internship at a US-company, specialized in broadcast-graphics, preferably using Xpression?
My goals is to really get into some production, be it sports, entertainment or perhaps news, and to really get an overview of the entire graphics-side of a production. This including the process of conceiving, designing and implementing the graphics, but also operating the graphicsengine during production.
I really would like it to be 'hands-on' especially on the areas where I already have a lot of experience, being Xpression. So creating the project, the software which is being used to control the graphics (if applicable ofcourse) and the actual operation itself.
I would prefer an internship of 2 or 3 months, starting at the earliest in May. I first have a new season of The Voice starting here in Belgium which ends on May 3rd. After that I'm keeping my schedule free for any possible internship.
If it would be possible to get a paid internship, that would be really great, just so I can cover my expenses of living in the US for a few months.
So if you are or you know a company that could use an intern on the graphicsdepartment, please do let me know.
I think you can contact me using the private message-feature on my profile, as I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post my e-mailaddress here.
Thanks everybody,
Kenneth