Objective
Streem was working on a lightly branded web series wherein charismatic host Nathan C Bowser interviewed thought leaders in the field of augmented reality. The hope was that The AR Minute would draw its own audience, which would increase Streem’s profile and lead to future sales opportunities. To keep the budget low and make it easier to connect with experts across the XR field, the series would be shot in a loose DIY style — at conferences and expositions or over Zoom. I was asked to provide an original branded motion graphics kit, to be used by an editor working in Adobe Premiere Pro, which would complement that indie production style and accommodate a wide variety of footage formats.
Process
After a brief ideation phase, we agreed on a direction that used sketchy lines and a glowy backdrop — both constantly in motion to reflect Nathan’s contagious enthusiasm and the ever-changing XR landscape. Paired with a modern and energetic music bed that runs throughout each short interview, the kit fits in well with the candid interview style.
Once I had a rough useable template, I used it to personally edit the first two episodes of the series, giving myself an opportunity to refine the kit before handing it off to our contract editor, Rachel . I made additional refinements as the editor worked and provided further input to improve flexibility and polish.
An early extra-short “teaser” episode, edited by me personally to test and refine my template
An episode being edited in Premiere Pro. The Essential Graphics panel on the right, whose contents are set up by the Motion Graphics template I provided, lets the editor modify key parameters such as the content and positioning of the lower-third elements, without leaving Premiere.
DELIVERABLES
I built the cards, bumpers, lower thirds, and captions in After Effects and generated a series of Motion Graphics Template (.mogrt) files that could be placed into a Premiere project when editing the final episodes. These allow the editor to control a robust set of parameters such as text, position, angle, color, and callout arrows without needing to edit the animations in After Effects.
I also supervised the editing process, so I was able to make quick revisions to the templates as new needs arose. For some needs, such as a series of bullet points that appear in time with the associated lines, it was quicker for me to create a custom asset and send it to the editor rather than enable her to
Reception
At the time of this writing, my kit has been used to produce 25 episodes of The AR Minute. They’re currently published in the Vlog section of Streem’s YouTube channel, and under the two playlists linked below.
The videos have drawn attention and started conversations with leading thinkers and prospective customers in the field of XR. When I left Streem, those new connections had already begun leading to new interview prospects and increased awareness of Streem as a player in the field.