I feel like it's wrong to say that there are certain things that I work on for the Falcons that are more important than others. I feel guilty about singling some things out. But the reality of my job is, it's true. There are projects and events that trump others. I don't think that they trump them in importance, however, just in the amount of pressure my role is and the amount of attention the project bring upon itself. The span of days from April 25th through the 27th is one of those times. This is the NFL Draft. The draft is interesting for me, as it is one of the craziest times that I actually experience through the entire season (outside of a game day). The reason for this is that I have to create a graphic, or graphic package, for each player that the Atlanta Falcons select. No big deal right? Well I have to create that graphic within 5 to 10 minutes of the selection being made.
So what does that entail?
Well, before the draft, it's a must to have a sort of template or roadmap created. If you don't have this, you're dead in the water. After the template is created and approved, you wait for the draft (calm before the storm). Once a pick is made the first step in the process is to find images (in our case 2 images) of that player. This is slightly tricky. For starters, most of these guys don't have Sports Illustrated cover quality images online. You have to also make sure that the images are compelling and exciting. After all, these graphics are the very first graphics that fans will get to see of this player. You have to draw them right in. The next step is to edit the images, clip out an action image and then apply all of the effects you might need. Followed by saving out the graphic and making sure that graphics get to the person who needs them.
Here is a look at what this all looks like, to me:
5 to 10 minutes.
In the end, This year was a success. Not only did the Falcons draft some absolutely outstanding players, but the graphics conveyed the quality of the athlete. Success.
Everything, except the video, was created on the flly, during the draft.