Documentary Motion Graphics
in Belfast

Common Questions About Documentary Motion Graphics

Do you work from our brand guidelines, or design from scratch? Either. I regularly work inside an existing series look or a broadcaster's brand guidelines, and I've built graphic languages from scratch where a film needed its own. On Book Week NI I animated from Mark Thompson's designs; on the Fine Point Films documentaries I designed and built the packages from the ground up.

What kind of graphics do documentaries usually need? Most of my documentary work falls into three groups: animated maps and timelines that track a story across places and years; infographics that make complex material legible — financial structures, evidence, case detail; and on-screen text treatments for documents, messages and quotes. The common thread is clarity. Graphics in a documentary exist to stop the audience getting lost, not to show off.

How long does a documentary graphics package take? It depends on volume, but a single-film package typically runs two to four weeks alongside the offline edit. I'd always rather come in early — graphics designed while the cut is still moving cost far less than graphics retrofitted to a locked one.

Can you work to a locked cut, or do you need to be involved earlier? Both work. I can take a locked cut and deliver against it. But the strongest results come when I'm brought in during the offline, so the edit and the graphics are designed around each other rather than one being fitted to the other.

What software do you use? After Effects, Illustrator and Premiere Pro. I deliver as ProRes with alpha, or as flattened renders — whatever your online needs.

Have your graphics gone out on broadcast? Yes — BBC One, BBC Northern Ireland, RTÉ One, Channel 4, Channel 5 and TG4, across genres from true crime to children's factual entertainment. Two of the films I've worked on have gone on to win awards, including Best Factual Single at the RTS Awards Ireland 2024.