BBC News (Mocking Software)

Our school is doing the BBC School Report annd I am part of the tech team and we have recently bought Adobe CS6 Design & Web Premium, which includes the applications listed below. We realise for news graphics, if it has to, we can make them in a Powerpoint with high end transitions and animations and output it as a HD mp4. For character generator, like for an aston to animate on and off, will any of the programs work or will we have to create astons etc in PowerPoint, output it as an mp4 and key it over our programme?

We have separate software outside of the Creative Suite to cut the videos together, with keying abilities.

CS6
Photoshop CS6 Extended
Illustrator CS6
InDesign CS6
Acrobat X Pro
Fireworks CS6
Bridge CS6
Media Encoder CS6

Make them in photoshop, you can do alpha-matte PNG targa sequences in it!

And that will be importable into Premiere (I think that's our video editor?) ?

Depending on the quality of the video editing program, the program should be able to create decent looking lower thirds. It would be much easier than faffing around recording PowerPoint.

EDIT: Premiere Pro can produce good looking Astons - much better than PowerPoint. Use the title editor in that and put them over the video.

We have Adobe Premiere (Elements?) that is separate from the Creative Suite, would that be capable?

I think you should concentrate on making usable static lower thirds which can just fade in and out before you even contemplate animating them.

It's the fact that it needs to be the BBC astons etc with their specific animations, which makes me think it would be hard to do in the title editor?

Oh, maybe not then.

My recommendation then is to use Inkscape and produce PNGs with transparency, and then apply a wipe effect.

I know how to do fade in/out ones,that's easy, just need them to animate something like the BBC's.

Well that's easy, most of the region's only fade in and out. Job done.

Its only really the name astons that have a 'complicated' animation, it uses the BBC News rings to animate on and off?

When we go out on the air in April, it will be the new graphic package rather than the current one the we'll need?

They really don't mind - the BBC aren't going to castigate you for deviating from their current or future graphics in a school project.