Meet Lisa Heeran, our super Quality Control Supervisor! Lisa casts her eagle eye over each animation before it leaves the studio and if you want to know about codecs and compression qualities, file formats and broadcasting standards then she's your port of call! We caught her for a few minutes to discuss the world of animation and what her role involves.

How did you get into animation?

Somewhat by accident! My training background is in television and graphic design, but that works for the job I do. QC makes sure that everything that leaves Brown Bag Films and goes to a client will meet and pass all broadcast standards – this doesn't exactly require an animation background, though I've always been very interested in animation and have endeavored to learn all that I can about it. It's a fascinating industry and culture.

How long have you worked in the animation industry?

A year and a half almost now.

What's your current role and what does it involve?

I'm Quality Control, the last port of call before animation leaves Brown Bag Films and goes out into the big bad world. I check all content of each show to make sure it's broadcastable (which is almost a word!). That means anything that is sent to me has to meet visual, audio and content specification standard for various broadcasters. It's a detail heavy job, and since Brown Bag's shows travel all over the world, it's very important to always maintain the very highest standards, and sustain our reputation.

Many broadcasters have their specs available online, you just have to look them up. Here's the BBC's for example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/dq/contents/television.shtml.

We receive the specs from our clients, well in advance, and a great deal of the work done to meet those standards is completed before content reaches me here in QC: animators, editors and the onliners are responsible for staying within visual limits, and the audio guidelines set the parameters for the sound guys. I check to make sure we're maintaining the set guidelines we've been given, and after that I concern myself with delivery.

Delivery is the form in which our content reaches the client/broadcaster. We deliver HD on tape and digital form, and it's my job to generate the final files, prepare the tapes and any other bits and pieces as required. I use a selection of software and hardware to achieve this, so you can find me at the tape decks one minute, glued to the Harris Videotek screen the next, tinkering on Final Cut Pro, or rounding the lot off with a trip to the DVD duplicator (a.k.a. Percy the robot), it just depends on the show I'm working on. All the shows are a little different, so all their needs are a little different – it keeps life interesting.

What are your biggest influences/inspirations?

I'm lucky in that I never wondered what I wanted to do in terms of my career. My earliest memories involve watching Saturday morning cartoons and knowing that I wanted to spend my days doing something that involved that magic TV box. I didn't know what exactly that entailed, but I knew that somewhere in there was my tribe. And that came to pass. Film/TV/Animation people are my tribe, and on top of that my current job encourages me to pass judgement, which even in the limited scope that I do it, is awesome.

What’s your favourite tool to use and why?

Post-it notes. I love post-it notes. For all the wonderful and high end hardware and software that I get to use, it's the post-its that keep me organised and calm. Remaining calm is a pretty important part of QC I can tell you.

What advice would you give someone considering getting into animation?

What you love is worth pursuing. There is no loss in that, even if the end result isn't perfect, at least you'll be happier for not selling yourself short. I don't have a map to guide people into this field, because I didn't use one, I just kept working job to job with a smile on my face, a willingness to learn and a whole heap of dumb luck… most of all dumb luck.

What do you like most about working in animation?

The culture here in the studio and in the wider field of animation is really special. It's a lovely corner of the media industry and I really enjoy the hell out of that. And apart from the people, we get to make cartoons, and I spend the bulk of my working day watching cartoons – what's not to love!?

What’s been the most challenging thing about working in animation?

For me the learning curve was pretty steep from the start because I was coming into animation from a different background. Even now, just when I feel like I have my feet planted firmly, the whole industry is shifting to newer technology and newer broadcast platforms. It's a full sprint to keep up-to-date every day and that is certainly a challenge.

Outside of animation what are you most passionate about?

I'm a sucker for gardening. That's not to say that I'm a green-fingered wizard, but I just get a kick out of not killing the parsley plant… again ;)

Are you interested in getting into animation? Keep an eye on our Behind-the-Scenes and Tutorials pages for more interviews, #TopTips and #Tutorials!