Week 14: Review Week and Review of my Progress

This week has been review week and I have had a chance to improve some of my work which I have submitted before, I was happy that I was given the chance to to improve my work so that I could try to achieve a higher grade. I believe that I have followed the improvement steps which I was given to improve my work and that I have now resubmitted my improved work, I believe that by having the chance to improve my work I have learnt more about responding to feedback and improvements steps and I have shown how I can do this within a week.

Review of Progress:
Over the past 14 weeks I have learnt many new skills and I am very happy with the amount of new skills which I have learnt, I have learnt how to use new programmes, such as Encore, as I had never used this programme before and I feel pleased that I have been able to create a DVD Menu using this programme. I have also learnt many new skills in Photoshop and I have also been able to use this programme to create the DVD Menu Pages, I have learnt about DVD Menus, as from my research this has helped me to understand the features used within DVD Menus for me to create my own DVD Menu. I have also learnt how to create an animation which I included within my final DVD. Another skill which I have learnt is how to use this website, Blogger, I have enjoyed being able to Blog about what I have learnt and this records and shows my progress through the past weeks. Overall, I am happy with the skills I have learnt and the progress which I have made.

Week 13: Research into Features For Television Adverts

On Wednesday we were introduced to the practical side of our new assignment of creating a 30 second television advert, we have 4 products to choose from to create an advert, these were Kit Kat, Diet Coke, Sure Deodorant and a Mobile Phone.
We have been asked to create an idea for one of these products and I have chosen to create an idea for a new Kit Kat advert, I have been asked to research into different aspects of Television Adverts and to research into the aspects which may be involved within my own idea for a TV Advert.

Product: Kit Kat Bar

These aspects include:

• Theme: I am researching into different Television Advert themes and I am also researching into existing chocolate bar adverts and I will be analysing the themes which are used within these adverts, as this helps me in understanding the themes within these types of adverts. The meaning of themes within Television Adverts is that they make you feel something, for example if you were watching an advert such as the Cheryl Cole Shampoo advert, this would make the viewer feel as though that if they buy this product they will be able to have hair like Cheryl Cole and many people feel as though they would love to have hair like Cheryl Cole. These are the types of themes which run within adverts and the point within a theme is for the audience to feel as though they have to get the product which is being promoted because of a certain message within the advert.

• Style: Within an advert the style is important as this is the way in which the advert comes across as this is a way in which people will be able to remember the advert and therefore the product will sell as people remember the advert. The style of the advert does not have to be straight forward such as the advert selling the product directly to you with no narrative or anything interesting happening within the advert itself. So therefore a style which may be used within an television advert is a style such as a music video, as this makes the advert interesting to watch and therefore this helps promote and represent the product well as people will remember the advert for this certain style which is used within the advert. I am going to research into the different styles used within television adverts which use different styles to see the different ways in which a product can be presented within a Television Advert.

• Technology Involved: This is also an important factor within TV Adverts as within creating an advert there are many aspects which involve the technical side, I am therefore going to research into what technology is involved within creating a Television Advert and this will therefore help me in understanding the technology which is involved.

• Technical Aspects

 1) Editing
 2) Camera/Lighting
 3) Sound Effects
 4) Special Effects
 5) MISE-EN-SCENE
All of the above points are the technical aspects which we as creators have control over, as we are able to control the editing side of the production, the camera, as when the advert is filmed we decide the camera angles which are featured and also the way in which it is filmed. Another aspect which we are able to control is the sound effects and special effects within the advert, as when it comes to editing the piece of film to make into the advert you are able to decide what sound effects and what special effects you want to use within the advert. The MISE-EN-SCENE is another technical aspect as this involves the 'staging' of the advert when in the filming stage, as this involves the props and the whole production when the advert is being filmed. All of these aspects are important and I am going to research into each one and also research into adverts which use these different effects and relate them back to my idea which I have for a new Kit Kat Advert.

We have also been asked to carry out a Content Analysis, which is when you are able to watch Television Adverts which are similar to the product which you are promoting within your idea for a TV Advert and you can see what each adverts involves within them. For example, as I am researching and looking at different chocolate adverts I would see what the main elements within them are.

From this I am going to start the research into the above points to create an idea for a new advert and I will also have more knowledge in understanding the way in which television adverts are created and the features within them.

Week 13: DVD Menu Completed and Burnt to Disc

I have now completed my DVD Menu work and I have burnt my DVD Menu from Encore to disc and I am very pleased with the way in which the quality of the DVD Menu on the computer screen has been kept the same when the DVD Menu appears on the Television. On the television screen the full impact of the DVD Menu is shown and as this is in Wide screen this shows the effect of the DVD Menu being professional and the colours within the DVD Menu show very clearly, which is important for the DVD Menu as this is one of the main features which links in with the whole genre and theme together. Another feature which I was very happy with was that the images which I included within my DVD Menu all kept the best and same quality from the time I took them, as throughout the project I was referring to my Contingency plan as one of the points on this was to check that the all the resolution and acquired features were correct for the resolution and quality was kept the same. Therefore I did this and this is the reason why the images within the DVD Menu Pages appeared to be good quality when shown on the Television, I was happy with the quality of my DVD Menu and I am happy with the rollovers and other features within my DVD Menu.
I am very happy with my DVD Menu and I have completed all the written work for this project and I have completed my Evaluation which was a chance for me to reflect on my progress on this project and the skills which I have learnt from the past 3 months.

Week 12: Skills Profile Review

Over the past 12 weeks I have learnt many new skills and some of these skills include:

• Using Photoshop in an advanced manner: I have learnt how to use Photoshop correctly and in more depth, as on my first Skills Profile on this blog I stated that I had used Photoshop in the past but I wanted to learn more skills within Photoshop. As before I was never shown correctly how to use Photoshop and being able to use this programme and being shown the tools and techniques which can be used within Photoshop to edit a photo has really helped, as I have been able to use these skills on different parts of the DVD Menu Project.
• I also believe I have created a film poster within Photoshop which presents the features which should be within a Film Poster and from my original Skills Profile Post I commented that I wished to create a film poster using the different skills within Photoshop to create a film poster with all the features, so I therefore believe I have done that.
• Another skill which I have learnt is from my research into digital graphics I have learnt how to gain secondary research and how to reference this correctly, also through the digital graphics research I learnt a lot about graphics, including the difference between Raster and Vector Images, how the quality of a camera affects the resolution of the image and the difference between CMYK and RGB (as I have used these two different colour formats throughout my project).
• I now also have knowledge into different DVD Formats, DVD Regions and which regions are used within other countries. I have also researched and have knowledge in the way in which DVD Menus are presented, as by comparing different DVD Menus I have been able to analyse these which helped me in creating my DVD Menu.
• Another skill which I have learnt is how to set up a canvas correctly within Photoshop ( International Paper, A4, Resolution 100/150) and I also learnt how to set up the film and video canvas within Photoshop to create my DVD Menu Pages.
• The next skill which I have learnt is how to use file types correctly, as there are many different file types which can be used and through carrying out my own research I researched into different file types for the digital graphics investigation exercise and some of these files included PSD's, which are Photoshop file and keep the layers within the file so the file can be edited. Another well known file is JPEG, this is the main image file type and is easy to use as they are small file types and can be used in places such as websites and blogs, as they are easy to work with.
• A new main skill which I have learnt is how to use Adobe Encore, I had never used this programme before and I found that the booklets which we were given to help us by carrying out the exercises within them in Encore helped as the exercises showed the basics for us to create our DVD Menu. I am happy with the new skill which I have learnt within Encore and the tutorials which we were given about the programme also helped in learning how to use the programme.

Overall, I am happy with the new skills which I have learnt and I hope to keep developing these skills, but from the first 12 weeks I believe I have learnt many new skills.

Week 12: New Project: 30 Second Television Advertisement. Television Advert Analysis

We have now moved onto a new worksheet which helps us with our research into Television Adverts, we have been asked to analyse different Television Adverts and to analyse them were have to write down the Structure of the Advert, Techniques used in the Advert and the Characteristics of the Advert. I have analysed different adverts and some of these include the Diet Coke Advert, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 3 Internet and Pepsi Gold, all of these have structure, technique and characteristics within them. I am now in the process of collecting all of the research from the analysis and put this into a written document which explains the different structures, techniques and characteristics for the different Adverts.
Some of the structures for the TV Adverts include features such as Realist and Anti-Realist Narrative, Documentary, Stand Alone and Series and Humorous. Some of the Techniques include: Hidden and Overt Messages, Emotional Responses or association and Celebrity Endorsement. All of these features are important in creating a Television Advert for a purpose and the advert has to stand out for the product to be promoted correctly.
I am now writing my conclusion to my findings from today's lesson and I will highlight the most important structure features and techniques and compare some of the adverts to each other.

Week 11: Responding to Feedback Completed

I have now completed my responding to feedback stage and the points which I needed to improve on within my work was:

• Refer to Preparing Work for Submission Guidelines to organise my folder
• Edit my images within my DVD Menu Pages so the main image stands out.
• Refer to media books to edit my Proposal
• An ongoing target is to use more media within my Blog

I have responded to the first bullet point and read the guidelines for submission and I have created a Title Page with all the correct information on so this project will be able to identified with the correct information. I have also created a Contents Page which shows the progress of my DVD Menu in order and shows the page numbers of where the different documents can be found within the project. The bibliography for the project is also included in the project, so I have created this bibliography with all the correct references from research and images which I have used throughout the project.
I have also responded to the second bullet point of editing the images within my DVD Menu, as by editing the images the character and the images stand out from the background and makes the DVD Menu look more professional, as by editing the images and the background this is also showing more skill, as I am using different techniques within Photoshop.
I have also responded to the third bullet point and I have edited my Proposal, I have added in my Unique Selling Point for my DVD Menu and I have explained why this is different from other Drama DVD Menus. The ongoing target to respond to is to add more media into my blog, items such as YouTube videos which may relate to areas which I am covering and can show some evidence of what resources I have been using within this project.
Overall, I happy with my DVD Menu and I have linked all of my pages and I have also included audio and animation, I have also learnt a lot about DVD Menus through this project, through researching into different DVD Menus and researching and presenting how I would create my own DVD Menu.

Week 11: Completion of DVD Menu In Encore

I have now completed my DVD Menu in Encore and from my feedback I have made changes to my DVD Menu psd's and therefore I have made the changes from my feedback and I have imported the edited DVD Menu pages into Encore. I did encounter one problem within Encore today, as my animation did not turn out how I wished it to be within my Main Menu, therefore I have now created another page which will appear a few seconds before my main menu. This page features an introduction sequence of my Title for the Menu fading in and out and I have then included my animation of handbags falling either side of the title, by creating this new animation I am still using the idea of the handbags falling and the concept of this shows through this page. Below shows an image of my animation, fading out



Animation From My DVD Menu Which
Will Appear Before the Main Menu





















I have also added my audio to the main menu and this plays on a loop on the main menu and when the main menu appears this music will always be played.
I have now link my pages together and they link in the correct places, I am now starting to think about my Evaluation on the DVD Menu Project and I will be using the guidelines on Chichester Online to help me with the Evaluation. I will also be completing my other feedback targets, of using the production guidelines on Chichester Online to organise my folder for submission, by doing this my folder will be organised and ready for submission, I therefore need to create a title page, a contents page and a bibliography.
Overall, I am happy with my DVD Menu and I am happy I have overcome my problem with the animation and I have found a solution to this problem.

Week 11: Introduction to Assignment 2: Television Advertisement

Today we were introduced to our second assignment and this assignment is to create a 30 second Television Advertisement for a certain brand. In order to get to the stage of filming a Television Advertisement in groups, we have been asked to complete research exercises which will help me in understanding the different research methods within the media industry. I have started the fist worksheet and the research which is included within this worksheet is to understand the four main types of research, these being, Primary, Secondary, Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Also within this worksheet I have been introduced to the Dewey Decimal System, this is a system is a library which holds many different books and is organised by subject, this system has ten main categories and other categories come off of these ten, this is a well known way of storing books within certain categories and within a big 'library'. I have been introduced to the meaning of this system for the first time today, but I have used it in the past for looking for books and within the library I have used this when the number is labelled relating to the book itself, this therefore makes it easier to find the book.
Through this first worksheet I will also be undertaking my own research, including Primary, Secondary, Quantitative and Qualitative Research, this will be in the form of Interviews and Questionnaires and the Secondary Research is able to back up my Primary research by using quotes within my explanations. I will also be researching how the media industry uses research to gain Viewing, Listening and Readership Figures and how they use this research.
Overall, I am looking forward to carrying out my own research and to present this research and explain how research is important within the media industry.

Week 10: Reflection On My Progress So Far

Over the past 10 weeks I have learnt a lot of new skills some of these include:

• Skills within Photoshop: I have learnt a lot of new skills within Photoshop and having used this programme in the past I knew the basics of using the tools within Photoshop. Some of these skills include, setting up a correct canvas, for example, when I made my Movie Poster we were shown how to set up the correct canvas and the correct resolution (which is 100/150). I have learnt how to use many different tools to edit images, I have learnt how from one effect you can transform an image by using the 'Filter' tool button, you have a wide range of options to transform and edit the image.
• Animation: I have learnt how to create an animation within Photoshop and I am therefore in the process of putting the animation which I have created into my DVD Menu Page.
• Encore: I have learnt how to use a new programme, Encore, I have learnt a lot of new skills as I had never used this programme in the past and from learning these skills I have been able to import my DVD Menus into Encore and practice linking them together. I have also learnt how Photoshop and Encore link and work together, as the codecs within the layers need to be correct for Encore to recognise the layers and sends an instruction to Encore for this to them work and become a feature within Encore.
• I have also learnt a lot of new skills within the Research (theory) side to this project, I have learnt the correct ways of research and I have learnt that research is very important when creating a product, as there are many different aspects which need to be researched to help create the end product.

Overall, I have learnt a lot of new skills over the past 10 weeks and therefore I will be able to use these skills within the future and within the future projects.

Week 10: Responding to Feedback and Progress

On Wednesday I was given feedback on my progress so far within the course and my targets which I wrote down to improve on within this project were:

• Viewing the Production Guidelines within Chichester Online to organise my folder.
• Using Media Books to gain an insight into the factors within the media and to help me in understanding the Unique Selling Point of my DVD Menu which will be included in my Proposal, this way I am able to explain why my DVD Menu is original and unique.
• Use more media within my Blog, media such as Youtube Videos, related to media and these could include for example Photoshop Tutorials, as this would then link into what I have been learning and the skills which I may have gained by using tutorials on the Internet.

For the points given above I am in the process of responding to them and I have set deadlines for myself and by next Wednesday the two first bullet points will be completed and the third bullet point of using more media within my blog will be ongoing.

I was given feedback on my DVD Menu so far and I have responded to the feedback which was given to me and this feedback included that I need to represent my DVD Menu so the Genre is clearly shown. Also the background images within my DVD Menu needed to be less, as they were taking the attention away from the main image. I have responded to this feedback and I have been able to edit my DVD Menu Pages and the ways in which I have edited these pages is by using an effect on the background, which takes the image away a bit and therefore the attention is now focused on the images within the DVD Menu Page. I have also changed the font which is featured on the DVD Menu, the reason why I changed the font is because I believed that as I had changed the background image slightly the font which I have now chosen shows an original side and unique side to the DVD Menu and now strongly suggests the genre of Drama.

This image below is one of my DVD Menu Pages and this is one of the pages which I edited in response to feedback, I believe that this image now relates and represents the genre of Drama, I haven't changed the images which I have used on this page but I have edited the background so that it is a bit more neutral and lighter and therefore the image stands out from the back clearer.
The text: I have changed the text on this page and this is the text which is used throughout many of the other pages, this text I feel blends in well with the DVD Menu Page and also the Genre as this text shows the originality of the genre and the DVD Menu itself.



Special Features Menu




















Below shows one of my two Scene Selection Pages and I have chosen to create a similar style background effect within this menu page and I have used the same effect and this therefore lets the images within the menu stand out and the images are clearer.
The Text: This is the same text which is used on the other Menu Pages, such as the Special Features Menu, this shows the fluidity throughout the DVD Menu and shows how this DVD Menu is 'one', so therefore the pages are linked by the features such as the style of font.

Scene Selection Page 2

Also through the feedback which I was given I have reconsidered the Animation which I am using in my DVD Menu, I am now having one main animation within the Main Menu and this will be Handbags falling on a loop of about 3 times and this therefore shows the theme of fashion and also emphasises the theme and narrative of the DVD Menu. Therefore I now need to import my response to feedback DVD Menu Pages into Encore and add the animation to them, and as the codes are all correct within the Photoshop Images of the DVD Menu Pages I can easily import the new pages into Encore and link the pages together for the DVD Menu to work correctly.



Audio Setup Menu



This image below shows my Main Menu, I have kept the same features within this menu but I have changed the opacity of the background image, as before to me the menu was too bright and as I have increased the opacity the menu is not as bright and still reflects and shows the genre of Drama. I have also included the main animation within this Main Menu and this is handbags falling on a loop of 3 and then piling at the bottom of the menu and this will be seen when you are firstly on the Main Menu page, this links in with the theme of fashion and adds a nice effect to the main menu and therefore people can get an idea of what the film (DVD Menu) is about.

I now need to link the DVD Menu Pages together within Encore and add the animation to the main menu.



Main Menu

 


 

Overall, through my Feedback I believe that I have responded to the feedback in editing my DVD Menu Pages to help make them suggest the genre of  Drama stronger and I am now happy with the new menu pages, I will also continue to respond to the other points mentioned at the top of this post.

Week 10: DVD Menu Linked and Completed Within Encore

 I have now linked my DVD Menu Pages within Encore, I have therefore completed my DVD Menu. I have linked all of my 6 DVD Menu pages together and I have put in all the links from each page off of the main menu to link directly back to the Main Menu. I have included the highlights rollovers over the text within all the pages of my DVD Menu.
I also solved the problem which I had on Friday, which was that the codecs e.g. (+) were not functioning within Encore and I was able to correct this within Photoshop and once they were correct the DVD Menu came together within Encore, there is still one feature within the DVD Menu which I am not sure how to activate, and that is the animation on top of each page, therefore I will research into this and how I can get it to work within Encore. Overall, I am very happy with my DVD Menu and it is how I imagined it to be and links in with my original designs.

Below are some screenshots of my DVD Menu in Encore:





Screenshot of the main menu in Encore




Screenshot of Scene Selection Page 1 in Encore




Screenshot of Scene Selection Page 2 in Encore




Screenshot of Encore With the Flowchart for the Links for the Menus



Week 9: DVD Menus Imported Into Encore

I have imported all of my DVD Menu Pages into Encore today and I have therefore started to get an idea of how my DVD Menu pages look. I imported the DVD Menus to Encore and using the skills which I had learnt I created a new project and then imported all my DVD Menus into Encore. Although, as this is one of my first times in using Encore and the codecs within Photoshop, I did encounter a slight problem as the codecs surrounding the images and highlighted rollovers within some of the Menus were not working properly as the images within one of my Scene Selection Menus. I do now know what I did within Photoshop which was that the codecs relating to certain pictures were incorrect and Encore was unable to recognise the image so therefore I am now in the process of correcting the codecs within Photoshop and therefore they should then work within Photoshop and I should then be able to link my DVD Menus together.

Week 9: Mood Board Including My Own Images

I have now finished creating my DVD Menu Pages and therefore I have create a new mood board which represents my images. Through this mood board it shows some of my images and links in with the DVD Menu itself, this mood board links in because I have used a background of material which links in with the genre of drama and also is the background which I have used within the Main Menu Page on my final DVD Menu. These are the features which I have explained and included in my DVD Menu Mood Board:

• Images: I have explained the reasons why I have taken these pacific images and how they relate to the DVD Menu Genre of Drama. One of the reasons which I explained was that I chose the images as they suggest a 'down to earth' approach to a film/DVD Menu and therefore this highlights the key elements and features of what a Drama DVD Menu actually is.
• Colour Scheme: Although I did not specifically explain the colour scheme on the mood board the colours are well presented and the colours of green and blue show clearly within the mood board and from the images themselves represent the colour scheme of the DVD Menu, this is shown through the clothes and setting within the images.
• Textures: I have explained the reason in why I have chosen a particular texture to be represented within my DVD Menu and I chose a fabric texture as this relates both to the theme of fashion and the genre of Drama. The texture used within the Mood Board is the same texture which is used on my DVD Main Menu.
• Font: I have represented the fonts which I associate with the genre of Drama, as these fonts are tall and bold and suggest the genre of Drama. I have presented the main Font which I used as my DVD Menu's Title Font and this will be what the DVD Menu is known for and is recognised by the font itself. This font is the font which is shown at the top of the mood board, the other font which is featured within the DVD Menu Mood Board is a font which was a possible font, as I found this font through research and I thought that this font would also work with my DVD Menu.

Overall, by creating a mood board with my own images allows me to explain fully and present visually my DVD Menu and all the elements which are included within the DVD Menu.

Below shows an image of my mood board

Moodbaord With My Own Images


 

Week 9: DVD Menu Pages Completed

I have now completed all my DVD Menu pages and I have added the animation to each of the pages and I have labelled all of the layers into the correct codecs to be imported into Encore. Through creating the DVD Menu Pages I have learnt a lot of new skills through using Photoshop and Encore, so when I am able to import my DVD Menu Pages into Encore I will be able to use my skills which I have learnt within Encore to link my DVD Menu Pages together.

I have create my DVD Menu Pages by linking all of my research and skills, as through my research into my genre of Drama I was able to research the fonts, images, colours and textures which are associated with Drama and I have incorporated them into my DVD Menu. Therefore in looking back at my research and the features which I have used within the DVD Menu all together the features and elements work well together and to me the DVD Menu does reflect the genre of Drama. The images which I have used throughout the DVD Menu show the drama genre as from my previous research into existing DVD Menus I have used these are the types of images which have been used and I have incorporated existing features within my own DVD Menu, and have made them original, therefore this shows the originality of my DVD Menu and shows the genre of Drama.

Therefore through all my research I have been able to create my DVD Menus within Photoshop and I have used all my skills from Photoshop to create a DVD Menu.

Below are images of all of my six DVD Menu Pages:



Main Menu DVD Page



Scene Selection Menu Page 1



Scene Selection Menu Page 2

 







Special Features Menu



Subtitles Menu







Audio Setup Menu

 

Week 9: DVD Menu: Photoshop Images and Animation

I have nearly completed my PSD's within Photoshop for my DVD Menu, these will be the pages which I will import into Encore and create the links throughout the DVD Menu for the menu to come together and work. I am happy with my DVD Menu pages and I believe that all these menus link well together and to me suggest the genre of Drama, the DVD Menu Pages which are completed include:

• Main Menu
• Scene Selection Pages 1 and 2
• Special Features
• Audio Setup
• Subtitles

I am happy with the progress which I have made on these different menus and I am now ready to put all the PSD's into Encore and link them together and I am looking forward to seeing the final DVD Menu within Encore with the links put into place.
I have also used animation within my DVD Menu pages and today I created the animation of a rotating Handbag, I originally decided to have a rotating shoe as this linked in with the theme of the DVD Menu although I did try rotating a shoe but the rotation did not link in very well to the rest of the menus. Therefore I have created the same rotating handbag on all of the Menus and this handbag is similar to the rollover button which I am using throughout the DVD Menus.

Overall, I am happy with my DVD Menu pages and I am happy with the rotation which is being placed in the corner of every menu, (except the main menu) and this will be continually rotating on the menus.

Week 8: Update of DVD Menu Within Photoshop

I have put my images into Photoshop and I have started to create my final DVD Menu, I have used the features which I have shown through my research and ideas, including the font, images and textures. Through this week I have created a mood board which represents my DVD Menu and shows the textures and fonts which I would take forward to use within the DVD Menu, I have also represented other existing products which I have researched and I believe relates to both my genre and theme of the DVD Menu.


Within Photoshop I have been able to create the menus for my DVD Menu, I have used all my original images and have placed them into Photoshop and started to create my DVD Menu. Through creating the templates I believe the menus all link together well and to me the menus are starting to look like a DVD Menu, as I have used all the codes and conventions which I have gathered from my research.  I have used all my new skills and research to create this DVD Menu, new skills in Photoshop have helped a lot and I feel a lot more confident in using Photoshop in a more advanced manner and I am able to edit photos and create an effect with the photos which I have taken myself. I have also learnt how to use existing objects to create an effect, within my DVD Menu I wanted to use frames around the images on the main menu and on the Scene Selection Menus, and I used a mirror which I believed would link in nicely to the genre of the DVD Menu, and this is a rustic style mirror and I was able to capture an image of this and edit it within Photoshop to change the colour of the image and create the frame for the images to be placed inside.

Below are some screenshots of my DVD Menu pages within Photoshop.




Screenshot of Scene Selection Page 1

Screenshot of Scene Selection Page 2

Overall I am very happy with the progress I have made in starting to create the PSD's for my DVD Menu and I am looking forward to placing them into Encore for the whole DVD Menu to come together and work.

Week 8: DVD Menu Mood Board Completed

I have completed my mood board which is annotated and represents all the aspects of my DVD Menu, this includes the main features which I have gathered research about and from looking into the DVD Menus, which are the existing products and I have represented all these features and the features which I have shown which I wish to use within my DVD Menu are:

• The font: I have shown the font which I want to use within the DVD Menu which I am creating and have explained about similar products such as famous movies which are Drama movies and I have adapted my font title for the DVD Menu from various fonts such as movie fonts. I have then presented my font within the Mood Board and this shows how it can relate to these existing titles and show the boldness of the title. I have also shown other titles which to me suggested Drama and shows how my ideas have been developed from my research through the mood board itself.
• Textures: I have represented the textures which I associate with Drama and I have also taken into account the theme which I have continued from my first exercise of my Movie Poster and the theme for the poster was Fashion. I have used examples of textures such as fabrics such as silk or velvet as these are the textures which I associate with Drama and Fashion and these suggest 'drama'. I have explained that I am using textures such as fabrics within my DVD Menu and I have also shown some examples of fabrics which I have incorporated the titles into the image through Photoshop, therefore this gives an idea of how the title and images can link together.
• Colour Scheme: I have presented my colour scheme of green and blue by a 'colour wheel' which also represents the theme through using images which are fashion related and these include fashion accessories and clothes. I have placed these images around an image which represents similar fonts and the colour scheme is shown through this image which presents writing as the font is green and blue.
• Images: Frames: The frames which I will be using throughout the DVD Menu are frames which are in antique style and show the effect of 'Drama' and emphasises this by including these frames and keeping the same frame throughout the menus shows the continuous and helps link the DVD Menus together. The frames will be featured on the Main Menu and the Scene Selection pages, with the images placed inside the frames.

Below shows an image of my mood board and shows the most important features for the DVD Menu.

DVD Menu Mood Board Annotated

 

Week 8: Photos Completed for My DVD Menu

Throughout half term I have completed and generated my images which I am going to use within my own DVD Menu. I have thought about the images in advance and I had thought about the theme and genre of my DVD Menu to influence the images which would feature within my Menus, this included the theme of Fashion and a True Story, Drama. The images which were generated were mainly images of the main character as then the audience are able to get to know the main character and as this is a True Story, Drama, DVD menus which are similar in theme and genre are also similar in the type of images which are shown within the DVD menu are mainly the main character.
Some of these images included:

• A winter scene in the woods and surrounding scenery such as fields, which with the costumes and the winter scene represents the theme of fashion and also the theme of the True Story.
• Images of the main character, close up images, and these various images will be featured on each menu.
• Images with the main character with fashion related accessories and clothes, as therefore this lets the audience know about the theme and genre of the DVD Menu.

Most of the images which I have taken for the DVD Menu feature the main character, the reason why I chose to feature the main character within most of the images is because from my research into existing Drama DVD Menus such as The Devil Wears Prada the images used within menus such as Scene Selection feature the main character, as this is who the film is about and this shows through these images which are used. I used the main character as I believe that the DVD Menu theme and genre show through by presenting the main character and as the DVD Menu reflects a true story this lets the audience get to know who is in the film and clearly highlights the main character and what she may be like within the film. As this DVD Menu would be based around a true story within existing products they present the character in this way as you are able to get to know the character through these images from the film itself.

Below are some of my images which I have taken.

I have also started to edit my images and place them into templates within Photoshop in the template for the DVD Menu and the menu itself has started to look like a DVD Menu and the pages look similar to each other and work well with each other.

Development of Final Idea For My DVD Menu

The ideas and research for my final DVD Menu are developing and the ways in which I have developed my ideas is my creating and mood board which symbolises and represents the features within my DVD Menu. The aspects and features which are represented within the mood board are features such as the colour scheme, textures, images, fonts and existing products, therefore through the mood board this gives a sense as to how my DVD Menu will look and be represented. This mood board will be annotated within Photoshop, which is similar to the mood board which I created for my Movie Poster mood board.

Also this week I am generating my images for the DVD Menu, and these will be taken by me and these will be edited within Photoshop and then placed into the PSD's for the DVD Menu and will link into Encore for the different pages to be linked together, and with the images in place this will make the DVD Menu look original and when people look at the DVD Menu they will be able to see the genre of the DVD Menu.

I have sketched out my menus for my DVD Menu and how I wish for them to look, I have also annotated these images as then you can easily see what the features are within the menu and the actions are explained within the annotation. There are six linked pages within my DVD Menu and these are the Main Menu, Scene Selection (2 pages), Special Features, Subtitles and Audio Setup. By creating these skecthes it has helped me in imagining how my DVD Menu may look and how all the elements and features within the DVD Menu can link together to create a flowing DVD Menu.

Below are some of my annotated skectches for my DVD Menu:



Main Menu Sketch With Annotation




Scene Selection (2 pages) With Annotation




Special Features Sketch With Annotation




Subtitle With Annotation



Week 7: Final DVD Menu Update

On Wednesday I presented my Pitch/Proposal, and this included all my ideas and research as to how I want my DVD Menu to look and how this will reflect my genre of Drama and theme of Fashion. My DVD Menu is continuing on from my Film Poster which I create and this Film for the poster was called Imagination, I believed that as I had created a Poster within a genre which I am interested in therefore I have got an idea as to how I want the DVD Menu to look and I can continue from my poster by creating the DVD Menu for the same film.
I have now started to plan out my final designs and sketches and I am now visually imagining my DVD Menu and how I want it to look. Through the past weeks I have researched into the Genre of Drama and I have gathered all the information such as Font, Colour Schemes and Layout, I have therefore incorporated all of these features within the DVD Menu.
I have also learnt a lot about the codes and conventions within DVD Menus and what the main features within the DVD Menus are, therefore this has helped me a lot in understanding what features are always within a DVD Menu, such as images, moving images, options, sub-menus and rollover buttons.

I am now going to continue to plan my Final DVD Menu with creating a mood board to represent my DVD Menu and I can also start to think about the images which I want to include within the DVD Menu and I am now able to take the images to put into Photoshop to create my final DVD Menu PSD's.

Week 7: Animation Within Photoshop

Today we have been introduced and learnt how to use animation within Photoshop which will help me when I come to create my DVD Menu, as I wanrt to use animation within my DVD Menu. I have learnt how to simply create a moving image within Photoshop these are the steps which I took and learnt to create the moving image:

• Create a Film and Video canvas within Photoshop which is in the correct format to create a page such as a DVD Menu.
• Open your chosen image into Photoshop and copy the image into the canvas.
• Now you are able to simply create a moving image by clicking on Window-Animation and this will create the animation, a timeline will appear at the bottom of the page with various tools which help you create the animation.
• You use the duplicate tool to duplicate the slide and this then creates the animation and you can then click onto the 'Tween Animation Frames Tool' and this will let you choose the amount of slides you wish to include within your animation.

I created an animation of a Butterfly flying across a Meadow, I am glad I have had the chance to use animation and I have been shown how to use it as I am going to include animation within my own DVD Menu.

This is a screenshot of my Animation of a Butterfly within
Photoshop

Week 7: Proposal Update

For the final product of the DVD Menu we are asked to create a proposal/pitch which presents my own idea for the DVD Menu which I wish to create. By presenting my ideas I am showing how my ideas have developed and how they can help create the DVD Menu. My research has helped me in understanding the elements which should be included within the Drama DVD Menu and therefore through showing my knowledge and research I am showing how I have made the decisions for the elements and features within the DVD Menu.
The main features which I have explained and highlighted within the Proposal are:

• Genre Explanation
• Colour Scheme
• Fonts Used
• Textures associated with the genre chosen (Drama)
• Budget to create the DVD Menu
• Similar and Existing DVD Menus
• Target Audience
• Transitions
• Layouts and Plans for my DVD Menu

Through representing all this information for the knowledge of the DVD Menu I am showing reasons and examples why I have used a certain object or feature within the DVD Menu and how all the features relate back to one another.

Week 6: Final Idea Development

Today I have continued with my development of my Final Idea. Today I have completed work which has helped me in developing my ideas for my Final DVD Menu.

The work which I have created and completed within today's session includes:

Contingency Plan: I have completed this plan which will help me throughout the process of planning, creating and evaluating my DVD Menu. Through this plan it highlights the main problems which may occur through these processes and I have listed resolutions to the problems which will help me.

My Initial Ideas: Which is the 3 ideas from the 3 different genres which I have researched into and shown the conventions and features which these DVD Menus may include. The three genres were: Children's Animation, Drama and Science Fiction. I have completed my ideas into these different genres and within these ideas they include, colours, fonts and a basic outline of the menu itself.

Final Idea Explanation and Research: I have completed the research into what I want to be included in the DVD Menu and including the features of font, layout and colour scheme, I have also included some of this information and research in my blog, which shows the research I have created for my final Drama DVD Menu. The explanation for my final DVD Menu idea gathers all the elements which I wish to include within the DVD Menu and I have explained this idea within a word document and highlighted and explained my final idea in detail.

Proposal: I have created my proposal for my DVD Menu in both a word document and a Power Point presentation, within the proposal I have included all the information which the client needs to know  about the product I am creating for him/her. The information include is information such as: Budget, Colour Schemes, Images, Similar/ Existing Products, Font and Designs of my DVD Menu.

Through starting and completing the work above I am happy with my final idea and through the research which I have done and my final idea this will help me in creating my final DVD Menu.

Week 6: Update on Encore and Update for my Final Idea for my DVD Menu

Today we learnt more skills within Encore and today has really helped me in understanding fully the tools within Encore and how you are able to organise folders within Encore. I used Photoshop to create a test for the main page for the a menu and I learnt how all the layers within Photoshop create the Menu with images and buttons to be imported quickly into Encore.

Some new skills which I learnt included:

• How to set up the Film and Video Canvas within Photoshop to create the page for the menu.
• Learnt about the limited space within the canvas and that there are blue lines within Photoshop which show where your text or images may not be seen within the screen.

New Terminology for Encore:

Place Holders: Thumbnail boxes which act like boxes within a scene selection menu, these allow you to add images and film clips into them to add to the DVD Menu.

Through using Encore today it has helped me in understanding the programme in more detail and I was able to recap on the work from last week to make sure that I still remembered and therefore I was able to move onto the next stage in the book to help develop my skills within Encore.

Encore Logo

 Update of Final Idea:

I have written my proposal for my final idea and this included all of my ideas which surround my DVD Menu, these include font, colour and layout, all of this information including designs and skecthes of my different DVD Menu Pages and shows the Client my ideas visually and they are all explained through the Proposal. This has helped me in understanding how I can now start about the creation and visualise the final DVD Menu and how I imagine the menu to be. From all the research and designs into the DVD Menu I can now concentrate on finishing the research and make sure I have good knowledge to show my understanding for Drama DVD Menus.

The next stage for me to think about is the sketches for my final design and the images which I will be taking for the DVD Menu, these are important for the menu as they do help suggest the genre and theme of the movie and show the originality of the DVD Menu.

Week 6: Final Idea for DVD Menu

I have now chosen my final idea for my DVD Menu and I have chosen the genre of Drama for this DVD Menu. I have chosen this genre as I am interested in the ways in which Drama DVD Front Ends are created, therefore through my research I have created a sketch and plans of each page within my DVD Menu. Through creating the sketches I have learnt about how to be creative in designing DVD Menus and that ideas for the DVD Menu have come to me through sketch and planning out the menus.
I have researched into this genre including:

• Font Styles
• Colour Schemes
• Textures
• Images

By researching into these factors which relate to the genre it has helped me in creating ideas for the DVD Menu and has helped me in understanding the concepts within a Drama DVD Menu. Through researching this genre and creating the sketches I now have a good idea of how I would like my DVD Menu to look.

Week 5: Progress of Research for DVD Menu

This week I have looked into the different genres which I was given to choose from to create a DVD Menu base around a certain Genre, the genres in which we were allowed to choose from were Children's Animation, Drama, Horror and Science Fiction, all of which would be independent Movies.

The genre which I have chosen is Drama and I have recently posted information and research on this product and ideas of how I imagine my DVD Menu to look. Before I chose my final genre and looked into the genre itself I have created other initial ideas and these ideas included:

• Children's Animation

Colour schemes: Blue and Yellow, bold colours which would appear to the younger target audience. These colours stand out and therefore will catch the target audiences eye and usually children become fascinated with bright colours, so therefore having these colours within the DVD menu will draw their attention into watching the DVD Menu.

Font: Cartoon effect font’s bold writing (bubble writing effects). These are fonts which children are interested in as they like to write in this style and as it is bold font they can clearly see the font with the colour and understand this style.

Cartoon styled images which will appeal to the target audience and catch their attention. There would also be different characters from within the film and the audience will get to know the characters from within the film by watching and looking at the different menus within the DVD Menu.

• Drama

Colour scheme: Greens and Blues- These colours are colours which blend together nicely and in fashion within the seasons there are colours which are ‘in’, so therefore the blue and green together may represent this.

DVD Menu to include: Links from Main Menu

·        Play Button

·        Scene Selection Link (button)

·        Special Features Link (button)

·        Audio Setup Link

·        Subtitle Link

Features on the DVD menu:

·        Moving Images, clips from the movie on main menu

·        Still images from the movie on the other sub-menus

·        Rollover will be in the shape of a fashion accessory- shoe or bag etc. This will help detect and select the options on the main menu.

·        Scene Selection menu will feature still images from the certain scene in the movie.

·        Layout of scene selection menu: Scenes will be groups in 4’s, e.g. scene 1-4 underneath the picture. The scene selection pictures will spread across the scene and the scene will hold up to 6 pictures for the scenes.

Science Fiction

Colour Scheme: Greys, Blues and Black, these colours are the colours which are associated with sci-fi and therefore these colours within a DVD Menu for this genre as this suggests ‘Space’ which could be a scene where the film is set.

Font: Similar colours to the colour scheme: Bold, complicated fonts as this may suggest Science Fiction, which will link in with the genre of the movie and will stand out from the colours within the DVD Menu.

Images: Still images would be used from the movie, and there will be a moving image of a science related object rotating or moving within the DVD Menu.

Through creating these initial ideas I have also created some sketches which helped me visualise the DVD Menus which I could potentially create. Below is one of my initial ideas when I looked into the different genres in which I could potentially take forward to create a DVD Menu with the three different genres.









This is a sketch of one of my initial ideas for a Children's
Animation DVD Menu

I have also created a Contingency plan which helps in the development of planning, creating and assessing the final product. This is a plan which highlights Potential Problems and Resolutions when going through these three stages of making the DVD Menu, I have completed this plan and some of the points within the plan include:

                                                                               Pre-Production

Potential Problem	Resolution
·         Unable to meet deadlines.	·         You are able to talk to your client for them to help with any ideas which you may not be sure about and that this is the reason why you are behind with the research.

                                                                                  Production

Potential Problem	Resolution
·         May lose work.	·         Back up work which you have started and save into at least two places, on the computer and on a memory stick, or any portable storage. This way you are guaranteed that you work is saved in at least  two places and you will definitely have your work saved

Post-Production

Potential Problem	Resolution
·         Quality within the DVD Menu when finalised.	·         Check when in the process of creating the DVD Menu all the resolutions and features which affect the image and quality are correct for the canvas which you are working with.





Through creating this plan it has helped me in realising some of the obstacles which may need to be overcome through the three stages and therefore has helped me in realising these and how I may be able to resolve these problems if they happened.

For this project so far I have researched into the different genres which were given to me to choose from, I have chosen my final genre which is Drama and the title of my DVD is Imagination. I am now going onto sketch out my final DVD Menu with all the conventions and elements which are included within a DVD Menu and I am going to take into consideration the research which I have found out about my Drama genre and put this all into my DVD Menu and create an Independent Drama DVD Menu, and make my menu original.