Week 12

DVD Menu Design 03 - 12 - 2010

Evaluation

I completed the evaluation of my final product today by referring to the document, ' evaluating production work'. To make the evaluation flow, Simon discussed the importance of independenly planning the document. I reffered to the planning sheet I produced also to help me complete the evaluation.

Evaluation Plansheet

• Introduction 
• Skills Developed (technical, presentational, equipment handling, meeting deadlines)
• Knowledge aquired (Photoshop tools, Encore features, conventions of menus)
• Problems Encountered (contingency plan)
• Feedback (feedback given and response to feedback)
• Final Product ( how objectives were met)
• Improvements if repeated

Week 11

DVD Menu Design 26 - 11 - 2010

Evaluation

I began on the evaluation of the project by planning and starting to write up the evaluation today.


Television Advert 25 - 11 - 2010

Research Unit

We were introduced to our new assignment of producing a 30 second Television Advert. There are 3 units covered within the project.

• Unit 1 - Pre Production techniques
• Unit 3 - Research techniques
• Unit 30- Advertisement for television

We started on an individual report that will go towards the research techniques unit entitled 'What is research?' It covers the types of research commonly used in the industry ( primary, secondary, quantitive, and qualatitive research ) using examples. I also covered market research techniques. Advantages and disadvantages of each type of research are explained also.



DVD Menu Design 23 - 11 - 2010

Response to Feedback

To respond to a feedback point outlined by Harry, I made sure my blog included media that is relevant to the different parts of the blog. For example, I included an image of the moodboard that I created to show the themes and colours that will be used on the menu.

DVD Menu Design 23 - 11 - 2010

Skills Profile Update

See skills profile.

Week 10

DVD Menu Design 20 - 11 - 2010

Response to Feedback

As response to Feedback, I produced an animation storyboard that planned the animation I would be using. I researched story boarding on the internet first to make sure the one I produced was of a good standard. To start with, I sketched the different frames of my animation, showing the movement of the bubbles. After doing this, I included how the animation would be made, which included the program I would be using and the tools that would be needed. 

DVD Menu Design 19 - 11 - 2010

Response to Feedback

To show how conventions have been followed, I have included a screen shot showing conventional imagery of a crime/gambling thriller being used. This particular screen shot is from the deleted scenes menu. There are images of cards, giving connotations of gambling, set against a background filled with lights, giving links to Vegas, a well known setting for various films of the same theme. As well as imagery conventions, color conventions are shown by the use of white, black , and red. I know these are all color conventions of crime and gambling thriller because of my existing product research.


DVD Menu Design 19 - 11 - 2010

Animation

I completed my animation today which included creation in Photoshop and importing the .mov file as a timeline into Encore. When imported to Encore I linked the file to the Main Menu by using the pickwhip tool. This is a screen shot of part of my animation. The animation consists of 3 bubbles moving towards the surface of the drink.

DVD Menu Design 18 - 11 - 2010

Feedback

When I went to Andy for feedback, he gave an opinion that the font used for the buttons was not the best font that could be used to give connotations of the theme. I took this into account and decided to test a different font to see if it looked better.

I decided on using a different style of font called 'Trajan Pro' . I have included a screen grab of the Main Menu screen to show a different look of the menu. I decided that this new style of font suited my Menu more than the previous style, so I decided to use it.


DVD Menu Design 16 - 11 - 2010

Linking Menus

I completed the production stage today by linking the menus in Encore. I did this by opening up the flowchart screen and linking the menus with the pickwhip tool. I found this way of doing it clear because an advantage of this way is that it is easy to see where each menu is linked.

I have attached a screen shot of the completed main menu screen taken from the DVD Menu.

I am happy with the final product because I have included the colour and imagery conventions that I planned on including in my pre production stage. For example, I used red and black, two colour conventions of crime and gambling themed products.

DVD Menu Design 16 - 11 - 2010

Feedback

I went to Harry for feedback and I was given 6 action points that will improve my work.

Action Points to Improve work

• Organize evidence of work - I will do this by including more titles and definitions of terms to make the evidence more clear to the reader.
• Cite all research - This will be completed by providing a source of where I gathered the information from.
• Detail in Blog - I will complete this by including all feedback and including further media, ( images, video ), to provide more evidence of production and to make the evidence clearer.
• More design processes - More evidence of the design process needs to be included. I will do this by further annotating my sketches and the storyboard of the animation.
• Conventions followed - I will complete this by making sure that in all products, the generic conventions are followed.
• Refer to grade descriptors - I will refer to the grade descriptors and make sure all points are completed.

Week 9

12 - 11 - 2010 DVD Menu Design

PSD File Production
All of the images and text that needed to be included were added today. This included images of cards and poker chips that acted as icons.

I then completed the production of the PSD files which included the coding of the buttons and rollover effects. Doing this furthered my understanding of the different codes that need to be added for this kind of product to work. I did this for all my menu pages. All that is left to do is the Encore stage of production which includes the linking of the menu pages and then finally post production which will complete the project.
Examples of codings that I used the most.
Button - (+)
Rollover Effect - (=1)

11 - 11 - 2010 DVD Menu Design

PSD File Production

I produced the basic layout of all my Menus in Photoshop. This included adding images that I have taken and editing them for a proffessional effect. I also added the text that needed to be added to the Menus. I kept to my planning by referring to the production schedule to remind me of what needed to go where.

Week 8

DVD Menu Design 05-11-2010

PSD File Creation
I created an example PSD file very similar to the main menu of my inal DVD Menu design. It included imagery similar to the images I will use and also the effects I will use on my final product.


DVD Menu Design 05-11-2010

Moodboard

I started searching through magazines for images that could be used on my Mood Board. I looked in film magazines such as ' Empire ' and found images of colour conventions I will be using, actors that are linked with films from the same genre, and images that give connotations of the themes I will be basing my product on.

I have attached an image of the mood board I created in Photoshop. As you can see, colour conventions of crime and gambling are included such as red, white, and black. Also, the theme of crime is represented with the inclusion of images of recognized characters from films that follow the same theme and genre.
DVD Menu Design 04-11-2010

Moodboard
I produced a mood board on Photoshop today as part of my Production schedule for the DVD Menu Design project. I included images relating to the genre of crime and gambling. This included images of recognizable characters from known films. I also included images that gave links to gambling E.G. Las Vegas, Dice.

DVD Menu Design 03-11-2010


Animation and Audio
Today, I produced a document outlining how I will include Animation and Audio in my DVD Menu.
          I had different ideas on how to include Animation in my Menu and settled on animating bubbles in the drink the character is holding. The bubbles will be animated so that they appear to be floating towards the surface of the drink. This is a simple Affect I will use however I know it will be effective at bringing the character to life.
        When deciding on the Audio Soundtrack I will be using, I know it is important to research the Audio used on current DVD Menus from the same genre and theme. From doing this, I know that an instrumental soundtrack made from classical music is conventional of crime thriller DVD Menus. This type of soundtrack is what I will be using in my product.

DVD Menu Design 02-11-2010

Encore : Review of learning
We were given a learning review sheet to complete. It included questions that I am able to answer as a result of completing exercises on Encore. An example question that was asked was ' how do you create a new project in Encore '. There was also space to include our own thoughts and  how confident and focused we are on the project.

Week 7

19-10-2010 Encore Exercise

We created a basic animation of an image moving across the canvas in Photoshop. The process we used to create the animation is called Tweening. This tool is found by selecting , Window, then, Animation. When pressed, an Animation box will apear at the bottom of the screen, below the canvas and the tween tool is found there.                                     

This is the icon of the tweening tool.

The Tweening tool animates the image by creating frames in between the beginning and the end position of the image. After saving as a .mov file, we imported it as a timeline into Encore.
           I had a play around with this tool by creating animations with other images and found it good to create simple, cartoon animations.

Week 6

15-10-2010 Encore Tutorial

Exercises 

 I completed exercise 8 which involved importing video and audio as a time line and using other features found on the monitor panel. This is an image of one of the features of the monitor panel that I used. It controls the zoom of the video.

14-10-2010 DVD Menu Research

Resources and Budget , Production Techniques, Legal and Ethical Considerations

As part of my DVD Menu Research, I completed the research on the

• Resources and Budget - Involves how much a graphic designer chargers a day and per project.
• Techniques - Techniques using Photoshop and Encore.
• Legal and Ethical Considerations - Representation of individuals and groups. Copyright notice / warning. Permission from individuals to use pictures or videos of them.

Production Pitch
I started producing a Production Pitch on Photoshop. It will include information about the production of the product and the planning stages that have been done to reach the final product.

12-10-2010 DVD Menu Research

Client and Audience Needs

Today, as part of our DVD Menu Design project, I completed the client and audience needs, and also completed the target audience parts in college time. Out of college hours, I completed the Flowchart for the 6 DVD Menu screens and also added some extra annotation to my sketches to improve the quality of them. Completing these tasks kept me up to date with my work which will help me in the production stage of the project.

12-10-2010 Encore Tutorial

 Exercises

To further our experience and knowledge with using Encore, we completed a task which involved creating a menu screen in Photoshop and then importing it as a menu to encore. This was good because it gives us practice of what we will be doing in the future when creating our Menus.