Creating the Inside DVD Cover

Although there is not much to my inside DVD cover, I feel that the final product is an effective cover which would work in an offical Music DVD. My first initial steps was to create a gradient for the background of the cover. Originally, I made the gradient similar to that as I put down in the original paper design. However, I felt this was too similar to the outside cover, so I decided to change the final gradient design to a bold white streak going along a black background, which I feel had more of a visual impact, and emphasised the track listing found on the left pane.

The font I decided to use for the track listing was a harsh, almost graffiti like font, which I feel went well with the agressive nature of the genre of our initial music video and our artist.

Creating the Outside DVD Cover

There are many elements of Photoshop which I have used to create the final version of my DVD cover. Initially, part of my design was a firey background, and to create this I would not only need to add a gradient but I would need to manipulate the colour of the gradient - to do this, I went into the gradient settings and was able to change the colour spectrum towards red, which would give a gradient that went from Red to Yellow, the colour I needed.

One of my next steps was to add images which I had taken to go onto the front cover. An image from the Music Video which I found particularly strong was the image of the warning sign, bright yellow with a bold exclamation mark - I felt this was a strong link to our agressive music genre, so I used the image in the cover (the image I took and used is shown in this entry). As I only wanted the actual warning triange with no background, I used the magic wand tool to get rid of the block white background. To make the image look more interesting, I added effects to the image.

Other images I added to the cover included screenshots from the music video (to which I added a cartoon effect, subtle but adding to the look of the cover) along with official images such as a 15 certificate, which I feel gives a strong clue to the audience to which our band appeals to.

Finally, I needed to add text to the cover. To start with, I added main text such as the title of the DVD along with the band name and track listing. I also added special features to the DVD to appeal to the audience, and also official copyright information (a format which I followed from viewing official DVD covers on the internet). I feel the fonts I used were mainly successful - I feel I made the right choices with font, as they suit the genre well.

Some aspects I had to change regarding my paper design was the layout of the back cover (due to space taken up by the track listing) along with a different image for the front cover (an image of a tarantula I feel would have been hard to find myself). However, I feel the image on the front of the cover as it stands is effective as it has a stronger impact on the audience and suits the genre well.

Font Choices

For the design of the ancillary tasks, I felt I needed appropriate fonts that would be easy to read but also fit in with the genre of the band.

In the end, I made the choices of font to be:

Sexton Sans, an industrial looking font which would be appropriate for the album name "Poisonous".

A screenshot of the font has been posted into the entry.

DVD Cover/Magazine Designs

For the ancillary tasks, we have to individually create a DVD cover for the release of an album along with a magazine advert promoting the release of the DVD. As a design feature, we had to watch our videos again to get ideas that we could incorporate into our designs. After watching our video, I decided that much of the effects and lighting we used was of a deep red colour, therefore I decided to use a firey design on the outer DVD cover and Magazine advert, creating a marketing link between the two products. The tracklisting in the inside DVD cover I have designed in a scrawly, almost grafitti like style, reflecting the almost angry tone of our genre.

I have also thought about audience, and generally bands in the drum n'bass genre are usually quite explicit with their videos and/or lyrics - therefore, I have decided to "certify" my DVD release as available to those only over 15 years of age, a clue to the audience I am trying to reach.

Refilming - 4th November 2009

Today, we were able to refilm the band segment to our Music Video - I felt this filming session was much more successful than the previous one, as we had enough actors for a full band along with a male singer who looked more of a singer in the genre.

Again, we were able to get many interesting shots of all band members - I was in charge of using the Fig Rig to film the segment which included the guitarist. I feel some successful shots came out of this, as I was able to capture some interesting close ups and tracking shots into the guitar, which is an improvement on the mise en scene from our last filming session.

Now, we need to upload the footage onto Final Cut Express and review it, to ensure it's good enough to use in our final music video.

Refilming Band Sequence

As a group, we have decided (along with the deadline coming up for the music video) to refilm the live band sequence sometime this week. Although from a cinematography point of view the last session was fine, the mise en scene of the footage was a problem.

Therefore, I feel it will benefit us as a group to plan out props and costume - this will mean having to think about our genre a lot, and will mean having to use authentic props to give the final produt a sense of realism.

Initial Editing

Now, we were able to being to edit sequences within our Music Video - the software now worked which obviously worked to our group's advantage. As I knew the basics of how Final Cut Express worked, I was able to give a quick tutorial to my group as to how to use it. This included describing the process of 'in' and 'out' points for footage and using the blade tool to cut up pieces of footage on the timeline.

As a start, I put some of the band footage on the timeline in time with the music to show the simplicity to the group of how to edit. John decided to put together some of the narration footage which made a good introduction to the film - the shots had quite a fast pace and some of the shots which were added in were interesting to watch.