DVD menu Complete and Burned

I have finished my DVD menu and have reached the final stages of my project.

I have now moved onto my Evaluation and completed. This essay like document explains everything I have learnt about myself throughout the project, all the new skills I have learnt and finally. It is important to evaluate yourself very hard. 

After this I moved onto burning my DVD and i encountered a problem with my menu's and had to reload them all and it Built and Burnt.

I used 4.7GB, 16x DVD-R but only used 800 Megabites but my menu did not have a movie on it.

Then i played it with PowerDVD and it didnt have one of my menu's linked to the main menu instead it went to the start. So i had to relink it and then burn a final with one of my Dads discs.

Overall i had alot of difficulties but i am happy with my final product.

DVD Menu - Sound in Sony Vegas

I used Sony Vegas to edit all my sound this is very good program for this, becuase originally was only used for sound.  I used this program to combine my sound track and fade down and fade on. I found this program very useful in what i needed to do.

DVD Menu - Building

Combining all my Pre production, production also Post production such as flowcharts, storyboards, Sketches, animations, videos and menus I've designed and created etc. All these materials have been combined into a DVD Menu. This is a long process with their being about 70 different interactive links.

I started by Creating a new project and setting  up a new project using Pal DVD settings, now i have a blank project. As my first auto play i have the Unincluded Productions title sequence timeline by setting it to first play.
From then i have my first language menu then on to my three trailers Skyline, Watchmen and Cowboys vs aliens which are also sci-fi trailers.

After it starts up my Main menu with i created with a video and sound file also with a few layers and text which leads to Scene Selection, Setup and Bonus Features. Then i went though the long put satisfiing job of linking everything back with each other so that theres a path that the audience can use.

The final step is extensive testing, making sure all you links work and in your set sequence with no glitches. This is a time consuimg but vital exercise and decreases the margin of error. At the time of writing I am only having 1 Audio issue on an animation but the rest seems to be working. Soon I will have to start testing on Third Parties.

Responding to Feedback

I had a feedback session with Harry Dhami and we esablished that i was a bit behind and i needed to step up. My action points were to Update my Blog i solved this because I'm writing about this now.
To Create my DVD menu by the set date but i could not do that due to the snow day. So I'm going to hand it in the next week.
I have to Refer to the production guidelines, i have read the production guidelines thoroughly and i am aiming for a distinction but i don't think i will be able to write enough in the time given.

Finally i will refer to the assignment in my evaluation and blog thoroughly. I only have left to complete my evaluation and write my final conclusion in my production scedule.

DVD Menu Play Piracy video

When the you press play on the DVD it comes up with a piracy warning ad video. I will be putting this on because i want to add more realism Moreover professionalism to the Menu. 

I downloaded this Video .Mpg file off of YouTube using my YouTube Downloader HD.

DVD Menu created Title Unincluded Productions

This is my company name that i use on all my videos and i recently created a Opticle Flares HD version. This is going to be my initial Starting Video to show who this is made by. Some people ask "i have never seen a title sequence that long?". There is one check out the Dolby Digital one.

DVD Menu Planning

Before making (building) the menu i will have to plan it. The two documents i will create are a Storyboard and a flow chart.

For the storyboard, I had 6 boxes showing the screen size, (PAL Widescreen Square Pixel), also the Duration of the shot or sequence. This will include animations and movie files. This is a technique more regularly attatched to the film making process but it applies and is helpfull here for breaking down the animation and flow of the media.

The flow chart is the main way to organise and think of where to place elements in our DVD.  The Chart shows every item, asset, timeline, menu etc that makes up your full menu. Then, you can draw lines from item to item in the specific order with links and end actions.

It acts like a map for the programmer and saves you having to contantly "Check Project". Using Flow Charts you can know how everything will run when you actually build the menu on Encore and export it.

 

Psd's

These are the PSD's i created.

The last 'Denied' picture is for a link after my scene selection buttons had been pressed to show that i have not got a movie on this DVD.

Photoshop Animation

Photoshops has a variatie of uses one is creating simple animations which can be exported to other programmes. I didn't know how to do basic Photoshop Animation when i first started, which i had to learn. but it was basic and easy. This is because Animation on Photoshop is a very limited process and doesn't let you create complicated animations. Im thinking about using it to create a 3D animation.

Photoshop animation has one problem you cannot change the size or rotation without affecting each frame, so the trick is you have to get a different layer and fade the opacity as the other comes on, therefor looking like it's shinking or turning. So basically to get altered image I want on screen without changing every other frame, raise this layers Opacity to 100%. Everything else you don't want visibile should be altered to 0%. Doing this for every frame will give you the effect you want.

Using the first U.F.O picture in my movie poster.

DVD Menu Moodboard

Then next we had to design a DVD menu Mood board, for my case I designed one in the genre of Sci-Fi which I annotated, by taking pictures that are relevant and I might use due to the connotations and denotations. I thought the finished mood board represented well the theme that I was aiming for, but I think I should have added more text.

The colour is very vicious and terifing can be used to scare and amaze people showing a vast destructive atmosphere.  

These dark and red also yeallow colours are probably going to be used as the main atmosphere.

I will use this colour for alien spot searchlights and general colour tint also this colour makes you think of new or advanced technology.

The burning of the photo shows a destroying something nice and old describing
 the terrible things to come (used as a metphore). I thought this is very
effective because  the UFO is so plain it lets the backround shine though
 to this obvious image of the UFO’s being responcerble.

The Grass is too show a insucureness because
it can show humans being brought out of society
because they’ve run away.

Encore Learnt

I have been learning encore more and more this week.

After experimenting with most techniques i have managed to learn the basics on of Adobe Encore Such as Compatability with images sound and video incorparated as timelines, menus' plus as assets. I have learnt successfully how to use buttons (+) such as highlights roleovers (=2) and (=1) and how they effect colour due to what type of object used.

I came across problems with Image size compatability and streched pixels to fix this i used the Pal Widescreen square pixel which fitted perfectly on the 16:9 encore workspace. Furthermore i worked out how to import audio and video to a menu and what format is best, the format was m2v (Video) and .Wav files (sound). I encountered a problem with encore on my computer at home. It would crash everytime i start it up but this was fixed by me uninstalling quicktime on my computer because there was a transcoding error. I found this fix by going on to adobe forums and searching for my problem.

Generating images over half term

During half term I have been capturing original images for my DVD menu. I chose to take pictures round my house because I don't have to go anywhere and there's plenty of places I shot.

I grabbed and shot the images I could of the list I made.

Click on it to view a picture.

I shot my photo images with my Speed 8-tz video camera which has a 12 megapixel camera and the advantage of this is that my images won't ever be pixelated when edited. I also used my Tripod with the camera attached for all my shots

Encore

This week is my first time into Adobe Encore CS3. This is Adobe's DVD Authoring editing software basically allowing the user to create detailed DVD Menus, the reson why this software is so popular is because of the ease of publishing a project or product.

I already new the basics of creating a dvd menu and also used an encore Information supplied tutorial booklet. I new about how to set up a new project by switching to PAL for Enlgland (Region 2) instead of NTSC used in North America, this means it'll work in the UK where we are planning to use it. In terms of terminology, what I would have usually called a movie clip is actually a timeline. Differing between different imports such as Timelines, Assests, Slideshow and Menus. This also makes it easier to clean up your project menu, where you can seperate things into files, similarly to Photoshop and its Layer Groups.

In terms of putting all the components together it was pretty self explanatory, with the interface using the "pickwhip" to drag over to your required selection. This makes linking quick and easy , so once I have imported my Timeline and uploaded a Menu from the Library panel they can be easily linked. It is important to check that everything is linked properly and this can be done quickly by either previewing the project or using the "Check Project" feature. This basically checks if you have any loose ends or unlinked pages so you can get to the problem quikcer.

Week 5 Research

Our next project is DVD menu design. The project consists of design creating and evaluating a DVD menu, original video that you have created and not plagiarised. I am creating a independant Sci-Fi of a choice of other genres such as: Independant Sci-Fi, Independant Horror, Idependant Drama and a Childrens Animation.

I chose Independant Sci-Fi because i thought it would be fun and interesting to make and show in using a mediocre software like Photoshop CS3. I plan too make a theme of abduction and alien invasion. I also felt that this genre suggested a more advanced and attractive

Research DVD Menu

The next project is DVD menu designand in this the project is to export our own original

DVD front ends using our own digital material. In the brief we were given a varience of

choice between four different film genres as basis for out projects: Independant Thriller,

Independant Sci-Fi, Independant Horror and Childrens Animation.

I decided on Sci-fi because it is what i've reseached and had the original idea for also i

thought it would be fun and i would have to be imaginative. For this genre you can hype the

audience and excite them using the many good scraps(clips) of the main production.

DVD Menu

We are now moving on to the next stage of the project creating DVD menu's. The project information tells us to create a DVD menu for a film of four genres: Independent Sci-fi, Independent Drama, Independent Horror or Children's animation.

I chose a Independent Sci-fi because it is one of my favourite genre's because of the convention like unknown phenomenon and and how the movie has futuristic and spacial content. I felt too choose this genre from my idea's pont of view.

The first assignment is indefinatly reseach. which is pre-production reseach which will include

Client and audience needs

Target audience

Resources & BUDGET – location access, cast and equipment

Techniques -  Filming e.g. location & Editing

Similar/Existing products - Content

Legal & ethical considerations

Movie poster

My Movie Poster is now finished and I am very happy and impressed with the final product. My Movie is called ‘What U.F.O’s Do’ it is an Action/Sci-fi movie with an Alien Invasion Theme.
This final outcome has a few differences such as the title has changed from "Unseen strike it's UFOs!" to What UFOs Do. I changed the name from the draft because the story line changed to alien abduction instead of the U.F.O striking. 
I created a U.F.O ship from nothing and added filter effect, which has been copied and opacity taken down to show movement.
 I also made a green mask and used blending options and feathered it to make a abduction tractor beam.
I also got a picture of the houses then used the magic wand tool along with the curves adjustment layer to make it look like night and darken the top. Then i got a picture of the atmosphere to lead up to the space image to establish that the U.F.O is arriving from space, i thought this was very effective.
I used a online title quickly because i did not have the time and my lack of experience and knowledge in Photoshop title editing.

I used a movie poster maker to make my Movie credits which i made and saved off the internet.
I also rated the European certificate Rated 15 from analyzing the movie ideas there is a strong blood content and computer generated aliens but not to explicit.

New Skills

The class was shown Photoshop a week ago. Although I already had Photoshop experience it was a good idea to re-run a base skills tutorial because I hadn’t used the program in quite a while I was a bit rusty.

I learnt how to use the different lasso tools such as the magnetic one where it connects to the nearest pixels which helps with big objects if you want to cut it quicker, but not as good with small objects. I also learned how to use the quick section and magic wand tool which is good for pasting out different layers of an image.

I also learnt how to use blending options where you can change images and text to do different effects like making it look like the image are cut out of background or the other way round. I also learnt a few Keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl J to duplicate also Space then move your mouse and click to move the image viewing, Ctrl +- to zoom in and out of my image.

Over-all my entire mind has been refreshed of Photoshop.

I also learnt that RGB is used for Web-based purposes and CMYK is for printing.

Mood board Annotations

I have scrambled together my various magazine cuttings to create my mood board to create my Sci-fi Movie Poster. I think my Mood board is very abstract and cool; the visual feel to it is very well put together with red and greys as the most dominant colour schemes. I have now included annotations for the individual cuttings and my views on them these consist of things related to Space, violence, urban art, extra terrestrial.

My imagery is selected to carefully represent a range of Sci-fi elements all to represent the mood of my piece.  Due to the Space element and mention of ‘planet terror’ suggests a science fiction genre themes such as alien invasion or encounter. I have also targeted a mood of uncertainty and unsettledness.

For my poster my mood board has included elements of killing, exploding destruction moreover the colour ‘red’ which is associated with death, violence and blood also terror. I will hope to achieve a final poster that inspires fear but also keeps to the sci-fi genre and also shows an extra terrestrial element along with uncertainty. Click on the picture to get a good look at the annotations.

Mood Board

Mood boards are images pulled together to express designs and ideas. All these images combine in to a visual style.

I have been creating a science fiction mood board including many different things which link to this Science Fiction genre such as fonts, relevant pictures and urban styles. I put explosions, Film Noir, mystical elements, Special Forces, Medieval killing theme, all these images link to the Sci-fi genre.

Creating Film Posters

Today I sketched out 3 ideas for my main Movie Posters. I made sure to use different genres and defiantly pinpointing the specific genres for these posters. I have made A Sci-fi, Drama and action thriller posters.

I also made things look as the genre including Titles and characters and pictures also sub titles along with colours, also other initial elements such as Tag Lines, Film Credits, Film Awards and Actor tiles.

My sketches aren’t great but there good enough for you to see what I’m getting at. I have made these posters to help me figure out what type of poster I want to choose to create in Photoshop. The things I must move on and think about are the colours, Font styles and colour layout.

I have to show these pictures of my camera because I haven’t scanned them yet.

This is the poster i have chosen it is a Sci-fi poster called 'Unseen Strike is U.F.O's !'

Week One – Skills profile

My first project assignment will consist of using Photoshop to create a Movie Poster.

I already know the basics how to use Adobe Photoshop, I have experience of Photoshop use at home this product is similar to using after effects so I picked up some functions from the program. I Find Photoshop a bit confusing some times because of how tools are used in different ways but lately I have been using more often therefore getting past this.

I can use effectively things such as

·         Workspace Organization

·         Layers

·         Levels

·         Hue and Saturation

·         Curves

·         Colour Balance and other image adjustments and image modification

·         Masks

·         Brushes

·         The Selection Tool

·         Clone Stamping

·         Healing brush

·         Using Blending Modes

·         Text

·         Magnetic lasso tool

·         Eraser

I have only done subjects like touching up images for some work projects or Facebook etc making images look funny or cool like putting a funny hat on someone or put supernatural effects on or to disfigure someone to make them look amusing. I have also used it sometimes for pre editing layers for my after effects projects like titles or information images. I have also used it for a DVD cover and Poster.

I would like to learn some more Photoshop skills and get more comfortable and fluent with the programs use.  I would like to know how to go into detail with the program and create more professional and arty pieces in detail along with being able to draw and animate. I believe all these things will help me create better work and cut time.

I went to see 'Grown ups' the movie at the Cinema on Wednesday 8th of September at 1:45pm and this is my opinion

I thought that Grown Ups was a good film but it wasn't great i would rate it watchable because it was lacking in originality, storyline and comedy that i desperately hoped for.
It was a fun family film with a few good and smart jokes. This film can also hit a higher audience of family 12-60 because of some of the jokes are too mature for a young audience. Also people would go see this movie for the main actor stars that are involved Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider these are very well known names in the comedy world that Adam and Fred Wolf put together as they wrote the script for the movie. In conclusion the movie was funny as was promised but the humor was more dull and different than intended because of the trailers influence. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375670/

Introduction to production Diary

HI im Jordan Garda and this is my production diary (record of work) for my college level 3 media diploma course.