Construction of DVD

Firstly, we began to look through the photographs that we took in order to gain an idea of how we could make the front cover and back of the DVD relate to each other. While looking through the images we were drawn to the photographs where the actor was on the background of a brick wall. After doing this, we came across an image that we felt worked the best as the front cover. To progress with creating the DVD cover, we opened the image on Adobe Photoshop. It was necessary for us to do this because the programme allows us to edit the photograph, by cutting and using filters to a professional standard.

Secondly, after opening the image onto Photoshop we thought about how could make the image stand out. However, before this we decided that by cutting the top of image off there would be attention on the artist as the brick wall would be in the background. To do this we used the square cutting tool, to cut the image we had to make sure that the image was not lock. Following on from this we then moved on to trialling filters on the photograph that would relate with the genre of the album, attract an audience, bring attention to the artist and to stand out from a general album. At the beginning of this stage we focused on greyscale filters similar to the idea that we had for the promotional poster. As you can see from the image above we experimented filters such as conte crayon, although the effect did look clear and professional, we felt as though the image would not be effective because it did not relate to all the sides of the album therefore would attract our target audience.

Following on from the previous slide, at this stage we progressed from the thought of using greyscale, this lead us onto the filters that were full colour but with a twist. After trying out various filters we came across the effect of dark strokes, which is shown above, this filter stood out us because it intensified the colours such as red, giving it an edge on general music albums of our genre. The effect brought a vibrant atmosphere to the otherwise, calm and understated body language of the artist, therefore incorporating two different music sides to the album, one being energetic and other evoking emotions such as disappear. To get the right balance between light and dark we had to drag the arrow from the black side to adding more white, this in turn caused the image to stand out.

After feeling as though that we had completed editing the image, we then moved on to editing the template of a DVD cover and back. As you can see above that the template wouldn‘t be usable without editing because it was filled, therefore for us to be able to use it we would have to cut out the inside so it can be saved as a PNG then later place the image on Indesign. In order to cut the centres of the template out we tried out different cutting tools that would be the most effective at cutting out the parts we wanted, as well as accomplishing at the simplest way. The tool that fitted the characteristics was the magic wand tool, this tooled allowed us to select large areas that weren't needed in the template and remove them in the cleanest way, meaning less editing was needed afterwards to smooth out the rough edges. However, we did need to make some areas that we cut around cleaning, we done this by using the blur tool this allowed us the smooth the appearance of pixelated areas, creating a more professional finish.

As this stage, we had finished editing the template and the photograph, to make progress, we then placed the saved edited image as a jpeg onto a new document on Indesign. To continue with the process of the DVD we had to construct it on Indesign, because the programme includes a wide range of fonts and has the best quality finish. After placing the image onto Indesign, we already knew what text that had to included on the cover, this involved the name of the artist ‘Katy B’ and the title ‘On A Mission’, this information was essential to have on our DVD cover, because this is a general code and convention of music album. To add text on top of the image we added two different layers in order for us to move the text separately if needed, tomake sure that they were in a position where they are visible, as well as not detracting from the artist. The font size and the positioning of the text that we were initially going to use, as you can see above, that from far it wasn’t clearly defined from the background, along with the title ‘on a mission’. On the other hand, the colour and type of font which was ‘Gills San’ used did resemble that of our flat plans which we wanted to keep a simpletheme, theme which in turn will look clear and effectively be seen by a audience. Also we decided on a blue outline at this point to help the text stand out from the background and relate to the promotional poster.

Subsequent to this, yet again we used Photoshop when editing a heart that we wanted to go on the back of the DVD. To begin with this process, the first thing we needed to do was to open the image on the programme while doing this we noticed that the image was slightly darker than we wanted it to be. To make the heart lighter we had to change the brightness and contrast, doing this was easy as we only had to move it slightly more to brightness to gained the effect we needed. For us to be able to us the heart as an out, once again we used the magic wand tool to cut out the white areas on the photograph that wasn't needed, this was accomplished easily because of the distinct difference between red and white.

To accompany the heart on the back of the DVD we wanted the front and back to link, therefore we thought that having a photograph of a brick wall would clearly establish the connection to the front cover as well as the genre. Similarly to the other images, we opened it onto Photoshop and thought about what filters we could use on photograph to change it from just being a brick wall to looking like a background that could be used on a real album. The effect we thought that could do this was fresco, this gave an effect similar to the front cover. After doing this, to make the background we took the edited heart from open document on Photoshop and dragged it onto the brick wall, this allowed us to see what it would look like if placed on Indesign.

However, the appearance of the heart and brick wall on the previous slide did not achieve the expectations we were hoping for, also the colour of the wall was to dark to flow seamlessly with the front cover. This lead us to further our editing of this image, because we felt the image was two dark we found by going on images, adjustments then variations by selecting the whole area we were able to lighten the image. Not only this but, by looking at the cover of the DVD the colour of the background has a hint of pink, we thought that by incorporating this onto the brick wall featured on the back of the DVD, it as a whole will look more together and therefore would be of a high standard. Fortunately, by pressing magenta more we were able to create a effect we were looking for.

Likewise, we changed the colour of the heart to a deep pink to relate to the pink in the background. The colour was changed by using the paint bucket, by selecting the colour from the swatches and then pressing the area of the heart that we wanted to be change.

To get the heart and wall on Indesign, we first added a new page to enable the DVD to be saved together. Firstly we added another layer on the page for the brick wall, then we one more put a second layer on this side which we placed the heart. The reasoning behind doing this was in case the heart would work better in a different place.

Another vital piece of text that was needed was the songs featured on the album, to do this we added a layer and then written the songs in it. Like the title ‘on a mission’ the text also had a white outline, to relate to other features of the DVD. However the font for this related to the promotional poster because it was the same font we used for the artist name ‘Katy B’. After close expectation, we saw that the text was not easy to read being it was on top of the darkly coloured heart.

To change the small scale problem we had, we opened the saved image on Photoshop and simply changed the colour by using the paint bucket after changing the swatch colour to light purple, in order to see the text better.

After trialling the newly changed heart on the background it was an improvement because we were able to see the text clearly.

On the other hand, we felt as though the heart blended to much into the background, and by having the text on top of it only made it worse. Therefore we changed the colour of the heart on Photoshop using the same process previously used, and changed the position of the heart after placing it back onto Indesign framing it by the words making it a focal point.

At this stage we started we looked at the DVD as whole and seen the font on the front cover looked out of place as it didn't stand out. To alter the font we changed the size of her name and changed the outline from blue to white, because it felt more appropriate. We also added a glow to ‘Katy B’ this was done by pressing outer glow and the spread to 100%, this made the name more eye catching causing it to be effective in grabbing the attention of an audience. The outline colour was changed on ‘on a mission’, because at first we wanted the red in the text to link to red in a jacket.

Here, the DVD template that we made earlier in the process was now put on a layer and placed on top of all the other images. Also you can see from the image above, that the outline colour was changed again on ‘on a mission’ from red to blue the reason for this was the red seemed to dark to stand out. Also by incorporating the blue, we were making a connection to the promotional poster. To save the images as a jpeg we had to export it on Indesign in order to get our finished product.