Product Work Log

Name_____________________________________________________ Date ________________

Product ________________________________________________________________________

Date/Time:11-07-111:30-2:30PM

11-08-111:30-2:30 PM

Activity:My video production teacher and project facilitator announced that all students in our class were to choose and program or project to work on for the next few weeks or so. I chose to work with photoshop in order to feel more comfortable using it as part of my project. I worked on familiarizing myself with the program and made sure to explore all of the uses of the toolbar.

Commentary:Although I am still somewhat new to using photoshop, I feel more comfortable with using the most basic commands.

I continued to explore photoshop. I researched on the internet for suggestions for features that I might find useful during my project. I discovered the Cloning Tool and spent time researching how to use it and when I might use it.

The Cloning Tool makes it possible for me to completely cut out an unwanted object from a picture without making it obvious. The Cloning Tool allows me to blend an

Comment/Suggestions:

11-09-11:

1:30-2:30 PM

11-10-11:

1:30-2:30 PM

11-11-11:

1:30-2:30 PM

existing portion of a picture over the unwanted object, thus making it seem as though it were never there.

Once I finished my research in the Cloning Tool, I chose a picture from Google and tried it out myself. I worked with a picture of a cat pawing a toy; in the end I had completely removed the toy without any obvious blurs or distortions to the picture.

This will become very handy when editing my magazine advertisements because of the chances that something or someone may end up in the back of a shot that they don't belong in.

Today I tried something a bit harder. I still worked on using the Cloning Tool, but in the picture that I chose to use I would be attempting to remove a cage door from in front of a dog.

The picture turned out fairly well. I had to be very meticulous in working to somewhat restore the parts of the dog's fur and face where the cage overlapped.

I continued to use the Cloning Tool on several more pictures, ensuring that I was completely comfortable

11-21-11:

4:00-5:00 PM

11-23-11:

3:00-4:30 PM

using the tool

Today, I decided to watch numerous animal-based commercials. I compared different ASPCA and dog food advertisements and determined that the rescue groups' commercials were far too solemn and while the issue of animal rescue is upsetting, their choice of music and shots made the whole advertisement something to change the channel on, whereas the commercials for Pedigree dog food and treats were very upbeat and personified animals in a way that drew me in and made me want to continue watching.

Because of these comparisons, I decided that I wanted my Humane Society commercial to be upbeat and quirky as opposed to depressing and upsetting. I personally responded better to the lighter advertisement, and because I am attempting to persuade others to adopt a pet, I feel like a happier commercial would be more convincing.

I decided that I wanted only music playing for my commercial as opposed to dialogue and other audio, so today I spent some time listening to songs that might portray the right tone that I'd like in the commercial. My top options so far proved to be:

Animal by: Miike SnowJust Like the Moon by: Brett Dennen

11-26-11:

1:00-2:30 PM

1-9-12:

Lucky Today by: Cloud CultTo Kingdom Come by: Passion Pit

Because the only audio will be music, it is extremely important that I pick the right song that will enhance the idea that adopting a dog brings happiness.Also, I will have to use titles and logos in order to give any information.

I brainstormed today on the exact concept I want to based my advertising campaign around. I threw out many ideas because they could only be used effectively on either the commercial or the print ads, but not both. In the end, I decided upon the concept:

"I am a _______, I am a shelter dog."

With this concept, I will be able to display a large variety of characteristics found in dog while also keeping it playful and maintaining the overall idea of adopting.A main idea I have that would be used in a printed ad: A picture of a dog dancing with their owners on one page; the title will say "I am a salsa dancer." On the corresponding page, a picture of the dog sitting and looking at the camera; the title being "I am a shelter dog."

I created a shot list and began

1:30-2:30 PM

2-11

1:00PM - 5:00PM

storyboarding the shots for the commercial. I had to Google pictures of dogs in order to make the pictures accurate and to scale.

I had to carefully plan each shot by determining whether I'd be able to get the dog in the commercial to cooperate. To ensure that the shots that might be more difficult were still doable, I planned close ups in order to eliminate the chances of getting a lease or hand in the shot.

I filmed the majority of the footage necessary for the commercial and conducted the photo shoot for the print advertisements.

At times it was difficult to hold my dogs' attentions, but I had plenty of treats on hand. During the first photo shoot, the sun came in through the window and messed up the lighting I had set up, so I had to tack a sheet over the window to darken the room.Also, it was 22 degrees outside, so my dog was

2-12

3:00PM - 5:00PM

constantly losing focus and headed for our back door more than once. I had to split filming up into segments so that he could warm up inside for a while in between.

I uploaded all pictures and videos onto my computer, then began to edit the commercial together.

The first 15 seconds, or first half, of the commercial came together really well, but I began to notice that my shot variety was very minimal and decided that I needed to plan a second day of filming. I also ran into problems with the green screen on Final Cut Express. The

2-19

2:00PM - 3:00PM

lighting caused the screen to come out as more of a yellow, so when I tried to change the background to white, parts of my dog's fur was washed out as well, and so I must film that part again.

I edited together another few seconds of the commercial and played around with the ending.

Because of the issues with the green screen, I decided to see what changes I could make to save myself from a second day of filming. I had the idea to have a shot of the dog fade into the flashing credits as opposed to having them move in the shot with him. The

2-27

1:30PM - 2:30 PM

3-1

1:30 - 2:30

commercial has taken on a more artistic quality to it as opposed to the quirkiness that I first had in mind.

I brought in the photographs for the print ads to enter into photoshop.

I was worried that the green screen would not register well in photoshop, but I found that the paint brush tool and cloning tool with help me immensely. The green screen will be made into a white background, but I will have to be careful not to brush the dog white. That will make the editing look very amateur.

3-2

1:30 - 2:30

3-101:30-2:30PM

I finished editing Pebble's ad and published it.

The biggest challenge that I faced when editing Pebbles' picture was that my arm was in the shot holding her in place and she had a large line of drool hanging from her mouth. The cloning tool definitely came in handy here; I was surprised how easy it was to mask all of the imperfections!

Today, I edited Dino's ad and published.

Dino's picture was much easier to edit because he was more relaxed and still when I had filmed him. I tried to edit out my hand that was blocking his collar, but I couldn't neatly cover it and had to settle with leaving it in the picture.

I finished editing the end of the commercial and exported it onto my computer. While the ending did not include the green screen shots like I had wished, the alternate ending that I put together looks just as nice!

I decided that I would not be able to schedule another day to film, and so I had to improvise with the shots that I already had.