Thursday, 25 February 2010




Looking at the British music experiences website its opened up how much this company has to other. We have to consider what we need to show on posters and booklets for example contact details, directions, what they actually offer, prices for tickets. All this information is vital in our designs, it must be included.
As a team we identified problems, what we intend to do and what we will produce.
Problems.
1. People need educating on british music, made aware of it.
2. Music is a huge subject to tackle. Needs breaking down.
3. Havent heard of the 'British music experience' as a company.
4. Targetting such a large target audience from children to pensioners is a massive challenge.
5. Deciding on a media to communicate our message.concept.

We intend to educate people on british music and make them aware of the British music experience and what they have to offer.

Our audience is everyone thats interested in music, of all ages.

In order to achieve this we will be produce posters, press ads, booklets.

The printing method would most probably be through Lytho

(all the above may change but this is our starting point).

In a session we had to pick the brief we'd most like to do and the one we'd hate to do. We then had to re write them to make them as appealing as possible. This didnt change our minds though, the brief we want to do is the British music experience which is all about promoting and educating people on british music, its culture, trends and themes.

So the new module has kidded off. Its begun with us having to promote ourselves and say what we would want in a design partner as the first brief is a collaborative one. Mines very short and sweet, quickly done and a bit thoughtless but nevermind got myself a partner that can cook so im happy

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Evaluation
All in all im rather pleased with the work i produced in this module. My idents work well together as a theme and the packaging ties in well with the content of the dvd. I think the simplicity of my idents work well. My first storyboards were trying to show more of a story then give a taster of whats to come. I was being too ambitious which i quickly found out with my first attempts on after effects. At this point i knew i had to do some research, see how other idents work and what tone of voice i want to give in my work. Looking at black and white photography and cinematics like sin city became key. I wanted my tone of voice to be cold, dark, sinister, and mysterious and i think my photography met this.
In a crit some people critised my photography saying the setting wasnt correct. I was told to look at malls and more public places but this wouldnt fit in with my tone of voice. Somewhere public would be half as scary as in woods, i tried to put this into context by looking at how blair witch creates suspense. The key thing to blair witch is that we never see the 'villain' which became an important part to my photography. Although in my idents the viewer can see the outline of the zombies you cant actually see their face. This makes the viewer want to watch more, it keeps you on edge.
I should have looked further into the use of lighting, i think this helped bring across my tone of voice in my idents but i could have pushed it further, lack of research in this area was my problem, im sure i could of used lighting as a more effective tool in my work. In some parts in the idents it needs making smoother and just slight touches here and there to make the work visually more appealing.
I didnt want to use music at any point in my idents, i wanted it to have a raw quality making the viewer more drawn into the ident. Again like the lighting the audio ive used in places need tweaking, i needed to utilise the audio to really make the idents tense and draw the audiences attention in. Looking at horror movies i found that all tense seens dont put music to them, just subtly use sounds to their advantage in creating suspense, which is what i tried to work with.
Another point to my photography is that in most of my idents the viewer was the victim, again to try make the viewer a part of the ident, making them more tense.
Lack of organisation meant that the packaging was rather rushed however it ties in with the idents and dvd and gives a feel for whats to come in the idents. Simple but i think effective. I should have researched it if id given myself the time i would have done and would of probably produced something more interesting then the simple dvd case.
The actual dvd interface again ties in with the idents. I wish id left more time for the dvd as i would have created some kind of motion for each menu rather then just the first. I like the simple face that i used a different photo for the first menu rather then the other menus where i took photos from the idents, however this works in letting the viewer catch a glimpse of whats to come. Looking back i should probably tried using the same manipulated style of arial that id used for the idents, however i do quite like the simple black and white images the dvd interface has.
All in all its time managment that restrained me in areas such as research and packaging. In future i have to plan my time better rather then getting too wrapped into one thing ( the idents).

Wednesday, 10 February 2010



Since ive got more options now to put on my main menu ive had to redo it again. My previous menu had the button highlights showing without showing the type so this time im having all the text already showing as the image slowly comes onto the screen with the audio.
Stupidly i didnt realise i need to include work thats gone into the production of the dvd and packaging sooo had to change my schematic again so i know how i want my dvd to work. Still simple enough, simply need to get it done.



Going back to the actual dvd now, ive had to change my menus slightly after a crit. People viewing my dvd were getting confused by my menus, it wasnt clear what the button was to go back, so ive very clearly stated 'back' now instead of actually naming where you would be going back to.
Heres my modifications above. Made the point size smaller on the bulk of text so it doesnt look too unprofessional. Also included another image just to help make it look more interesing. And ive included a little touch on the bottom of the logos that are usually seen on the backs of dvds.
As you can see ive put the type onto the image. Kept the same font and manipulated it in the same way. It fits in ok but could do with changing slightly.

So as i was saying below about blending the dark in you can see what i mean by the above. The 2 blue lines running down the images are the spine of the dvd. You can see how the top image is condensed to the front of the packaging rather then running over.


Started preparing images i want to use for my DVD package. Im blacking out the sides so the image blends in well with the rest of the packaging which will be black.
Started looking at layout designs for my DVD. Its going to be a mixture of image and type like my idents are, again using photography from idents and type from the idents to again keep the tone of voice going.

Monday, 8 February 2010





Think the above menus work well, type is clear layouts simple and navigating around my dvd will be simple which fits in nicely with the work. To highlight them when clicking on them there will be a simply line beneath the type to show you what your selecting, when pressed then it'll will change to red, just to give a little taster of the red thats within the idents.


Another one, i prefer the audio in this one i also like the fact theres a second or two of nothing trying to keep the theme of suspense going.


So heres what i mean by fading on with some eerie music. Think this works really nicely, smart little touch just to set the mood. Dont think i need an all dancing flashing opening, its not necessary and wouldnt fit in with my work at all. Just slow paced with a touch of audio to set the mood, happy with this.
The below image is what im wanting to use for my main menu. This is the only image i havent incorporated in any of my idents which im pleased with. Think its still menacing. Im wanting my first title menu to fade onto the screen with some eerie music playing with it to again set the tone of voice from as soon as you put the dvd into the player. Rather then having grainy text like in my idents im keeping the type normal just so its clear that they are options and look obvious as to where the viewer is being directed. However i am keeping the same type face (arial) as ive used in my idents so it still connects with the rest of my work.
I could colour in the type but i like the black and white 'sin city' look, the large contrasts in black white work well and i dont want colour to spoil that in my menus.


For my DVD menu it makes most sense to use my photos as the backgrounds to them. This will keep the tone of voice and give a taster of whats to come in the idents. I'll have the silent movie work as extras so i can keep the theme 'zombies'. I'll use the photos that ive manipulated and that are striking. The text on them will have to be white to stand out from the photos, and be clear.
Ive changed my schematic, rather then having research on my dvd im simply going to keep it all on my blog. The way i see it is the dvd is mine and my work, references to other work are on my blog so it doesnt look like im taking ownership of anything else but my own work on my dvd. I'll reference my blogs either on the actual dvd or the packaging.
Ive also decided to include a Photo album, since my work has used a lot of photos it makes sense to show them off. I arent going to list them all on my blog because this would be a pain to work your way through, it makes more sense to have them on the dvd as an added feature.
Heres my original schematic of how id like my dvd to work. I want to keep it rather simple, don't want viewers to get lost or bored. If more is wanting to be seen then i can simply reference my blogs as everything will be on their anyway. The main points are storyboards, development and obviously the final pieces of work.

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Final Crit
1. For my DVD menu's would using a photo which ive taken be adequate for the background?
2. Are there any pieces of motion graphics i could look at that work on horror?
3. Are there any contextual references i can look at that use manipulated type like my own?
4.Should my images have a more grainy/rough effect to them or are they ok?
5. Do you think the use of lighting works or needs working on?


This must be my simpliest idea but i think it works just as well as the others if not more so. Like how the music fades out as the type does at the end, think its a nice effect.


Again another simple idea, simplicity is definitely the way, its all thats necessary in doing these, I think the slow moving, fading in and out works well with my genre in creating more suspense.


I like how the screaming woman continues after seeing the zombie. Makes the viewer want to know whats happening to her, hopefully making the viewer want to watch the zombie season.


The audio hopefully says it all in this one. To me it sounds gross, you know whats happening which is what i want. Its a clever way to show the viewer whats happening without actually having to tell them. Having never used audio in design before this is a big eye opener and ive enjoyed using it to my advantage in this ident.


Really like how the audio comes louder as the car lights become brighter showing the zombie figures. Simple idea which i think ive executed well.