Final cut

After taking on board the constructive criticism from the second stage video, we have finally managed to produce our final cut!

FINAL CUT from Lucy Simonds on Vimeo.

Digipak changes

After a few changes to our first attempt of the Digipak, we are now happy with the final result (seen above).

Front cover:
To start with I changed the the image that appears on the front cover of the Digipak. I used a clip from the music video of me on the park in the graveyard. I then cut Lucy the 'vampire' out of another image that was similar. The clip I used was a snapshot from the music video when Lucy is moving down the path but when she appeared on the opposite side to me. I then inserted the small image of her on to the photoshop page and decreased the opacity to make her appear less dominantly on the image. I then added in the two titles, adding a red drop shadow to both to bring in a colour to the front cover.

Inside:

To create the inside page of the digipak, I started by creating a new file in Adobe Photoshop with a black background. Then, going through the final cut of the music video, I got about 30-40 images using grab on the Mac computers. Inserting all of these images ended up being more time consuming than I first predicted. However, I really like it think it is a great improvement to the digipak, making appear more professional.

CD:
Using the same image as the first attempt at creating the digipak, I cut out the image of me holding the champagne glass full of blood, I cut out the main image using the quick selection tool in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I then added three separate titles with each word in the band name being a separate title. I then added effects to these three titles. I added both stroke, adding a outline feature to the letters, and drop shadow which is effective when the words appear overlapped at the top of the CD. I then wrote the album name in the same font that appears on the front cover , creating a clear house style. To make the product appear more realistic, I added font saying "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CITY ROCKERS LIMITED" which is the record label in charge of the band.

Back Cover:

To create this back cover, I opened a new file in photoshop that is the same size as the other squares with a black background. I then rendered the image using 'difference clouds' to create the foggy black and white image. I found that this image compliments the front cover as similar colours are used and also, it made me realise, that using a image like before made the back cover appear quite busy and over complicated. I then added the track listing using the same font as the front cover, helping to create a coherent house style over the product. To make the product appear more realistic, I added a barcode to the bottom right and a 'parental advisory-explicit lyrics' symbol to the bottom right. I also added a small piece of text similar to the CD reading 'ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY CITY ROCKERS LIMITED'. These small features largely add to the realism of the product, ensuring that this product will fit in on any shelf in a music store.

Above is all of the images combined into one and adjusted so the images appear as they would on a digipak, done using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and the Free Transform tool. Overall, I like how the final Digipak has turned out and I am glad that I changed this product.

Second Stage

After showing our rough cut, we recieved a list of improvements which we then took on board and actioned. This resulted in our second stage video, which is called this as there is still some improvements that can be made.

Second Stage from fahminaali on Vimeo.

Constructive Criticism...

After showing our rough cut, we received a lot of feedback on how we can improve our video. This included:-

• Add more shots to develop the narrative- more spooky and intriging shots.
• We need more shots of the vampire as she hardly appears in the footage
• Swing shot- Try getting the two characters going oppoiste ways on the swings.
• Create continuity with the blood shots in through out the video, making all of the shots black and white with the blood in red.
• Make the sky shot darker.
• Do a shot of walking from the possessed womans point of view.
• Include more close ups to show the womans struggle.
• Maybe film a clock to show how the nightmare is developing over time
• Need more movement in the blood drinking shots.

We will now take this advice on board, refilm some shots and try hard to create a excellent end product.

Rough cut

Below is our rough cut after our first attempt of editing the footage we had.

ROUGH CUT from Lucy Simonds on Vimeo<>

Digipak First Try!

Above is our first attempt of creating the digipak. We used images from the music video to create a strong link between the two products. However, after viewing the product as a whole, we decided to change the digipak. The group and our teacher thought it lacked a clear coherent house style. Also, the choice of fonts on the front cover are more appropriate for a horror movie rather than a band. Involving coloured and black and white images meant we could separate each image and not be able to tell that they belong to the same digipak. Its back to the drawing board/photoshop!

Making the website

Lucy Simonds was the creator of the website. I would of loved to be a part of it but the Digipak dominated my media lessons during this time.

To create the site, Lucy used Adobe Dreamweaver. Using a table, she carefully placed all of the images and buttons in a appropriate place. To make the images more interesting, they were made in to rollover images, changing from colour to black and white. This is a simple but interestng feature for the website.

Above are two screen shots from the website creation process. The top one is the process Lucy went through to create the rollover images in Dreamweaver. The bottom screenshot is the editing process, currently in this image changing the exposure levels.