Editing, selection and processing - research

Source information on file types such as:

JPG: 

 JPG files, also known as JPEG files, are a common file format for digital photos and other digital graphics. When JPG files are saved, they use "lossy" compression, meaning image quality is lost as file size decreases. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the committee that created the file type.

JPG files have the file extension .jpg or .jpeg. They are the most common file type for images taken with digital cameras, and widely used for photos and other graphics used on websites. Unlike GIF files, which show significant loss in photo image quality, JPGs allow for some degree of file size reduction without losing too much image quality. However, as file sizes get very low, JPG images will become "muddy." When saving photos and other images as JPG files for the web, email and other uses, you must decide on this tradeoff between quality and file size.

http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/Definitions/g/Jpg-Files.htm

TFF:  

A TIFF file, or TIF file, stands for Tagged Image File Format. TIF files are a common file format for images, especially those used on graphic design. The file extension for a TIFF file is either .tiff or .tif.

TIFF files can be saved without compression, or they can be compressed to lower file size, similar to JPG files. TIFF files are commonly used in print design and desktop publishing because they can store large, high quality images such as photos. Often, printers will prefer or require TIFF files over JPG images or other formats. TIFF files are raster images and platform independent, meaning they will work on various operating systems such as Mac and Windows. The format was developed in 1986 by Aldus Corporation and scanner manufacturers.

http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/Definitions/g/Tiff-Files.htm

PNG:

PNG, which can be pronounced "ping" or "P-N-G," is a compressed raster graphic format. It is commonly used on the Web and is also a popular choice for application graphics.

The PNG format was introduced in 1994, after the GIF and JPEG formats had already been around for several years. Therefore, PNG includes many of the benefits of both formats. For example, PNG images use lossless compression like GIF files, so they do not have any blurring or other artifacts that may appear in JPEG images. The PNG format also supports 24-bit color like the JPEG format, so a PNG image may include over 16 million colors. This is a significant difference between GIF and PNG, since GIF images can include a maximum of 256 colors.

Unlike the JPEG and GIF formats, the PNG format supports an alpha channel, or the "RGBA" color space. The alpha channel is added to the three standard color channels (red, green, and blue, or RGB) and provides 256 levels of transparency. JPEG images do not support transparent pixels and GIF images only support completely transparent (not partially opaque) pixels. Therefore, the PNG format allows Web developers and icon designers to fade an image to a transparent background rather than a specific color. A PNG with an alpha channel can be placed on any color background and maintain its original appearance, even around the edges.

While the PNG image format has many benefits, it is not suitable for all purposes. For example, digital photos are still usually saved as JPEGs, since PNGs take up far more disk space. GIFs are still used for animations since PNG images cannot be animated. Additionally, GIFs are still used on many websites since browsers only recently provided full support for the PNG format. However, now that most browsers and image editing programs support PNGs, it has become a popular file format for web developers and graphic artists.

http://www.techterms.com/definition/png

BMP:

A bitmap (or raster graphic) is a digital image composed of a matrix of dots. When viewed at 100%, each dot corresponds to an individual pixel on a display. In a standard bitmap image, each dot can be assigned a different color. Together, these dots can be used to represent any type of rectangular picture.

There are several different bitmap file formats. The standard, uncompressed bitmap format is also known as the "BMP" format or the device independent bitmap (DIB) format. It includes a header, which defines the size of the image and the number of colors the image may contain, and a list of pixels with their corresponding colors. This simple, universal image format can be recognized on nearly all platforms, but is not very efficient, especially for large images.

Other bitmap image formats, such as JPEG, GIF, and PNG, incorporate compression algorithms to reduce file size. Each format uses a different type of compression, but they all represent an image as a grid of pixels. Compressed bitmaps are significantly smaller than uncompressed BMP files and can be downloaded more quickly. Therefore, most images you see on the web are compressed bitmaps.

If you zoom into a bitmap image, regardless of the file format, it will look blocky because each dot will take up more than one pixel. Therefore, bitmap images will appear blurry if they are enlarged. Vector graphics, on the other hand, are composed of paths instead of dots, and can be scaled without reducing the quality of the image.

http://www.techterms.com/definition/bitmap

PSD:

A .PSD file is a layered image file used in Adobe PhotoShop. PSD, which stands for Photoshop Document, is the default format that Photoshop uses for saving data.  PSD is a proprietary file that allows the user to work with the images’ individual layers even after the file has been saved.

When an image is complete, Photoshop allows the user to flatten the layers and convert the flat image into a .JPG, .GIF, .TIFF or other non-proprietary file format so it can be shared.  Once a PSD image has been flatten by conversion, however, it cannot be converted back to PSD and the user can no longer work with the image's layers. It is important, therefore, so always save the .PSD file and not overwrite it during conversion.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/fileformat/PSD-Adobe-Photoshop-default

AI:

Adobe Illustrator is a program used by both artists and graphic designers to create vector images. These images will then be used for company logos, promotional uses or even personal work, both in print and digital form. So what is Adobe Illustrator used for? It is typically used to create illustrations, charts, graphs, logos, diagrams, cartoons of real photographs, and more. While the program may be difficult to understand initially, the final product will be well worth the learning curve.

Creating vector images allows you to create clean, beautiful works of art that can be scaled up and down infinitely without ever losing quality. Have you ever created an image in Adobe Photoshop, and then realized that you should have created it three times larger than you did? You go into Image Adjustments, increase the size, and … oops. The image is now pixelated and looks horrible. If the image was too small to begin with, you’ll need to start all over again. The same does not remain true for Adobe Illustrator. Unlike the familiar gif, jpeg, tiff, etc images – known as raster images –  vector images are not made up of a grid of pixels. They are instead created by paths – a combination of a starting point and an ending point with a combination of shapes, angles and lines in-between. These paths relate to each other by mathematical formulas, allowing them to be scaled and rescaled infinitely.

https://www.udemy.com/blog/what-is-adobe-illustrator-used-for/

WMF: 

In Windows, a metafile is a file that contains information regarding one or more other files. Called a Windows Metafile Format (WMF), it is commonly a graphics file format, containing information for vector graphics or bitmap files. The WMF contains a list of function calls that Windows uses in its Graphics Device Interface (GDI) layer to display images on a computer monitor.

The WMF was originally released around 1992 as a 16-bit format file for Windows 3.0. A 32-bit version was released in 1993 and called an Enhanced Metafile (EMF). For Windows XP, the Enhanced Metafile Format Plus Extensions (EMF+) format was released. There are also compressed WMFs, called Compressed Windows Metafile (WMZ) and Compressed Windows Enhanced Metafile (EMZ).

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wmf.htm

PROPOSAL FOR ARTICLE

Proposal for Article.

Format and Medium

My print for my article will be an A3 size, it will be this size as it is big enough to see each two page spread in good quality and the pictures will be big enough for the reader to understand what the text is talking about.

Sector

The sector that my article will be specialist magazine publishing as the article will generally be published into a magazine for media or graphics. The article is important as it can help people learn more about the subject and can also spark interest with graphics for people at any age. This means that the article will have to look eye catching and interesting for the audience to show interest to the it.

Working title

A title for the article is very important it gives insight of what the article is going to be about, it is also important as it gives a effect to how the audiences feel about the subject and it can also attract the audiences. For example my title is bold and crosses over two pages for impact on the readers it is also in a pink background with an orange subheading; the colours are eye catching and look attractive on the article instead of being the stereotypical black and white. The article for my film will be BEGINNERS GUIDE TO GRAPHICS. I have called my article this as it states clearly what the article will be about and gives a little clue on what will be included.

Genre

It is an informational, instructual and educational article. It will be published in such magazines as Graphics, computer and media as the article connects to all three of these magazines.

Intent of audience and age

The audience target for my article is any ages as it is an educational piece it is there to help other learn more about graphics and Photoshop/ illustrator. I wanted there to be an any age audience so that all people from all walks of life will be able to read and learn how to use the programmes. My target audience will be both male and female that have an interest in horrors.

Summary of content

The article is a learning guide to graphics, i write about how to use Photoshop and Illustrator in depth with my own experiences and work that i have produced, by doing this it gives the reader a higher depth and reliability to the article. I also talk about a range of file types such as: JPG, TIFF, PNG, AI, WMF, PSD. by adding these it allows the reader to gain knowledge on all file types used in graphics.

                                                           

Summery of style

The look of my article will be professional and modern at the same time as i have added colour to my piece such as the title and the information boxes that i added for extra information on the article, i also added pictures as i did not want it to be text based but i wanted something that the audience can connect to the text in which they will be reading, pictures is the best example of this. I have done three two page spreads with three columns in each page as it looks professional with the information put into it down columns.

Legal and ethical consideration

The article will be suitable to be read at any time as there will be no profound words or images used which means that any age could see it. In terms of the legal consideration i will make sure that the images that i use are either copyright free or my own images.

EVALUATION

EVALUATION:

1. Skill acquisition
For my Poster and DVD sleeve i used Photoshop and illustrator to produce work designed to show off all skills i need, I used a range of skills and techniques throughout Photoshop and into my poster and DVD sleeve. I have used Photoshop in the past to create a 'perfect' model by using a range of different skills, from this it gave me an insight on how to start my poster and DVD sleeve and used some of the skills needed from creating the model as some of the skills used were to air brush and to take away blemishes. I used Photography to help with my poster and DVD sleeve as I took photos on a green screen of the characters that I will be using in my Photoshop and interpreting them into Photoshop then converting them into the background, by doing this it helped me create a better and more realistic version of my image by having people positioned and edited onto the background.

2.Research and ideas
I came up with ideas of codes and conventions for my poster and DVD sleeve, I looked at the format and genre of horrors. I have evaluated different posters onto a mind map and list of what will be needed on different posters and then I evaluated some film posters in which were in my genre of movie which is horror.
I then explored fonts for different types of movies which gave me different range of ideas that may fit in with my idea, I then produced a analysis of my movie poster and DVD sleeve.
With my proposal I analysed the factors for my film, the genre which is horror and how I came up with the title of my movie and the codes and conventions, I added a summery to my film which give an insight in to what my film will be about and more of an understanding of what my poster will be about. It also includes BBFC ratings to which I will be using in my poster/DVD sleeve and also the rules to what I can and can not use in a poster to the public.

3. Paper designs
After my proposal I then stated on sketches for the designs, for my first sketch I had the vision of three young girls and one boy next to a play house with a eerie feel to it with the title at the top shadowing the picture. I then did a second sketch which was with the same three girls and boy but positioned in a different way and with a single swing instead of a play set.

4. Digital design stage
After doing my paper designs I then went onto the digital stage where I took picture of the three girls and the boy on a green screen with this I got a background that i was going to use then interpreted it onto Photoshop with a title, after I had got the basis i then added the boy and girls to the poster and edited them by using the layer style which gave my the characters more of a spooky and mysterious feel to them making them look cold and blue to link with the background. I then added the finishing touches to my poster by getting a BBFC rating of 15 to add to my poster I put it onto Photoshop cropped then moved it to my poster where I sized and placed, I did this so that the audience would know how old you would have to be to view the film and gave more of a professional feel to the poster. Also I added a  poster blurb which i got of Learner box interpreted it into Photoshop and changed the names on it for it to look like it was made for my film and to give the audience an insight into who made it, who the characters are and who edited it, it also made it look more professional and more like a real poster. By adding a tag line it gave the poster more depth into the film and got the audience thinking about what the film could be about and if you look it will all explain on the link.

For my DVD sleeve I took the background from my poster and put it onto my DVD sleeve on the back, I sized it how big the sleeve should be and then got a new picture to add to the front. Seen here.
I then added the essentials for my DVD sleeve such as pictures of the children and boy, the title and the BBFC rating, by putting these in it starts to form my film and horror theme and also starts to look professional. On the back of my DVD sleeve I adding ratings from newspapers and companies for effect of how good the film is and for the audiences attraction, I also added a summery and blurb which gives potential buyers an insight on what the film could be about, names and tagline to highlight who is in the film; photos were put onto the back for the effect of it looking professional and like a real DVD sleeve. Explained here. I then composed a blog for the spine of my DVD sleeve I did this as the spine gives off important information such as what companies made it, the age rating and title. I did a blog for the the finished DVD sleeve that explains the different things that are on it.

5. Evaluation of final Designs

The inspiration for  my poster and DVD sleeve was such films like insidious, women in black and the uninvited, these helped me as they were in the same genre of film and had the dark, mysterious feel to them with the same aspects that I wanted to incorporate into my work. From these I learnt such things like what I would need to put onto my work to emphasise the theme and how to make the poster and DVD sleeve look professional.
In my proposal I was aiming for a horror film theme with the main characters being three girls and one boy to be put onto the front of my poster and DVD sleeve.
I have achieved this as my layout on my poster is that of a dark swing which I then incorporated my characters onto it through Photoshop, it did not flow as fluently as I would have expected as the characters do look out of place on the back drop photo. On my DVD sleeve I did add a different background photo for the front cover as it could incorporate the characters better and them look more apart of the photo.
The fonts that I used for my work were 'cold night for alligators' and 'horrified' these gave my work a better sense of a horror theme which brought across a scary feel into the poster and DVD sleeve. I picked these fonts as they are specifically made for horror themed work which makes the fonts i used give more of an impact to my work.
The colours that I used for both of my poster and DVD sleeve were darker shades such as: black, dark blue, deep red. These give my work a better effect of my theme with the dark colours that I have used they show the audience that the film will be horror before reading anything. On the other hand I could of used more attractive colours to catch the eyes of an audience where I used more of the same colours that didn't have any bold or exciting colours. With my colours I used shades that go from dark to light at the tops and bottoms of my poster and DVD sleeve, This gave my work more of an eerie feel to it as it created depth to the scene that i created for my pictures, I also put shades onto my characters for the all around effect especially on the boy as he is dead and needs more of a cold feel to him.
The people that I had in my work were three young girls and a boy they were photographed; the girls at my home and the boy behind a green screen. The body language that they had to project was cold and scared whereas the boy would have to be evil and strong in the background.

These stages relate to the audience as they show the emotion coming through the pictures this can make the audience want to see or buy the film, I have included realistic elements such as the blurb and 5 star ratings this gives the work more of a realistic feel to it. In my research on comparative poster and DVD sleeve's they also had these texts and ratings on them which give more information on a small space and  gave the work more depth to it. This overall helped and contributed to my poster and DVD sleeve as it gave it more information and professional feel to it.

DVD Sleeve - FINISHED PRODUCT

 DVD SLEEVE - FINAL PRODUCT.

This is the finished product of my DVD sleeve that has as many professional aspects in it that i could think off.

The front page and the spine to the Finished product with: Title of film, names of actors, sub - heading, age rating, companies, background and characters in it.

The back page of my DVD sleeve with: rating from different magazines and places, back blurb, summery of the story, age rating and pictures to give a feel of what the film is like.

DVD sleeve - Spine

Spine:


For the spine of my DVD sleeve i have taken multiple pictures to add to it: These are the pictures that i incorporated.

For these three photos i downloaded them onto my documents, then opened them into photoshop then dragged and dropped them into my DVD sleeve. After they were onto my DVD sleeve i then sized them to fit onto the spine.

I look the BBFC rating and opened it into photoshop, i them used the magnetic lesso tool to crop the rating out from the background, dragged and dropped onto my DVD sleeve then size and placed into the spine.

For the "dolby Digital" i cropped the background so that the gold outer lining will be the gold rectangle, i did this so that the outer black background will not overlap other images when i resize into the spine, the bottom of the three pictures shows which option i choose to crop my photo.

After adding all the images onto the spine i then i copied and pasted two of the images by duplicating them and added them onto my front page at the bottom right hand corner, i did this so that when looking at the front it is clear to customers who may potentially buy this who made it and that it digital dolby.

This shows the finished product of my spine with the images on it that i have earlier explained about incorporated around the title that was previously there. I have set it out like this because after looking at professional DVD sleeves they are more in this set out so i have given it the same set out to ooh a lot more professional.

DVD sleeve texts.

DVD sleeve texts.

On the back i included some rating from other places like: the sun and the metro, by doing this i want it to look more professional as a lot of developed DVD sleeves for well known movies have them on the back; i then added a picture of 5 gold stars to give more of an impact that it is a good film.

Underneath this i added another rainy and then added a poster blurb onto the back just like the one on the poster and changed the names to the ones that were in my photos so that it seemed more real.

Also on the back of my DVD sleeve i have put a summery of what the film will be about as a blurb and insight so that anyone interested in buying the film will have an idea of what they will have in-store. I made some of the words in capitals and in different colours to make it stand out and give across more of a mysterious theme.

I took three pictures off the internet: a young girl screaming, a ouija board and a demonic boy. I did this to add to the back of the DVD sleeve to add the the effect and give people a few glimpses of the film, every proper film DVD poster has pictures on the back and my adding them i want to make it look more professional as if an original Dvd sleeve.

I put the names of the actors in the film at the top of the front page just like the poster i did this so that they are highlighted for being on the sleeve and as most DVD sleeves always state the actors and characters.

Then under the title i put the sub-headline "3 innocent girls. 1 demonic boy, seeking revenge for 300 years!" i used this in the poster as well, it creates a spooky effect and makes people wonder what could happen or gives more of a horror effect to the film.

DVD sleeve continued.

DVd sleeve.

After putting the pictures onto my poster i then added the title "3 JUVENILE CASKETS" onto the the front in white and then on the spine of the DVD sleeve in a dark red colour.

I then got a BBFC 15 age sign and incorporated it onto the DVD sleeve to make it look more professional and to show the ages of the film and by doing this define how bad the film will be in horror.

On the front of my DVD sleeve i added the three girls and also the boy, instead of the girls all standing next to each other like in the poster i have put them into different positions so that it looks like more are standing closer than the others.

I added them to the DVD sleeve by adding the photo to photoshop then cutting around them with the "magnetic lesso tool" seen below, by doing this it cut out the figure from the background so when imported onto the DVD it will have the background on there than its original.

I did this process with each of the girls and pictures that i put into my DVD sleeve.

showing 'magnetic lesso tool" used above.

I changed the colour and shade of the figures by using the layer style, by doing this it made the figures look more incorporated with the back image so that they didn't look fake in the picture.

Beginning of DVD sleeve.

DVD sleeve.

To start my DVD sleeve i measured the size of a DVD sleeve that had already been produced to get the exact measurements, i found out the hight and width of it and then put this into my size image which was 27.5 in width - centimetres and 18 in hight - centimetres this then gave me my base for my DVD sleeve to add my pictures to in the right size, i did this so when it is printed it will be in actual size.

I then added rulers to the image and dragged and dropped them across to give me the spine for my DVD sleeve this helped me mark up how much room that i had for the front and back of my DVD.

After i had marked up the sizes i then took the original picture that i used for my poster and put it onto photoshop and then onto my DVD sleeve, i put this picture at the back as i then had the front to use another photo to incorporate, i then found a new photo for the front of my DvD sleeve so that the characters can be seen in a different situation. I found a picture that fit my horror, spooky theme.