Creating the Trailer - Preparing Footage

This post will look at the production of the trailer using Adobe Premiere Pro.

As the subject on which my DVD has been based upon is a comic book set in another galaxy, I felt that it would be extremely difficult to create a live action trailer using actors and close to home surroundings, therefore i decided to look at motion comics, which use the images from the comic books animated in a way to act out a scene.

Coheed and Cambria had created animated vignettes for one of their album releases so i decided to use a mixture of both pre made animated vignettes and some that I made in premiere pro as well as some images from the comic books.

You can see the Animated Vignettes here: 

According to Copyright laws a piece of work can have a limited use if it is being used for education purposes and is not intended to entertain a paying audience. Therefore although the animated vignettes are owned by Coheed and Cambria and Sony Pictures I am able to use them as it is for education purposes.

I want to create a fairy fast paced trailer, using mainly straight cuts between short clips from both the pre made animated vignettes and self made animated sections. 

I have also used pre made and green screen footage found on youtube.

The first piece of pre made and green screen footage I used was one that consists on lightning strikes and rain and i plan to use this over the title section of the trailer, so as the lightning strikes across the frame the title can appear. The footage can be seen here.

Youtube Channel : Footage Island - Copyright Free Footage.

The second piece of pre made and green screen footage i used was one that consists of a moving cloud effect over a green background, because it is over a green background i will be able to use the ultra key effect on premiere pro and key out the background, making it possible for me to layer this over another video or image in the project. The footage can be seen here.

Youtube Channel : Footage Island - Copyright Free Footage.

Finished DVD Label

This post is to simple show the final version of the DVD label in a full resolution PNG export from Illustrator.

As mentioned in a previous post, i have exported the DVD inlay from illustrator in a high resolution PNG file as i feel that it is an acceptable middle ground between file size and image quality, whereas some of the other export options available from illustrator either create excellent quality images with a large file size or images with a small file size but lack in quality.

Creating the DVD Label

This post will show the process in which the DVD label was made, the Label was made in Adobe Illustrator to create a high quality vector image. 

The first step in making the DVD label was creating the guides which can be seen in a previous post, therefore i will go straight into the production of the label.

The first step in the label production was to import the background image from photoshop. I saved the background image from photoshop as a PNG and imported it into adobe illustrator, I then constrained the background to the largest circular guide. Seen in the image below.

The next step was to import the Keywork logo which was used in the DVD case front cover, This is the Logo from the band Coheed and Cambria and is seen throughout the Original comic book series as it is a 2D visual representation of the universe in which the comic book takes place. I placed the image in the centre of the DVD label and and resized it so the centre circle of the image was the same size as the stacking ring of the DVD. 

The next step in creating the DVD Label was to add the name of the film, this was done my adding a text box and using the same font as the DVD case (True Lies) and the same colour, again to create a uniform look. I then used the Text arch tool to transform the text in a way that it runs around the outside of the DVD. As seen in the image below.

The next step was to import the logo from the DVD case, and place onto the DVD label, i decided to leave the logo in its original form to as before create a uniform look between the DVD label and the DVD case. After importing the image I resized it and placed it centre top of the DVD label, seen in the image below.

The next step in creating the DVD label was to add the age rating, as with the DVD case, I used the same BBFC standard 15 rating symbol and placed it on the centre right of the DVD label. this can be seen in the image below.

The final step in creating the DVD label was adding the production company logo which I had created used Adobe Illustrator, the logo merely consists of my initials with the left part of the A extended downwards and the tail of the R extended downwards also to create a small area between the letters to put the word "Productions" Below is an image of the final logo in Adobe Illustrator.

After creating the logo I added it to the DVD inlay on the left hand side of the disc opposite the BBFC rating, approximately the same size as the rating. 

For the export of the DVD Label I decided to remove the very centre of the dvd to simulate the look of a DVD and then add a slightly darker circle for the stacking ring, which is present in several DVD's I had looked at. 

The next post will show the finished DVD label as a PNG export from Adobe Illustrator.

Initial Sketch and outline of DVD Label

This blog post explores the initial sketch and outline of the DVD label. 

Above is the outline of the DVD label, this will contain the name of the film instalment "Secrets of the Early Universe", the Film logo, an image that is present in the DVD case and will also be present in the trailer and finally the age rating.

The background for the DVD label will be the same background which I created for the DVD case, this will create a uniformity to the DVD case and label and therefore create a specific style that is present throughout all of the pieces of work within this module.

The next post will be the walkthrough of the different layers in the DVD label and how the label was made.

Finished DVD Case

This post shows the final finished DVD case, I will also explain the reasons behind exporting the finished DVD case in a specific format.

The finished DVD case has been exported from Adobe Photoshop in a PNG (Portable Network Graphic) format.

After testing different compression rates on different file formats, I found that PNG was an acceptable middle ground between image quality and file size, for example if i was to export the finished DVD case using Bitmap (BMP) the image would be very good quality but will also create a file with a much greater file size.

Creating the Back cover of the DVD Case

As the background was for the back cover was created when i made the front cover there was no need to create a new one as this created a uniformity between the two faces of the dvd case. As seen in the image below.

The next step was to create the area in which i was to write the synopsis of the DVD, to do this i created a white rectangle using the rectangle shape tool, i then created an outer glow and drop shadow to give the shape a 3D effect, finally i decreased the layers opacity to create the desired effect, this was to ensure that the background could still be seen through the shape but still leaving at least the outline clearly visible. As seen in the image below.

The next step was to copy the "KeyWork" logo from the spine of the DVD case and place it behind the Synopsis shape layer, I did this to create a uniformity between the faces of the DVD case and also to create an easily recognisable trend using this logo throughout the products, thus creating a more uniform finished product.

The next step was to copy the Synopsis shape layer twice to create an area for screenshots of the film. Within these areas i have used two snapshots from the Original comic books, sections which i plan to incorporate into the trailer in some way.

I then used the rectangle shape tool, with no fill and a thick black outline to create a black box around the screen shots to focus the eye on the content as the original image had a spill from other sections of the comic book within the desired area.

The next step in creating the back cover was to add a barcode and age rating, for the barcode i used a large resolution image from google and added it as a new layer on the back of the case.

For the age rating I duplicated the age rating layer from the front cover of the DVD case and placed it on the back of the case. As seen in the image below.

The next step was to write the synopsis for the DVD, this was written in a fairly simple font. the font I used was "American Typewriter" which can be found on any Apple Computer. The synopsis reads "Heavens fence is in turmoil, after the Ultimate Tri-Mage Ruler Wilhelm Ryan overthrew any scrap of government left in the solar system. Government Scientists in a bid to save the Universe are trying to understand how it all began, but dark secrets are unveiled. Is the Black Rainbow over sector 8 an act of God or Wilhelm Ryan? Dr Hohenburger and his team think they have found the answer."

After looking at the back cover I felt that something was missing so i decided to add another screen shot from the comic book below the left hand side screen shot, this then filled the blank space at the bottom left of the page, i did this by duplicating one of the surrounds for the screen shots and moving it into position then importing another image and resizing it. As seen in the image below.

I then realised that i had not included the DVD information for example the running time and subtitle language, to accommodate this i moved the synopsis up on the page slightly and resized the background and text to make more room for the DVD Information.

I then duplicated the synopsis background and resized it to fit in the gap between the synopsis and the screen shots, shown in the image below.

The next step was to segment the box into 3 sections, the far left for the information headings, the middle for the DVD information and finally the far right for the content warnings.

Finally I placed all of the information about the DVD within the three boxes, using the same font as the synopsis text to reinforce the uniformity to the DVD Case.

The final step for the DVD case was to add the logo's for the companies that create the original comic book series, I found their logos online and imported them into project, resized them and placed them in the blank space that was left from adding the third screen shot, once both logos were added I feel that i had finished my DVD case. As Seen in the images below.

The next post will be the export of the final DVD Case in full resolution.

Creating the Front Cover for the DVD Case

To start the front cover of the DVD Case I used the brush tool using a brush included in a free planets brush collection which can be found here :
http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/brushes/id/185/

I set the brush to a very large size and to a low opacity, using a grey colour to give it a cloud effect, the image below shows the outcome of using the downloaded brush tool.

Next I used an image of clouds, and applied a curves layer to this image and created a high contrast image by using an S Curve. once i created the S Curve layer i also turned the image black and white by adding a Hue/Saturation layer then reducing the saturation completely. This in combination with the previous layer creates as stormy cloud like background, as seen in the image below.

The final step in creating the background for the front cover of the DVD Case removes the transparency from the background but also creates a very high contrast image, the final background image can be seen below.

The next step in creating the front cover was to import the Logo which i had created previously by combining some downloaded fonts and the original logo for the comic book series (see previous blog post for logo creation) below is an image which shows the front cover with the logo imported and put into place.

The following step was to add the film rating onto the front cover, to do this is duplicated the layer from the spine of the DVD case, increased the size of the layer and placed in the bottom right hand corner. see image below.

The next step was to add the images into the corners of the front cover, to do this i used the magic wand tool and selected the area of the existing artwork that I wished to use.

I then copied this section and placed it into the DVD Case project, I then moved the image around front cover and placed it in the right hand corner of the project, i then duplicated the image and rotated it 180 degrees to place it in the top left corner of the front cover. 

I then duplicated the image in the top left corner and flipped the image making it possible to have the same image in the top right hand corner, then as before i duplicated the image and rotated it 180 degrees and placed it in the bottom left of the project.

The next step was to draw the lines between the corner images, this was to create the look of an energy source between the corner images.  

Next I created the "Energy Source" look by adding an outer glow to the lines, I used the same colour as the line to create the outer glow, this then creates the desired look. 

The next step in created the front page of the DVD case was to add Coheed and Cambria's logo into the centre of the page where the two lines of "Energy" cross. I then added the same outer glow from the lines which create the "Energy Source" but increased the spread slightly. this can be seen in the image below.

Next I created more lines from the intersection of the two main lines or "Energy Sources" and then applied the same outer glow which was used on the main Energy Source lines and the Keywork. This then creates a light refraction effect as though the energy source has hit the Keywork and reflected off in different directions.

I then lowered the opacity of the extra lines to not detract from the main two Energy source lines.

The next step on the front cover will be to take the image of Claudio Kilgannon from an original comic book. then cut out the image and create the a greater glow for the hand seen in the image below outlined in red.

Below is the final draft of the front cover of the DVD case. A full resolution version will be available in an upcoming blog post.