DVD cover and video presentation

As I was searching for some anime DVD cover design, I realised that I should change the text on the middle of my cover and should add a barcode and a DVD logo to make it more realistic.  Here’s what I did:

From the image above, I added the logo and barcode as well two sets of title in the middle. This is to comply with the images I've seen about anime dvd covers. I sill find the all caps middle title not attractive to the eyes so I decided to make it thicker and add Outer Glow as what I did in my main title that can be seen on the front dvd cover. Unfotunately, the text doesn't allow me the option "bold" to make it thicker. What I did, I copied the layer text1 and moved the copied layer text2 a little above the layer text1 to get the "bold" effect that I want (refer to the image below as I highlighted the two layers).

Now, I'm happy with the outcome of both my DVD cover and label designs. Moreover, I also started working with my video presentation. At first, Premiere didn't allow my flv videos to be imported on it. I tried to research for the codecs but the pc won't allow me to install it. The only solution is converting the flv videos to avi. Steve helped me with the conversion for he has the software capable of doing it.

I add the mp3 file of the Twilight trailer first and cut some clips from the videos I found. It wasn't easy though, adding the video clips, for I need to incorporate it with the audio especially when the character speaks. So this is a challenge for me.

Done: DVD cover and label

Today, I am able to finish my DVD cover and label. The image below shows how I added a black background to both my cover and label. However, I used 50% opacity for my cd label while 25% opacity for the cover just to make it a little darker from the first I made. The reason behind it is that I want to give my work a feel of “darkness” because it talks about spirits and war.

I also added a white background colour with 19% opacity under my text because I find it hard to read. The reason is that the font colour is black while the background is also dark so it didn’t blend well. In addition to that, I also put grunge effect because it looks plain. I used the image below:

(Kirsty Pargeter)

I took some part from it to be use as my "stamp border". The image shown below is the part that I used. I put a grey background colour so that I know which part I will delete. I used Magic background eraser tool to delete unwanted white background. It doesn't mean you have to delete all the white background, as long as your happy with it and looks groovy, let it be that way.

Send it to workspace, select Pixels (by right clicking the image layer), then go to main menu: Select > Inverse. Reminder, the layer visible here should be the white background as highlighted on the image below under layers.

After selecting Inverse, press delete. Now, your creativity should work on this stage. The outcome of my grunge effect is shown below:

You can notice that under History window, all you can see are Erase, that's the part when I did the inverse-delete stage using what I call "stamp border". Did you also notice the sword? I added the swords to balance it from the images on from the front cover. I used Rikuo's sword for this stage:

After cropping it from the image, I used Marquee and Eraser tool to delete the background. To get rid off the fingers, I took some part of the sword, copy the image then cover the fingers; then repeat the process until all the fingers are covered.

I also added a Flare effect on the sword to look shiny (the same process from Rikuo's image). Moreover, I adjusted the image colour by manipulating its Levels, to balance the colour of the sword from its background.

From this, I noticed that when you read the text, it still kind of hurting my eyes. What I did was, I added Outer Glow effect with light blue colour. Here's the outcome:

References:

Kirsty Pargeter. Grunge Border. [online] Available at: < http://en.fotolia.com/id/336863> [Accessed 23 November 2011]

Adobe Premiere

This week, we were introduced to a new software that we will use for making our video presentation which is the Adobe Premiere. After showing the basics, I immediately searched for my possible videos in youtube to be used for my presentation. I found a lot and checked each one of them.

Although there are lots of result from my searched, I am very keen on the videos I will use because I also think on how I will incorporate it with my Twilight audio trailer.

DVD cover and label

I did lots of things this week on my assignment. With my DVD cover, I planned adding a breezy effect on it. At first, I started doing it by using different kinds of brushes but I’m not artistic enough to make my imagination come true. What I did was, I researched for some tutorials and took some tips from it. And am able to make the breezy effect by using the Clouds. Under Filter > Render, choose Clouds and you'll have this kind of effect and just adjust the Levels. My settings is shown below.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance, on this part, I changed the colour into blue.

To add a breezy effect, I used Motion Blur under Filter > Blur. With the combination of Clouds and Motion Blur, as you can see, it gives my background a feeling of wind blowing that blends with my Chinese clouds.

I also decided to put shadows on the characters to make it stand out because  it looks plain and kind of boring. I started with Rikuo, first, I made a copy of Rikuo's image (refer to Layers) and renamed it to rikuo-shadow then filled it with black colour. Then go to Edit > Transform > Distort, on this part, I am able to control the shadow look of the character.

Change the order of the Layers, rikuo first and under it is rikuo-shadow (refer to Layers). Drag rikuo-shadow layer downwards (as seen on the image below) then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to make it look like a real shadow.

I also used the same process in Nurahiyon's image, the image below shows how I dragged the layer to it's proper position that will look like his shadow. After that, just copy the Layer style from rikuo-shadow layer to Nurahiyon-shadow so that they will have the same effect which is the Gaussian Blur.

Since it is a Japanese anime, I added the Japanese title on it and copied the same effect as the English title but with a lesser Outer Glow.

On my DVD label, I used almost all the process I did on my cover. I just copied some of the layers from the cover to the label like the background clouds and the shadow effect. Here's what my DVD label looks like:

On the English title, I used Wrap text with Arc style so that I could make it look like a C because the round shape of the cd. And also, the Japanese title is from top to bottom unlike from the cover which is from left to right alignment. Moreover, there's no need of dragging the shadow layer instead I moved it a little on the right and copied the same effect.

DVD cover and label

This week, I added more images on my cover which is the clouds. The reason why is that I want to add a wind effect.

This is the image that I used:

 (Dick Stada)

Same as usual, I used (Magic) Background Eraser Tool to delete the white background. On this image, I used 4 different clouds and added a white Outer Glow effect because it looks kinda flat. Moreover, I also used Puppet Warp to control some movements of the clouds because some of them are the same, by adding directions will make them looks different. This is how it looks like:

First, you have to choose some points of where you want the changes to be made. Then drag the points (yellow circle thing) from where you want it to be placed.

Apart from the clouds, I added a Lens Flare in my Rikuo image that can be seen under Filter > Render. I put this effect on Rikuo's sword. This is the settings that I used and how it looks:

Furthermore, I find Nurarihyon's image odd because of the image colours of the other characters so I decided to add Brighteness and Tolerance to it that can already be seen on the image above.

I also started working on my cd cover. I used Rikuo's image and here's what I got:

There's a trick on this image, I didn't cut the image but it is only under a white layer with a big whole in the middle. I did this so that I can put them perfectly. To understand more of what I did, here's the layers of the images:

This image shows that Rikuo's image is inbetween the blue Layer1 and white Layer2 and above all is the little cirlce in the middle. Using this technique will help you adjust the image position without putting it over and over again when you cut the image.

References:
Dick Stada. Chinese style clouds. Artwork in vector. [online] Available at: < http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-16491124/stock-vector-chinese-style-clouds-artwork-in-vector.html> [Accessed 28 October 2011]