Final Evaluation: Practice with graphics and photography

I think that I did well in the last few months because I don't really enjoy photography work but I tried to involve more of my graphics work so that I enjoyed it more and could produce work that I wanted to. For example, I analyzed the use of logos in the music industry and also in my stop motion animation, I created the ending credits for a video made by my group instead of taking any photos. 

I wasn't use to producing videos the way that I did because at home I prefer to create drawn animations and putting them together to make a video. My favourite camera i used was the flip cam because it was simple and easy to use.

All of the work for my wednesday session was produced onto this blog, this was different for me because I usually work in a sketch book. I prefer to work in a sketch book because I can draw pictures and ideas easily. I think that when I use paper I produce better ideas. However I did enjoy using blogs to produce my work because it meant that it could be checked that i was doing the right thing easier by my tutors. I also like working on a blog because it is neater than a sketch book and can easily be edited and changed.

I feel confident about using blogger, the guide I had to show me how to use it was simple to understand. It has been easy to refer to the work set because I could link my blog to the tutors. This contained what I had to do, the marking criteria and general help about the subject.

Overall I feel okay about this course and I feel I have and will continue produce some good work in the future.

Using Sony HDR FX1Camera

To film my second piece of video practice I used the Sony HDR FX1 Camera. This has many differences from the flip camera. The flip camera is small and easy to use, because of this, I prefer it. However it doesn't have as much capabilities as this camera. It can focus and unfocus, and also zooms in further. However because it is a much bigger camera it is heavy and harder to transport than the simple flip camera. I also had to consider the dangers of using a bigger and more expensive camera. I stayed inside the college because I didn't want to break it outside.

Final Cut Pro

Final cut pro can be use to edit an add sound to a video clip more professionally. This is because there is more control over the sound options than in iMovie


Adding A Soundtrack To Final Cut Pro

To import a soundtrack, drag the folder that the desired soundtrack is in onto the desktop, if not already. From here the folder can be dragged into the Browser tab. To put the soundtrack to a video, open the folder the music is in and drag the desired track onto the timeline.

Most kinds of soundtracks can be used in Final Cut Pro, they just need to be rendered. To render a soundtrack select, Sequence, Render Selection and then Audio.

Adding A Video To Final Cut Pro

Use a Quick Time Movie created and exported from iMovie and save it to the desktop. Drag the video into the viewer or canvas. The video then also appears in the timeline.

The video will more than likely have background sound that is unwanted. To get rid of this highlight the video by selecting it then click modify and select link. This unlinks the video and background sound. Highlight the background sound and press backspace to delete it.

Using The Razor Blade Tool

The razor blade tool is used to cut and crop the video. This is useful for further editing. The razor blade tool is found on the right hand tool bar. Select the razor blade and hover over the desired piece of video footage that needs to either be removed or moved to a new place in the video. 

Removing a piece of the video: Press the backspace on the unwanted piece of video.

Moving a piece of the video to rearrange it: Select the piece of video and drag it to a new place to change the order. This is useful for arranging video footage to fit to the beat of the sound track.

Band Identity: Logo Design

Most bands have some form of logo to identify them. This is because it is easy to recognize a band by their logo, so it is important that it stands out and looks effective. 


A logo for a band should look easily recognizable and relate to themselves and the genre of music that they create. This is because a band logo is usually seen on their albums. The logo should help to represent the genre of music that the band sings.
For example, rock or metal bands commonly use snakes and skulls while pop bands usually use colourful and bright text.


An Example Of Band Logos

Escape The Fate use snakes in their logo and this is effective as it looks interesting and also helps to reflect the rock/metal genre of music they sing. Usually band similar to these use sharp lettering.


It should also look appealing, band logos are commonly used on band merchandise such as t-shirts and badges. An appealing logo would encourage fans to buy their products. It should also look appealing depending on the genre so that people would buy their CD instead of another from a similar band. A logo is more appealing if it looks exciting, interesting and reflects the genre of music through the design.

Logo Design: Dragon Origin

Final Design

Logo Ident: Final Logo Design

I was happy with my design after I had played around with the layout. I used a Craquelure effect, as this looked most like traditional Japanese art. This is effective because it helps to represent the channel as it relates to Anime. My design looks attractive to both children and teenagers because of the interesting colours and exciting dragon. It is obvious from the name and logo what type of programs will be on the channel because students and my tutor knew straight away. The font helps the design to be more interesting while also relating to the channel.

My design would be flexible on all applications, unlike my initial idea.

I am pleased with my final design.

Logo Design: Dragon Origin

Final Development

Logo Design: Dragon Origin

Colour Scheme And Font

Improved Design

I have used this layout for my idea because it looks attractive and creative. I wanted to next change some of the colour and add some fill effects.

 

I experimented by adding a fill effect to the sun, I wanted to make it look more creative, my first idea was too dark, the second was too light and I liked the third because it was the most red. I wanted the sun to be red as this represents Japan and the red rising sun on its flag. I tried to add a third colour to the effect however it looked like a German flag, so I didn’t use this design.

After experimenting with the colour of the sun, I decided I liked 

the third idea best. I then tried to develop this further by adding more colour to the dragon and wolf. These designs looked too colourful and drew attention away from the sun. I decided that my third Idea was the most creative and relevant design. I next decided to experiment with the fonts, I wanted a more Japanese feel.

Desdemona

I didn’t like this design because it gave the feel of old England, I wanted it to give the feel of Japanese dragons not European.

Shanghai

I really liked this font, it gave a good Japanese feel, it looks more Chinese though.

Nippon Tech

This looked like a modern styled Japanese font, I liked it but it was hard to read.

Last Ninja

This font was another style that gave another Japanese feel, it looked more effective than Shanghai as that gave a more Chinese feel.

Japan

I didn’t like this font at all, it gave my design the look of a logo for a laundrette. I only used this in my designs because of the fonts name.