Unit 19 Evaluation

Digital Graphics was an entirely new experience for me as I only had very basic knowledge of Photoshop. Working on this unit helped me become more familiar with other Adobe software as well as Blogger.

 

One of the tasks, which we had to maintain all throughout the unit, was to have a blog and update it regularly. I had never used Blogger before, although I had visited other blogs but have never had one of my own. Blogger is very interesting to use and to portray one’s work and opinions but it does have some limits when it comes to editing the blog posts.

 

For the first task of this unit, we were required to create an infographic explaining different keywords used in the digital graphics field. Initially, I had no idea what an infographic was and through research I found some very interesting ones. This task also helped me to further my knowledge of Photoshop, especially when using the Pen Tool.

 

In the other tasks, we had to research, design and create the mediacast blog in groups. I think that we worked quite well as a group with good communication between us all throughout the task. This task also helped us to get to know more about mediacast and other students who are part of it. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the banners and posters although I found some difficulty initially because I was out of ideas. However, once I knew what to do,  I enjoyed creating them and I am very satisfied with the results.

 

Other elements in this unit which I found very useful were learning how to use the clone tool to retouch old photos and then colour them using brushes. Through online research, I also found tutorials which helped me to create my mediacast blog posters using filters in Photoshop.

 

Something that up till now, I have not been able to grasp well, is how to use Adobe Illustrator. I managed quite well during the tutorials in class, but when it came to working and creating something of my own, I did not really succeed. I hope to better my knowledge of Illustrator by practicing it more in the summer holidays.

 

Overall, it was quite an enjoyable unit, although the first time I read the brief I thought that it was going to be very difficult for me. However, in the end, I think I managed quite well and I will find the things I learnt very helpful in the future as I now also have basic knowledge in creating digital graphics.

Advertisement Production Evaluation

Now that the final advertisement is ready, we gave out questionnaires to some people to collect feedback and evaluate it. Here below are some of the filled in questionnaires that we collected.

Advertisement DVD cover

Here is the DVD cover I designed for the Advertisement Production assignment we had this semester. I used Photoshop and some screen shots and photos taken during filming.

Advertisement Production Pre-Production

Treatment

The production team has finally agreed to work on an audio-visual advert for the book “The Encyclopedia of Hollywood; An A-Z Guide to the stars, stories, and secrets of Hollywood”. We plan to introduce a variety of Hollywood personalities impersonated by actors who are inspired by their looks and styles, whilst representing different roles in the Media Industries. The actors are to be filmed in one location featuring a black background, standing individually in different shots. The location will be mostly dark using just one redhead to light one side of each actor to create the effect of over-exposed highlights and shadows. Most shots are going to resemble popular scenes from Hollywood, each having their own signature props and music tunes. Finally we plan to end our advert with an effective caption and details of where the book can be bought from.

Script

Storyboard

Inital Storyboard

Final Storyboard

Production Schedule

Location Recce

As a location, we studied two different ones; a garage and a stage at Mgarr. We decided to use the stage for the simple reason that we would not disturb anyone when using it and for the fact that there was already a black screen in place. It is located in Sala Dun Edgar, Oratorju Qalb Bla Tebgha ta' Marija, Mgarr.

Risk Assessment

Crew

Producer/Director/Location Scouting/Props/Actors - Maria Vella

Camera Operator/Music Production - Josef Cohen

Make-Up/Props - Jessica Catania

Scriptwriter/Gaffer/Key Grip/Risk Assessment/Editor - Luke Zammit

Actors

The Godfather - Jason Vella

Mary Poppins - Alison Vella

Charlie Chaplin - Stefano Vella

Elvis Presley - Chris Deguara

Walt Disney - Mario Sammut

Audrey Hepburn - Ema Camilleri

Laurel - Stefano Vella

Hardy - Clayton Gauci

Marilyn Monroe - Nathalie Vella

With thanks to Anthea Vella for the help provided on the shooting day

MediaCast Blog; Final Design Proposals (Task 3)

I approached this task by creating 3 different Design Proposals, each having a matching Poster, Banner and Colour Scheme. The idea is that when people see the poster and then enter the blog and see the banner and colour scheme, they can associate them all together.

Design Proposal 1

Banner

In the first banner I created two lighting effects from both corners using filters in Photoshop. This light is coming down on the mediacast logo, to which I added some inner bevel to create the illusion of the light on the letters.

Poster

I created the same lighting effect on the mediacast logo as I used in the banner. Then I added the sticky note and I wrote "What's new with". The idea behind this was that MCAST first introduced the media courses, then mediacast was born, and then the programme "Int Min Int" started being produced. So now, what's new with mediacast? The mediacast blog. I used the caption "Your Blog" because this poster is aimed at the mediacast students, who will be using the blog, so it is really and truly their blog.

Colour Scheme

The colour scheme is composed of colours which are all found in the poster and banner. They will be used as follows; Black for the Background, White for the text, Blue for the Post Title and Yellow for the Links and Labels. The fonts used will be the same as those used here in my personal blog; Gruppo for the Post Title and Calibri for all the other text to create as a professional look as possible.

Design Proposal 2

Banner

This is the only banner I kept from the previous 3 banners; I discarded the other two. As I explained in the previous blog post, I created this banner by using a screenshot from the filming for our advertisement and adding some filters and adjustments. Finally I added the mediacast logo at the top left corner.

Poster

In this poster I took a photo of someone with the mediacast tshirt and I cropped it as I wanted to. I then selected the neck and the arm and created a layer via copy. I desatureated it and used a smart blur filter to get the outlines and I then used the invert adjustment. Finally I used the pen tool to create a stroke path and get a more visible outline. I used the same caption I used in the previous poster; Your Blog. Coming Soon.

Colour Scheme

In this color scheme I used the black and white and the colours found in the MCAST logo; green and gold. The colours will be used as in the previous colour scheme. Black for the Background, White for the text, Green for the Post Title and Yellow for the Links and Labels. The proposed fonts here are also Gruppo and Calibri.

Design Proposal 3

Banner

Since one can access the mediacast blog only from a laptop or a computer, I took a photo of a media student with a laptop (which is also used in the poster below), adjusted the brightness and added the text to create my final blog banner.

Poster

I used the same photo I used in the banner and again adjusted the brightness. Finally I added the same caption I used in all of my posters; Your Blog. Coming Soon.

Colour Scheme

I based this colour scheme on black, light brown, blue/green and turquoise as I think that they are colours which go very well together. The black will again be used for the background, this time the text will be in light brown, the Post Title in Blue/Green and the links and labels in Turquoise. I always used a bright colour for the links and labels so they stand out from the normal text. The fonts are Gruppo and Calibri also in this third and final proposal.

MediaCast Blog; Colour Schemes (Task 3a)

These are the 3 colour schemes I am proposing for the MediaCast blog. They are very similar as I have in mind to include only particular colours in the blog, based on the research my group and I conducted. This is because the majority of the students asked for simple colours based on a grayscale and the colours found in the MediaCast logo.

Colour Scheme 1 - White, black and the colours found in the MCAST logo

Colour Scheme 2 - White, black, gray (to be based on a grayscale) and gold (to have a colour which stands out)

Colour Scheme 3 - White, black, green and yellow (found in the MCAST logo) but which are brighter than the ones in Colour Scheme 1 

The colours would be used in the following way;

In all colour schemes
Colour 1 (white) - Text Colour and Date Header
Colour 2 (black) - Background and Background of the Post Footer

Colour Schemes 1 & 3
Colour 3 (green) - Post Title and Text in Post Footer
Colour 4 (yellow) - Link Colour and Labels

Colour Scheme 2
Colour 3 (gray) - Text in Post Footer
Colour 4 (gold) - Link Colour, Labels and Post Title

MediaCast Blog; Banners (Task 3a)

Finally my three MediaCast blog banners are ready!

I created this by downloading a font which looks like a film strip and removed the letters from inside it (by creating another layer and using a white brush to cover them) since I didn't like the font. I wrote each letter separately and placed them inside the film strip and then put the image of the scissors between "Media" and "Cast" to generate the idea of editing. Finally I added the last sentence using a simple font and the colours found in the MCAST logo.

The second one is composed from a screenshot I took from our filming of the advertisement, adding some adjustments and filters. Finally I added the MediaCast logo at the top left.

In the third and last one, I filled the background with a gradient composed of the colours found in the MCAST logo and I added some stroke effect to the "MediaCast" text. To finish it off, I added some brushes to the background in black and white and changed the opacity and Blending Mode untill I was satisfied.