DVD PROJECT: GRAPHICS PRODUCTION DIARY

I started by opening a new file in photoshop, here i selected the picture size. First i selected film and video and then PAL DV1.

By selecting this photo size this gave me grid lines and now i know where on the screen is visible on widescreen and earlier TV's.

Next i opened my files on my hard drive in a separate window and dragged and dropped the image onto the Photoshop frame. This saved time.

After I imported the image i found that it was the wrong size. To combat this i held CTRL and T this allowed me to transform the image size to fit the page well.

On one of the images a door pull is needed but was not available during the image taking. So i found an image of a door pull on a free to use image site. Here i copy and pasted the image and using the magic wand tool.

Here i needed to place the handle within the hand, to do so i used the layer system and used the eraser tool to put the pull in the hand.

On all images i made the images into black and white and by doing so adds to the German Expressionism-esc. A key part of German Expressionism is that silhouettes are frequent. to do this i added a new layer and drew in black of the two shadows. i went over some of the bodies and used the eraser tool to edit that.

The shadows were too dark and so i changed the opacity to give the illusion that they are real.

DVD PROJECT: RESEARCH DRACULA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Expressionism


My impression of German expressionism is that of a Gothic nature. They appear to feature an awful lot of sinister angles which create large silhouettes to emphasize the eerie feel of their images. They appear very abstract and their angles exaggerated  Which is why in my work i will use low angle to show the main character Dracula. The dramatic shadow's must be a key part mainly from the light of the moon as that is of a Gothic nature.

This is a collage of some artwork and films that are from the German expressionism. German expressionism is from the era of 1920-40's and covers a wide range of creative arts such as paintings, sculptures, photographs and films. It mainly was a movement from Germany as Germany was isolated from the rest of Europe resulting in abnormal work. Blocked imports lead to more of the artistic work being created. With the worth of money in Germany decreasing movie goers were attending these films almost freely.

DVD PROJECT: SOUND RESEARCH + PRODUCTION OF SOUND

SOUNDS NEEDED:
-Ambient sounds.
-Spot sound effects.
-Dialogue sounds.
-Music sounds.

For ambient sounds I will include some atmospheric noises such as weather changes and foot steps as they are both frequent and key for the mood.

For spot sound effects i will need such sounds as the door chin being pulled, bell ringing, lock being turned, opening and closing of a door.

Dialogue sounds i will have is Dracula welcoming the viewer. "Welcome to the castle".

To get the sounds i will either use sites such as www.freesounds.org inorder to download certain sounds such as thunder and wind.
i will also need to record some sounds such as speech.

I need these sounds:
- Storm weather then thunder.
- Walking on gravel.
- Chain and then bell ring.
- Foot steps indoors gradually getting louder.
- Door opening
- Dracula speech.
- Thunder.
- Door closes.
- Fade out weather.

I must also look at what type of noises are already being used in horror movies in that time as well as modern times...
key featured sounds that would appeal to the audience of horror movie fans:]
-rustling of trees (great for setting the scene)
- creeking of floorboards (helps the audience to feel more on edge)
- symphonic style of music eg. from the original horror movie link found below.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4icPTcQZacE

I started by finding the files listed above on a copyright free site. Here i was able to find majority of the sound clips barring Dracula which i recorded from a peer. I then imported all the sound files into Adobe Audition.

After the importation i began moving the files in the correct order of the script. After so that the sounds would sound realistic i faded in the beginning and end of some so that the sounds were not sudden and sharp. I did this by adding keys to the audio file and creating a gradient at both ends.

I found it was easier to keep track of my sounds my using a multi-track on Audition and naming each individual part. This helped the understanding of where parts of the audio should be.

For the weather i morphed the storm and thunder together to give a feeling of sudden bang from the lightning. this is created as the audio for the storm is lowered first.

I moved all files into place and checked they fitted the script as this is what was set by the client. I also added a pitch change to the voice of Dracula so that it seemed deeper. this was performed in audacity where i highlighted the track and selected generate and pitch.

Next i clicked Multi-track and mix-down session to new file and entire session. This then enabled me to see the over all audio tracks together in one single audio track.

This is all the tracks as one here i gave it one final look over before exporting.

when exporting i first gave it a file name and selected the destination folder. I formatted it as a .wav file as this  is a much higher quality. Now the audio is ready for the video.