Week3-
The table given to us to analysis the DVD menusThis week we moved on from looking at graphics and onto the DVD menus that our project will be based on. To start of with the first lesson was spent just analysing DVD menus and looking at last years final submissions for this project. To analysis the DVD menus our lecture gave us all 2 copies of the following table with all the elements of a DVD menu, after we analyzed 2 different DVD menus I when to the library to get 2 DVD that fit into my genre which is horror and I would analysis the different elements of the DVD form my investigation.

The investigation was much more focused because we were only looking at one genre and looking at the codes and conventions for that genre. I found out a few things like not every DVD menu offer the same things and that many DVDs have some form of hidden material from hidden content to games.

Week 2 –
These are all the slides I did with out the bibliography This week was just carrying on with out investigation into graphics. I did most of it at home and I did learn a lot like the different terminology, what they meant and how they were used in the industry.

There were problems with some of the terminology because some of the terms used had other names and meanings so this didn’t help find a definition and use of some words also I was concentrating on one subject more than others because it was essayer to talk about them because I already knew About some of the topics I covered in my investigation i.e. pixels. I got over this by going to tutorial sites for Photoshop and by going to the library.

My strengths this week were that I was very thorough with my work making sure that I got all of the information that I needed and I sited and referenced all my sources very well. The only weakness I think I had was that I was too wordy with my investigation more pictures and diagrams would make what I found during my investigation much easier to understand. Also towards the end of this week I was rushed to complete this task which isn’t a good thing so need to organise my time and efforts more efficiently so I have time to check my work and make sure it’s to the standards that will gain me the high grade I want
Home work this week was to look at DVD menus. And start thinking about our own DVD menus.

Week 1 –
Our first week of the project into DVD menus we were told about the unit and what it would involve. For the first time we were told we where be working independently, this was very new for most of use because were so use to working in small groups when making our advert. We were also introduces to two new programs “adobe Photoshop” and “adobe encore” two programs that we would be using a lot during the project. So as the start of the project I created my own personal project schedule to track our work and organise where we should be and when. This was very useful because it’s a completely independent project so it is important that I am very organised about my work and make sure I follow dead lines and not fall behind.

Also during this week I and my class started a Photoshop workshop. I have worked with Photoshop before and I did know how to use it fairly well but my lecture was able to give me useful tips on how to improve me Photoshop skills and to keep my Photoshop folders organised. I also looked at some YouTube and online tutorials on how to create some unique Photoshop effects which helped a lot. So I did learn a lot I learnt about the different effects you can get on Photoshop and how to organise my layers so I can change different elements of my Photoshop work at anytime. And as a task for the whole class we were to create a movie poster in Photoshop and the best will be put on the wall in our class room. I created a poster called “blood rush” which sadly didn’t make the wall.
My poster called “blood rush”

I thought that my strengths were that I met the deadline for this part of unit; I was also able to create a realistic film poster that met the codes and conventions of a film poster. However I think that my weakness was that when I was making my film poster I wasn’t very organised with the layers and I often got distracted with online tutorials even though they were helpfully they were also distracting. So I think I should set my self to a target of setting a task for my self and keeping to that.

We also started looking at our first investigation into graphics is going to lead on to our investigation into DVD menus. We started by looking at a handout on the different elements of digital graphics that our lecture handed to all of us in the class room and it was up to us to select how we would present our work ether on word or PowerPoint we were also to find any information for our self through the net and library recourses.

So all in all I think it was a good start to the unit I got major amount of work done and I was able to produce my poster in time. My poster itself was of a good quality but if I could do it again I would use my own imagery to make the editing in Photoshop easier.
The homework I set for my self this week was to produce my investigation into graphics for the following week