DVD setup

I am now going to make the graphics and the sound that i have created sync up with each other to create the start up sequence for the DVD screen. To do this i used Adobe Premier because i can get the widescreen view when i import the .PSD folder of the pictures. The PSD file of the actual picture is used for this because when it is compressed down to a JPEG it will loose it's aspect ratio and will not be widescreen if you import the JPEG. However the PSD file keeps all the information you need and will make it easier to create the video with. After i created the video i exported the video in a 720p PAL Widescreen format because that is the settings that the images were created on in photoshop. I then went to another Adobe program called Encore. I created a new file with PAL video settings because that is what the video and images that i have created were exported on.

I then inserted a new timeline into the project by right clicking in the project section of the program and selecting New > Timeline. This is so i can insert my video into the start up in the DVD sequence.

i then clicked and dragged the video into the program's project section and then put it in the timeline for the sequence. I then created my menu for my DVD. I also created this in photoshop with the PAL Widescreen settings for it to suit the video's format. When i went to create the buttons I made a folder for each button on its own with the folder name (+) so Adobe Encore will detect that they are buttons.

After i saved the PSD file of the image i then imported the PSD file into Encore because it has the button data that we needed. After i had imported the PSD file into Encore the buttons had already been created for me so all i had to do then was create the end action for the video timeline. For this in the timeline properties i went to the icon next to the end action and dragged a line towards the menu option in the library.

I then went to file > build > file so i can export the DVD menu and selected my place to export the DVD start up and menu for a DVD disc to play the Dracula film. I set the export to go to an empty file and then exported the file then i had my dvd start up menu for my DVD.

Graphic Design

For the designing of my graphics I used a specific setting when I went into Photoshop. i went into the preset drop menu and selected Film & Video so i could select the PAL D1/DV Widescreen which has a pixel resolution of 720 x 576. This is so when I import the images into Adobe Encore it will have a suitable Film and Video preset on the image.

I will now have a certain type of layout for working in Photoshop with.

I now have a blue boarder which will interpret the TV's safe area for example the outside of the blue lines are the TV's boarder, The middle is the TV screen and the part between the middle and outer area is the possible parts that will show up on someone's TV. It is important not to put any important information on these parts of the image because if there is the person watching the DVD start up may not be able to see it because their TV does not have the correct resolutions for the full image.

The following images below are the images I am going to be using in the DVD start up menu (not in order).

For now they are not in a widescreen format however when imported into Adobe Encore they will reveal the rest of the picture that only widescreen viewers can see.

Sound Design

Different types of sound needed:

In this project to create the sound i need to go off a script for the Dracula DVD start up screen. The scrip i have to go off is:

It is a stormy night with wind, rain and thunder.

A person walks along a gravel path up to a large castle door and pulls the door chain.

The bell rings and footsteps on a stone floor are heard.

The castle door lock is turned and the door slowly opens.

Dracula is seen at the door and welcomes you to the castle.

A clap of thunder arrives after the welcome.

The door closes.

And the sound of the wind and rain fades away.

This is the script that i will work of to get my ideas for sound designing for the DVD start up menu. 

I will be creating most of my sounds from scratch. Only a few sounds will be taken from a non-copyrighted sound site so i can use the sounds freely with out copyright getting in the way of my DVD start up menu. The program that i will be creating my sound in is a program called FL Studios. i will be using the plugins that are included with the program and downloaded from the internet. The first thing i did for my sound was that I recorded Dracula's voice effect and a few other effects that i could use in the sound clip so some of the sound effects are real other than being digitized. The other sounds that I recorded are a bell effect, lock effect, a door effect and a walking effect for the ambiance. So the sounds that I need to create are the wind, rain effects. I had a gravel walking effect already made from another project so i used that effect in this for the first part of the walking on gravel.

In FL Studios to create my wind effect I went to Channels > Add one > 3xOsc to add this plug in to the library to create my sound. I then selected the correct preferences on the plugin to create a static effect to turn into a wind type of effect. I then assigned the plugin to a free mixer track so i can add some effects to the sound. I added a reverb and as part of the program an effect called Fruity Parametric EQ2 which will let me change the volume from certain points.

I then put it in my audio line and put two of the same sound effect in and i edited the sound at parts of the audio clip with a volume automation to range the sound to make it sound like real wind and rain.

I now have my wind and rain effect. I downloaded my lighting effect from a non-copyrighted website for sound.Now I have all my sounds I made sure that I gathered it all in a place where I would find it so I can click and drag the sound clips into the program in a new project and I arranged them all into how I would like the sound to be and I then had my finished sound.

I then went to File > Export > Wave file so I will have all the sound with no loss of sound from the clip. 

Graphics research

Research:

German Expressionism -

German expressionist films were powerful in the 1920's. Among most well well remembered are films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosfertu, Metropolis and sunrise. These films were united by highly stylized visuals with strange atmospheric camera angles, ambient lighting and harsh contrasts between dark and light. Shadows and silhouettes were an important feature of expressionism to the intent that they were actually painted on the sets in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. 

The story lines of German expressionist films matched the visuals in terms of darkness and disillusionment. They often show a dark and dull mood of the character bu featuring them from a corrupt underworld of crime, the films' dramatic effects and produced feelings of claustrophobia and paranoia. The same words can be used to describe the 1940's Hollywood film noir, a genre hugely influenced by German expressionism.

German expressionism was the answer to all the grim realities of daily life more than any other movement in the history of films. However it was not so much a direct relay of life to art. German expressionism was more of a filter, a way of assembling the horrific mess of post-war Germany to display on the screen. The films presented a way to represent the reality that only a few could of imagined of in the film genres time, which include Sex murders, depression, veterans mutilated in the war, loss of innocence and complete rejection of the past which included things that the German people dealt with during the post war years of 1919-1929. This was called the Weimar Period in film history. The films produced by Germany in this desperate time captured the cry of a broken nation and people horrified by the everyday not knowing what is going to happen.

Before the great war German film was not nearly as technical or thematically themed as other European film. Until 1910 German films just consisted of short crude day in the life events. It was only until right at the start of the war did Germany get deep with the films that they were creating. Der Student von Prag (The student of parague - 1913 by dir. Guido Seeber) is commonly known as early expressionism. This is because of the themes that the film included with the dark lighting it marked the start of German Expressionism.

A German Expressionism film includes the techniques of:

- Unexpected camera angles and very little camera movement
- Stark contrasts of light and shadow for various effects
- artificial stylized sets. Stripped of all realistic details and psychology - sets that become symbolic diagrams of emotional states
- Overly theatrical - actors move in jerky, slow patterns and have heavy make up.
- Interrogation of all elements of the scene to create an overall composition.

Some of these expressionist techniques aim to:

- Draw away from realistic details
- Bring out the detail of an object, situation or state of being.
- Express a subjective viewpoint
- Also to create mystery, extreme emotional states and destabilization