Construction of DVD cover.

This is the original background I decided to use, as I felt it had a lot of potential to reflect urban culture, which will result in perceiving to the target audience my chosen music genre (Hip-Hop).

•I thought it would be more appropriate to darken the image via Brightness/contrast tool. As it would illustrate the lyrical content utilized and the depression, the recession and other problems discussed in my music video.

In the next stages I;

• Added a main image as I thought it followed the codes and conventions of a professional media product, so consequently me having one made my DVD cover more proficient. To get the full potential of the image I had to edit the image so the colour matches the setting so the image looked part of the background. I accomplished this by the use of Highlights/Shadows tool.

• Then I cut the other bollard out to duplicate it and place it over my leg so it appeared to the audience that the main image was part of the background .

I then started to create the title, I obtained the title font from www.picnik.com ,the reason I used this font was because I thought it was a good font to represent graffiti, but was still legible to an audience that is not too familiar with that style text. In further explanation I used this font because I thought it represented the urban element of Hip-Hop .

•Once I cut the font out I edited the opacity of the font so it appeared to the audience, once placed over the wall that it was graffiti on the wall, and didn't look un-realistic. The reason I done this was to ensure larger sales from my product because of it appearing more proficient.

•When I decided to try and attempt to make the font appear like graffiti on the wall I knew from the original background that it was to cluttered with “real” graffiti. For me to get the full effect of the title/masthead I knew I had to create space on the wall to lay the text down.

•The way I achieved creation of the space was utilizing the clone and spot healing tools on PSE CS3 , I started by cloning part of the empty wall and then duplicating the blank wall where I need space. I then, to make sure it looked original blended the sharp edges in with the spot healing tool.

•After completing my masthead. I chose to add a parental advisory label onto my cover to make it appear professional and so it covers restriction requirements.

•At this stage I could see my DVD cover becoming more realistic. A few codes and conventions kept bothering me though because I hadn't included them and I really felt I need them to progress, the first of these was my spine.The spine contains the title of the DVD because when it gets shelved that is the part of the cover in eye sight. When I decided to incorporated this I felt this made my DVD cover more proficient.

•The next thing that was bothering me was the small print, that contains the details of; producers, directors, music editors and so on....I added this element because its included on every DVD cover that are constructed by professional graphic producers.

• Next thing that I felt was a problem was the free space on the spine and the bottom third of my DVD cover. So I decided to add both the DVD rom logo and a distributional institution logo that I have used to be my institution to distribute me.

•I then decided to add a subtitle, because during my research I found that most DVD covers include these and for my cover to become more proficient I should only include what is the norm.

In the next few stages I incorporated a few codes and conventions to make the outlook of my product more professional and increase potential sales. One code and convention I included was the use of the top strip “widescreen edition” . The top strip is essential to a DVD cover after its introduction by promotions of special features, that were included on the DVD. Also it made my cover look much more realistic as every professional cover has one. Additionally, I utilized a barcode and DVD statistics table. The reason I used these was purely for my cover to pass requirements and look more realistic, so it results in more sales when put into production.

Next I added some public and institution comments, a genuine code and convention that is included within a music DVD. It can vary how many a DVD will include on its cover but the more good comment the more sales it will have. They almost act as pugs but not so hard sell.

To complete my DVD cover I enlisted the content on the back of the cover, so my target audience can see what is included on my DVD and hopefully want to make a purchase more. All DVD’s have some sort of text on the back whether its the narrative, film extras e.t.c, so I decided to include some on mine to make it more professional.

Final Product.