PRODUCTION LOGO DESIGN

DESIGN PROCESS

APPLICATIONTHE SOFTWARE I USED TO CREATE MY PRODUCTION LOGO ANIMATION WAS ON ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS CS4.

ADDING/CONVERTING FILESI DOWNLOADED THE SMOKE EFFECT FROM:

HTTP://VIDEOCOPILOT.NET/BLOG/2011/08/FREE-MAGICAL-SMOKE-ELEMENTS/

THEN I CONVERTED THE SMOKE EFFECT FILE FROM .MOV TO .MP4 ON A ONLINE FILE CONVERTER SO THAT IT WOULD WORK PROPERLY ON AFTER EFFECTS. THEN, I IMPORTED ALL THE FILES - THE BACKGROUND IMAGE, THE SMOKE EFFECT AND THE SOUND.

NAMES AND FONTS AFTER DRAGGING ALL THE FILES TO THE COMPOSITION AREA (LOCATED ON THE BOTTOM-LEFT), I ADDED TEXT IN THE CENTRE OF MY COMPOSITION. FOR MY PRODUCTION LOGO, I SETTLED FOR A SERIF FONT CALLED TRAJAN PRO. THIS IS BECAUSE SERIF FONTS TEND TO HAVE POINTED ENDS ON EACH LETTER, WHICH COULD BE SEEN AS SHARP AND THREATENING. ‘SPECTRE PRODUCTIONS’ IS THE NAME OF MY PRODUCTION COMPANY BECAUSE SPECTRE IS SYNONYMOUS TO GHOST, SPIRIT OR SHADOW, AND I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS THE WORD THAT WAS MOST FITTING.

SMOKE EFFECT, COLOUR SCHEME AND BACKGROUNDI THOUGHT THAT USING A SMOKE EFFECT TO ADD IN THE THE NAME OF MY PRODUCTION LOGO WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE AS OPPOSE TO IT FADING IN. THIS IS BECAUSE, SINCE THE COMPANY IS CALLED SPECTRE PRODUCTIONS, THE SMOKE COULD LOOK LIKE A GHOST APPEARING - BRINGING THE PRODUCTION NAME ONTO THE SCREEN, AND THEN FADING OUT. MOREOVER, I GOT THE IDEA OF USING SMOKE BECAUSE IN ‘THE HAUNTED MANSION’, A SPECTRAL ORB IS SEEN LEADING THE MAIN CHARACTERS TO A ROOM OR PLACE, AND I THOUGHT THAT BY INCORPORATING THIS, IT WOULD MAKE THE AUDIENCE FEEL AS IF THEY ARE BEING ‘BROUGHT’ INTO THE FILM.

FURTHERMORE, I USED A DARK AND FOGGY BACKGROUND BECAUSE I WANTED TO GIVE THE IDEA THAT THE AUDIENCE IS GOING TO BE TRANSPORTED AWAY FROM THE REAL WORLD AND INTO A NIGHTMARISH WORLD. I ALSO DECIDED TO MAKE THE TEXT A LIGHT GREY COLOUR INSTEAD OF WHITE AGAINST A DARKER BACKGROUND AS IT LOOKED TOO HARSH AND IT DID NOT MATCH THE COLOUR OF THE SMOKE. ALSO, THE LIGHTER GREY WOULD GIVE AN IMPRESSION OF BEING IN A VOID AND BEING TRAPPED.

THIS IS THE BACKGROUND IMAGE I USED FOR MY ANIMATIONIMAGE FROM GOOGLE IMAGES

EFFECTS/TRANSITIONSAFTER ADDING THE TEXT, I SELECTED IT AND ADDED A LINEAR WIPE EFFECT TO IT. THIS WOULD THEN GIVE THE ILLUSION THAT THE SMOKE BRINGS THE TEXT IN. ONCE I ADDED THE LINEAR WIPE, I WANTED THE TEXT TO REVERSE, SO I HAD TO MAKE THE TRANSITION COMPLEX TO START AT 100%. I THEN MOVED THE SLIDER ON THE TIMELINE TO WHERE THE SMOKE EFFECT WAS JUST ABOUT TO END, AND CHANGED THE TRANSITION COMPLEX BACK TO 0%. THIS MADE THE TEXT REVEAL EACH LETTER ON THE SCREEN ONE BY ONE.

I MADE THE SPACING OF THE TEXT WIDER SO THAT EACH LETTER WOULD APPEAR IN TIME OF THE SMOKE PASSING. HOWEVER, AS SOME OF THE LETTERS IN THE BEGINNING WERE ARRIVING LATE, I SELECTED TWO KEYFRAMES FROM THE EFFECT LAYER ON THE COMPOSITION AREA: LINEAR WIPE AND TRANSITION COMPLETION, AND SLIDED THE SELECTED KEYFRAMES, EITHER LEFT OR RIGHT SO THAT IT WOULD MATCH THE TIMING OF THE PASSING SMOKE. THE KEYFRAMES ARE THE SMALL YELLOW DIAMONDS SHOWN ON THE TIMELINE.

AFTERWARDS, I FEATHERED THE TEXT TO 68% AND THIS MADE THE TRANSITION OF EACH LETTER MUCH SMOOTHER.

ADJUSTMENT LAYER I ADDED AN ADJUSTMENT LAYER TO MASK AN EFFECT OVER THE TEXT AS WAS APPEARING ON THE SCREEN.I FIRST CHOSE THE RECTANGLE TOOL AND MADE THE SHAPE AT THE START OF THE FRAME. AFTERWARDS, I ACTIVATED THE MASK PATH STOPWATCH SO AS I MOVED THE SLIDE ACROSS THE TIMELINE, THE RECTANGLE WOULD MOVE WITH IT.

ADJUSTMENT LAYER EFFECT ONCE I MADE THE MASK, I SELECTED THE ADJUSTMENT LAYER FROM THE COMPOSITION AREA AND ADDED A TURBULENCE EFFECT THAT WOULD DISTORT THE TEXT.

AS I DRAGGED THE SLIDER ACROSS THE TIMELINE, THE MASK LAYER SHOWED THAT THE TEXT WAS NOT ALIGNED WITH THE TEXT BEHIND IT. THEREFORE, I ADJUSTED THE AMOUNT TO -1.0 SO THAT THE MASK LAYER MATCHED WITH THE LETTER BEHIND IT.

AFTERWARDS, I SELECTED THE ADJUSTMENT LAYER AGAIN AND ADDED A FAST BLUR EFFECT. THIS WOULD GIVE THE ILLUSION THAT THE LETTERS GRADUALLY COME IN. I THEN REDUCED THE BLURRINESS TO 1.0 SO THAT THE BLUR ON THE LETTERS WOULD BE VERY SUBTLE.

LAYERS ON BACKGROUND TO MAKE THE SMOKE EFFECT, ADJUSTMENT LAYER AND TEXT TO APPEAR ON TOP OF THE BACKGROUND, I SELECTED THOSE THREE LAYERS, AND RIGHT-CLICKED, AND CHOSE BLENDING MODE, THEN SCREEN.

AFTERWARDS, I SELECTED THE BACKGROUND IMAGE FROM THE COMPOSITION AREA AND ADDED A GAUSSIAN BLUR EFFECT. THIS IS BECAUSE THE SMOKE FROM THE ORIGINAL BACKGROUND LOOKED TOO DEFINED, AND SO I SOFTENED IT SO THAT IT WOULD BLEND PERFECTLY. ALSO, THIS WOULD MAKE THE AUDIENCE FOCUS ON THE PRODUCTION NAME AS IT STOOD OUT MORE.

ADDING SOUND I DOWNLOADED MY SOUND FROM A WEBSITE CALLED FREESFX.CO.UK AND THEN IMPORTED IT THE COMPOSITION AREA. THE SOUND I CHOSE WAS CALLED CALM_MYSTERIOUS_DRONING_TEXTURE.

SINCE THE SOUND BEGINS WITH A LOUD DRONE, I DECIDED TO MAKE IT FADE IN AND THEN EVENTUALLY FADE OUT ONCE THE SMOKE DISAPPEARED.

I WATCHED THIS TUTORIAL AND IT TAUGHT ME HOW TO FADE IN AND FADE OUT AUDIO: HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?v=DXFN6wFozds/

EXPORTING THE FILEONCE I FINISHED DESIGNING MY PRODUCTION LOGO ANIMATION, I WENT TO COMPOSITION (ON THE MENU BAR) AND ADDED IT TO RENDER QUEUE.

I MADE SURE TO CHOOSE THE FILE TYPE THAT WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR ANY COMPUTER, SO I CHOSE .AVI

ONCE IT FINISHED RENDERING, IT WAS EXPORTED TO MY DESKTOP.