Construction of Institutional Logos

I created the institutional logos using Photoshop and I made them to the dimensions of 720 pixels X 576 pixels at 72DPI . I did this because it was a compatible size with the trailer I was making, so that hopefully it wouldn't pixelate, or be too big to insert. Below are screen shots showing the production of the end credits for my trailer. I found it quite hard to pad this out because in a real trailer there would be more names to list for each job role, but I thought it would look silly if I repeated my own name too many times. I created this frame after beginning the production on my trailer, so that I could pick a font that would be in-keeping with it, to create the idea of continuation. I eventually decided to use the font of Arial, because it is simple, bold and effective. I did worry that it might look a bit dull, but then I want my trailer to be simple and show the frustrations of being young, so I thought something like that would work; not to be dull, but to be bold.

This was the first layout that I had for the frame, but the lack of text in the frame made it seem too sparse, and it was a bit of an unconventional layout for a credit frame, so I moved the title of the film from the top to centre (as shown below), and I used the guides to line it up in the centre.

Below is the finished frame.

At first, I found this process quite hard because I hadn't used the software for a while and I really liked the flatplan designs I made of the logos, and I didn't think they would look anywhere near as good when the "handmade" element/effect was taken away. This thought especially applied to the "Daylight Shadows" logo. Below is a shot of my first attempt of the logo. I found it really hard to get the text how I wanted it to look and it looked too altered and fake. So, in an effort to overcome this problem, I went back to the scanned in image I had when designing the logos to see if I could create a logo from this image.

This was the outcome for the second attempt. I much preferred the simpler colour scheme and the lack of fancy effects that I think improved upon my first try. However, it still felt abit static and dull. So, I tried moving the logo about I found the result was more aesthetically pleasing.

This was the final version that I am happy with. I achieved the angle that the text is on using the "skew" tool in photoshop (pictured below) and I added the effect of a drop shadow (shown below) to make the image look a bit more 3-D and not completely static. I know that the logo isn't very exciting or full of effects, but I like the simplicity about it, because most independent film logos are just flat image with text, so I think mine would fit in if it were to be made into a real logo.(Drop shadow effect)

(Skew tool)

This was the final and only version of the "Kaleidoscope Pictures logo I created. I like it because I think it's simple, but effective. I searched Google Images for an image of an image made by a kaleidoscope and inserted it behing the text in Photoshop. I then erased the area around the letter, leaving the image only inside the two o's.

Institutional Logos

These are some rough sketches of different ideas for institutional logos. I only really wanted to use 3 in my trailer because I noticed that there are only usually 3 shown in the other trailers I researched.




After doing some rough sketches, I made my two favourite logos larger and in a bit more detail. I wanted something that would fit in against a black background and look professional as I thought some of my ideas looked somewhat cheesy. I also wanted something that wouldn't be extremely difficult to construct when making my products. "Daylight Shadows Productions", "Kaleidoscope Pictures" and "New Rose films" are the ideas I went with because I thought they achieved my goals and I thought they looked quite independent and believable.

This would be a distribution logo, and "New Rose Films" would be a financier's logo.

"Rise" is the title of my film. I didn't want a complicated title, just something big, bold and simple to contrast with the idea of the film. The only real detail is that the letters are slightly unevenly spaced, which is deliberate and I like.

The release date (below) is a logo that is in the same kind of font as the title. This is because these two things are commonly in the same font, and it creates continuity. I have chosen the release date to be November 19th because this is a Friday and most films are released on a Friday, I also hope to have completed my productions by then. However, if I haven't I will change this during production, keeping the same font.

Sourcing Soundtrack

Sourcing A Soundtrack on Prezi

After deciding which tracks I wanted to use, I researched the addresses of the record labels, so that I could send a permission letter to them. I found this quite hard as some labels (like Factory Records) don't exist anymore and there seems to be a very time-consuming trail to who the current copyright holders are. After taking a long time doing this and not really getting very far I realised that the copyright holders are on the back of the actual CD's/records, which, seeing as I posessed all but one, made the process alot easier. Below are screenshots of each of the letters I sent. I was quite suprised at the number of American labels with British artists on, but I'm not sure how many will allow me to use their songs as I imagine it is of much more benefit to them to say yes to someone who will use their track in a large scale film as it would be a good form of promotion.

I tried to pick songs thats rights were held by someone who might let me use them. Some music that I would have loved to have used and that would have fit in well, like The Beatles, weren't even a consideration really because they are very tight with their permissions and don't need to appear in soundtracks to boost popularity as they are already so popular. I know this because the film "The Boat That Rocked" tried to use their music but Apple denied them permission.

Below is a scanned in copy of a letter once I had printed it. This shows that I left a gap to sign each letter, which I thought was the professional thing to do.

Below is a photo of the letters in their envelopes before I sent them off.

Wednesday 1st September - I didn't receive any replies to these letters for the two months after I sent them, so I decided to use the music I had planned to anyway because I will have to assume that they deem project unimportant or insignificant enough that it does not require a response or pose a threat to the copyright element of the music.

Researching Eras

This is a scan of a chart I used when I went to York to ask 30 trendies between the ages of 15 and 24 which era they were most interested in, to see what look I should have in my film. The end result showed that the 1960's is most popular, so this is what era I will include in my products.

1660's on Prezi