Sunday, 24 February 2013

My Photoshop Experience

I only have one word to describe my experience with this software and that word is TERRIBLE!!!

Never felt so incompetent with a computer program in my life. Forever making mistakes which can't even be undone - you can only press the undo button ONCE - unless you delete the layer which was utterly frustrating, especially if your not one to remember to make these multiple layers every couple seconds. To call the steps you make "baby steps" is a total understatement! Each time you do something new you have to make a new layer which feels so stupid because your getting nowhere fast, however if you do make these layers I guarantee you will get lost in that web that you create. There will come a point where you will forget which layer is which and struggle to get any further than you started off with making this process long and tiring just sitting there staring at a computer screen for a good couple of hours and having nothing to show for it. I would call this a mix between a memory game and a puzzle all mainly based on trial and error which is something that not all people like doing so often. Trial and error requires patience and it is not fun when your only allowed to make one mistake at any given time. This is the most difficult, tedious and just out right faulted program, no words can actually describe my hatred for this over priced product!


The time and effort I have spent on this idiotic program makes me want to cry and which hurts the most is that this is the second year I am using it. Believe it or not the first time I used this Adobe Photoshop was a lot worse.

Fortunately I was about to do a lot better this time round than my previous attempt but I am still not satisfied with what I have produced even though I know this is the best I am going to be able to do. I do not wish to mess it up again (Yes, it has happened before) so I will settle for what I have.

I am not sure if I am just not happy with my work because I have seen what other people are about to create on Photoshop or what I have made is genuinely rubbish

As you can tell I had VERY limited knowledge on how to use Photoshop and had to search through many different tutorials just to do the simplest of tasks. Eventually I was able to find some very helpful tutorials which was able to guide me through the long winded process and allowed me to get something along the lines of what me and my partner has draw in our plans.

I encounter many different problems along the way and now believe I have made so many different mistakes along the way that I know what buttons to avoid, things I shouldn't try on certain images and basically what not to do and there are many different things on my list.

Not happy

What is the purpose of a digipak?

Digipak is a form of packaging for any type of CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc; the outside of the digipak is usually made from paperboard/cardboard/card stock whilst the inside is a standard plastic, shaped in a way that would hold a CD that is attached to the card that looks like the image below.


 This is a typical set up for a six panel digipak:

 



An example of a real six panel 
The whole purpose of a Digipak is to attract I believe. Reflects the type of music that is on the album/single.




I have been doing research on the digipaks that are in the same genre as ours and I have realised that There are barely any digipaks out there. The only reason I could think of is that the way we consume media is different now and  the fact that dub step is a fairly now music group this may be the reason.

Below is a Chase and Status Single cover.



This is relevant as it has a clear colour scheme and clearly states the name an d this is something I would like to incorperate in my digipak

Editing Techniques

We are planning of using quite a few different editing techniques in our music video. One example of the editing technique we will use would be match on action which helps with the continuation of the clip. This is done by cutting to another clip just as one has finished which is in the same sequence of events making the movement and shot seem fluid and masking the cut. This would be explained better in the following clip.


Graphic match is another technique that we will be using. This is when you cut from one shot to another with something like an object that has correspond image (the objects having a similar shape). For example, my partner and I are hoping to achieve this why using the round circle shape of a bikes wheel and a watch/clock. The picture below if from the film Psycho which is quite a good example.

The shape of the plug whole has a similar/same shape as the iris in the eye.