As I am creating patterns for the background of my video and also for my packaging, I thought it would be appropriate to research some patterns that would relate to my vintage housewife theme. Images of patterns found in The cookery book for girls and Cupcake magic as well as patterns found in print and pattern 1 & 2 featuring: Cath Kidston; Lark; Orla Kiely; Chyanne Ganzel; Noi publishing; Jennifer Ellory and Amy Butler. I think the simple patterns such as spotty, stripy and gingham will work the best in the background as the floral patterns may be a bit much. The examples of patterns used as backgrounds in the cupcake magic cook book show that patterns can work as backgrounds, as long as they have a low opacity and that the colours are too bright and distracting. I have been experimenting with creating my own patterns on photoshop, following online tutorials. [see blog post]
Part of the brief is that: 'All digital files should be submitted in an appropriately designed and packaged dvd format that reflects the content of the work', so I have decided to look for some existing DVD cases with an exciting edge to them to help me think about what I can do, that reflects my work but is a little bit different from what is expected.
Here is a DVD case I made for an art foundation project.
Here are photographs of some of the covers of DVD's I own. I have included ones with illustration on them, as the assets that I have been making are vector illustrations. I think this is a good touch, as it will be a contrast to the photography of cakes in the actual content for the show, so it is good to have an illustrative video intro.
I've tried to find DVD case's relating to my theme, but obviously, as baking shows wouldn't usually be available to buy on DVD, there isn't a lot out there. Instead, these two films have a similar vintage feel. I have included a larger copy of the Marie Antoinette case to help me see what kind of information I need to include on my dvd cover to make it seem realistic. In both of these examples, I think it is mainly the use of colour that makes the vintage theme stand out. On the waitress DVD cover, a patterned background has been used, and it works well without being distracting, and this is what I want to include on my DVD case.
Before this module, I never even thought that I was interested in design for screen, but now I can spend hours looking through tv intros and film intros, fascinated by what is going on. Here are some more videos that I have either been recommended to look at or have found through suggestions on vimeo and youtube.
These are relevant because of their mixed-media collage style, which is what I am aiming for with my video.
I have incorporated some of the effects I have seen in the videos that I have researched into my storyboard plans for my ident and video, and it is explained in those blog posts which effect is from what video.
I really like the colour scheme used on Nigella's website. Everything is so neatly arranged, with pretty, girly pastel shades, and tidy tabs that there can be a lot of content without ruining the look. It is a shame that the website has to contain adverts, as these don't fit in with the colour scheme. I really like the scalloped edge under the tabs bar at the top. I decided I wanted to try making one of these, and it took me a while to get it perfect, but I have used it in my design direction boards. I also thought back to this colour scheme when choosing mine, as I wanted colours that related to the cupcakes but also to the vintage housewives theme.
Soap and Glory has been a big inspiration for me when I was thinking about which design direction I will choose. I love the mix of modern with the vintage housewife style, but how through advertising and packaging these products seem bold and products a confident woman would use. The colour scheme is simple, and is girly, but not in too much of a 'pretty' way, so I believe these products appeal to all women, not just standard girly girls. I would love to be able to do a photo shoot so I have images of vintage housewives in my video, but I am aware with the time limitations that this is probably not possible. I will keep looking back to soap and glory products and adverts when I get stuck for ideas.
These are some examples of 50's Style Graphic Design by Retrografix. Looking at these examples has helped me to define my font choices and colour schemes so that what I am creating is recognisable to the 50's style. I will have to be careful when designing my videos that I do not include too many assets, as I think too much could look like something made on powerpoint rather than a well thought out 50's inspired design.
These are a few more examples of 50's inspired graphic design found on a google search that I will look back to when designing my video, to give me inspiration on how to arrange my assets.
These are images of vintage housewives which relate to my theme, and would add a cool touch to my video, rather than it just looking old fashioned. I particularly like the hand drawn image, and think that this could work well in a video, although it would take a while and a bit of skill to be able to animate a vintage housewife.
These images are from the book 'New Vintage Type', and I think they are all really beautiful examples of type mixed with imagery to create a vintage feel. In a way each example is quite different, and I don't know which style that I like the best, but I may look back to all of them for inspiration for different parts of my design.
Although for this module I will be creating an intro for a tv show, I have decided to include some introductions for films in my research as there are some amazing ones out there. It is an enjoyable task looking through film intros and I have looked through hundreds on various websites, so here are some that have stood out for me. I will now be paying extra attention to every film I watch to see if it has an interesting animated introduction. These intros will make ordinary intros with just video or photographs seem boring.
Life of Brian might seem a bit of a random example to put in but it is because of how the objects move across the screen, and the different angles and directions in which things move. There is a lot going on, and you feel as if you are going on a bit of a journey, which keeps it interesting. I need to learn how to be able to animate my objects for my video like this. The use of sound effects as well as the song makes the action stand out even more. As parts of the intro may seem quite random it also brings humour to the clip.
One of my favourite films with a great, memorable introduction. What I really like about this film intro is how different the style is to the actual content of the film. For my intro, I will mainly be using vector based illustration, and this will be quite different to the show which would just be real life filmed, so I want to use this as an example to show how this contrast can work, and actually create an introduction which ends up being memorable on its own.
Id say this intro is probably better than the film! It is quite hard to animate a person moving but it looks fine in this clip. Like with the monsters, inc example, the intro is so different to the actual film that it is a good contrast. The choice of music fits in perfectly and overall this is a well made intro that must have taken a long time to create.
I really like the style of artwork used in this intro, and these concept boards show beautiful illustration designs, found on watchthetitles
This title sequence is quite well known, and I think it is probably because of the simplicity of the design. What I like best is how the text appears on screen and is linked in to the image. There is a lot going on in the video, so its exciting to watch. Also, the song choice relates to the movement of the video, meaning that all these different aspects together create a really slick title sequence. While I don't think I'd ever be able to create something as good as this, I've included it just to show the kind of videos that have inspired me.
This illustrative style makes such a difference from the usual dvd intro style of just photographs or videos. I think it makes it seem as if the following film is actually even more interesting for such an effort to have been made with the intro. I like how there are obviously a lot of layers, with different textures in, to make sure there is always something going on in this clip. I assume it must have taken a very long time to make and been quite complicated. This clip features lots of interesting effects which I would like to experiment with.
The transitions between the different elements in this intro seem quite simple compared to the other examples I have looked at, although this simplicity does still work really well. Although again, my basic skills couldn't create something like this, I think this is a good example to look at considering how things enter and exit the screen.
I like how on this clip the use of camera angle makes us feel as if we are moving forward with the video, as if we are really there. The use of camera angles and the things that are going on in the background take you on a journey as the elements move, spin and turn. The use of different layers and textures makes this piece quite complicated, but it keeps your interest as there is so much going on.
As illustration is my main interest, I thought I would have a look at the cupcake designs out there, as this may be something I want to do for my title sequences, as well as photography. All these designs look sweet and girly, and relate to the keywords I have written about cupcakes. These are lots of examples that I liked when looking around.
There are so many different ways shown here of illustrating cupcakes, from vector images, hand drawn, stitched, screen printed, patterns and ink, I think I will need to try out a few different ways of how I could create the cupcakes before I decide on a definite means of illustration. I will keep looking back at this large collection of images while deciding which style I should go with.
