This is my design process for my company 'Spectre Productions'

1. PRODUCTION LOGO DESIGN
DESIGN PROCESS

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

4. ADDING/CONVERTING FILES
I 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.

7. 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.

8. SMOKE EFFECT, COLOUR SCHEME AND BACKGROUND
I 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.

9. THIS IS THE BACKGROUND IMAGE I USED FOR MY ANIMATION
IMAGE FROM GOOGLE IMAGES

15. EFFECTS/TRANSITIONS
AFTER 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

19. 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.

25. 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.

29. 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.

32. 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/

34. EXPORTING THE FILE
ONCE 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.