fmp product reflection

1. Production Reflection
Your Name

2. Graphics Portion: Page #1 Process
For the first page of my
graphics portion I used a
similar layout as to what I had
devised in my pre-production.
However I realized marrying
myself to the layout I had
planned out was incredibly
limiting, so I decided to more
closely follow the layouts that
I had collected in pre-
production.
Here I’ve dedicated half the page to an associated image for the text that I’ll put
together in photo shop using screenshots/artwork inspired by the game it’s based
on. So for this first page which discusses TF2 near exclusively I will use a character
from TF2 as the main image.

3. Graphics Portion: Page #1 Process
Here I have added a drop shadow
effect to the title by overlaying text
boxes with the text in different colors.
I’ve also put some page breaks in on
the right hand column as well.
Here I’ve implemented the edited
image of the Heavy for the left
hand page. This image has been
grey-scaled/bitmapped with a
small circular gradient texture to
make it look more cartoonish
Here I’ve also added a light
gradient onto the border of the
surrounding the image, this will be
consistent throughout each page
This is the final art piece placed
onto the page. In future when I
have set out the other pages, I will
probably change the hierarchy rules
to
- Quotation marks in bold and
colored
- Brackets are bolded and not in
color
- Names of games are bolded and
colored
- Names of companies are bolded
but not colored
My design philosophy behind this is
that games hold the most
important, companies should be
bolded for brand recognition and
speech marks are colored and
bolded to give off a comedic
value/importance, whereas
brackets are to call some attention
to extra details for the readers that
care.

4. Graphics Portion: Page #2 Process
For page 2 I used a very similar process
when creating the image to associate with
the text, however on this page I started to
consider what other rules I should add to
my unspoken text hierarchy and decided to
include quotes as orange highlights to
signify important but also that it’s from my
research and not my own words.
As well however I also began to include
page numbers in the bottom right-hand
corner, this is now true for all pages and is
only shown in the bottom right-hand to
sustain the minimalist aesthetic I’m going
for. Each page number accounts for the
others that are unmarked.

5. Graphics Portion: Page #3 Process
The image used for page 3 I created myself
using a collage of the 9 classes found in TF2
fighting that I had then edited the
background of and overlaid against some
promotional art for Animal Crossing. The
bottom half of the promotional art
however was too short and wasn’t
covering the backdrop as much as I’d like,
so I used the polygonal lasso tool and
selected a portion of the grass patches,
layer via copied it and then masked the
layer and feathered the edges. I then
duplicated this section over and over to
extend the grass texture just enough that it
covers all empty spots for the background
behind the TF2 team. I made sure to be
cautious of cross-over as much as possible
and not leave any glaring inconsistencies in
the pattern.

6. Graphics Portion: Front Cover Process
When designing my front cover I
decided to use an ensemble style
with the Scout front and centre in
the middle of the page after some
reconsideration. At this point in
the process I was experimenting
with different gradient colour
schemes and blending modes to
try and find out what I could use
for the colour scheme for both
this front and back cover.
I also used an image of most of
Main Street from New Leaf as a
border for the top of the page
margin, the archway helped to
centre everything perfectly.

7. Graphics Portion: Front Cover Process
For this iteration I applied several
gradients to both the Scout and
the ensemble at the bottom of
the page margin. When
experimenting with the gradients I
found it created a circle in the
dead centre of the page. I then
used this as an anchor for
whatever would be place near the
centre.
Whilst working on this however I
became less and less interested in
the font being used here and
decided to try find another more
simpler but bold font that I could
transform into a more impactful
design.

8. Graphics Portion: Front Cover Process
Finally I decided on this for my front cover
after changing the font and adjusting all of
the levels (like; the kerning between the
characters and the tracking). I used the
lasso tool to outline G, W and A that
overlapped with Scout and layer via copied
them so he crosses over underneath the
letters. Not only does this keep the words
readable but it also better integrates Scout
into the title too.
I also used an inverted version of the
gradient applied to the rest of the image
for my name at the bottom of the page
margin with a bolder blue-ish drop shadow
to make it stand out against the bottom
border created out of the ensemble of
Animal Crossing characters. Overall I’m
very happy with how this turned out and
think it all works very well.
final draft of the front cover
final cover with adjusted text coloring

9. Graphics Portion: Back Cover Process
When working on my back cover for the book
I wanted to keep it simple and have a
combination of the two games represented in
a simplistic little design, so what better to use
than the two games logos combined. First I
tried to use a version of the TF2 logo from
some promotional material for the game
straight from Valve, but found that the inner
gradient didn’t leave much room for creative
freedom and was surprisingly pretty
restrictive.
Instead I recreated the logo by using the
shape tool to create a circle, then using 2
rectangles to cut it into segments as well as
then using a smaller inner circle to cut out the
centre. Then I applied the Animal Crossing
Leaf logo as a gradient to all of the segments
and thought this worked quite well, especially
with the logo firmly in the space in the
middle.

10. Video Portion: Footage Collection
After filming a large portion of the script including
moments in which we could use as
segways/comedic gags etc we also opted to record
the script verbatim and include gameplay screens to
work to accompany the audio. We collected a large
portion of footage for each game discussed
averaging at 25~ minutes for each chunk of footage,
as well as trailers for both games that can be used
for more cinematic moments. Then we recorded a
little over half of the script using a phonetic version
made just for audio, that can be placed in between
the live action segments. The idea is that the main
portion of the video is to be live action with me, in
front of the camera speaking and to use gameplay
strictly as examples and not as a supplement for the
audio that goes alongside it. I’m trying my best not
to simply include a voice over for some random
footage and more so present it as part of what is
being spoken about in the script.

11. Video Portion: Ending/Closing Clip
For this sequence is representative of the ending of
the video. Here I've arranged gameplay from both
games and synced some of the audio up to some
music we've sourced online, the next part of the
process is then trimming it down to the best 30~40
seconds of audio/footage that I can then start adding
some edits that are similar to that of the opening and
midway. The reason I'm working on the ending before
working on the Midway or returning to the opening
clip is just to make sure that progress has been made
on more than just one area to give a better idea of
the video overall instead of just one isolated clip in
case it ends up not having been fully completed. This
will be avoided however if I continue onwards of
course.
The first sequence was edited together prior to this as we
ended up continuing to expand and iterate on the edit we
cut for the video test. We added a few new sound effects
and included some slight animation in areas, such as the
dancing skeleton that appears over my fingers, and the
Minecraft Creeper that falls behind me as well as the
scribble animation that appears over my
description/subtitle when I'm speaking in front of the
office background. These little edits were complicated to
implement at first but I feel added a lot to the intro overall
and made it much more engaging and fun to watch.