DVD cover!

The general process of creating our DVD cover started similarly to that of the magazine. We looked at some already existing covers of DVDs and found that they seem to have a theme, for example some have snow or beach could be possible themes. A DVD titled 'Christmas time' would include an episode about Christmas, but then also other episodes about things other than Christmas.. so for example about where snow comes from, and another about family visiting. The title usual mainly applies to the first episode on the disc. Each DVD in the series would have a different theme to it, adding uniqueness and also desire to collect the whole set.


So, we decided we wanted our DVD (and first episode on the disc) to be titled 'Barnaby's Birthday'. We chose this because it is alliterative, and therefore memorable, and also birthdays are something that everyone experiences so all children watching would be able to relate to it. We wanted to make our cover more interesting by orientating it around the theme of birthdays, so we gave Barnaby a present and Hazel a party hat and balloon. We also changed the 'i' in 'Birthday' to a candle - which is something the older end of our TA might pick up on and find quirky.

This was our initial design. Obviously because of the nature of DVD covers, text is usually on the back cover which gave us more freedom with image and 'white space' on the front cover. We showed this to our focus group - who all said they liked the inclusion of the birthday elements of the design (the party hat etc). An controversial element which was brought about from the focus group was that the logo wasn't on the cover anywhere. Some said that the characters were just as good as having the logo there, however some said it would be better to have the logo. So we tried it with the logo, and we both agreed that it looked good and would help improve brand recognition. (Also, conventionally DVD covers do have the logo so this also helped us reach our decision.)

And here is our FINAL version of the DVD cover with improvements made.

Magazine update

After showing our magazine to the parents of members of our target audience, the general consensus was that there was too much white space (which we had already identified) and for a front cover it wasn't as 'busy' as a typical magazine they would buy for their child. The children responded well to it initially; it seeming to interest them. However this didn't last as long as we would have hoped. Therefore we understood we needed to minimise 'white space' and increase the  amount of components on the page to increase desirability. 




(In response to Mr Codling's comment on my previous magazine post (Link here), we are choosing to stick with convention and not have the characters 'interact' with the free toy. Also, there was thought about having an image of the free toy underneath the actual toy so that when the actual toy was removed, the image would still be there. We have chosen not to do this because our style models of magazine cover tend not to do this. Instead they just cover a small part of the whole image up with the toy. Example below.)

Taking into account everything our audience feedback gave us, and also what our teachers suggested... this is our final magazine cover. After making the final changes we wished to, we showed it to our focus group again and they felt it was greatly improved by adding the new components and the children seemed to agree - because it kept their attention for longer.

Flash lesson

So.. after a catch up with our teachers, we came to the conclusion that we needed some proof of Joe teaching me how to animate. So, HERE it is! 


Joe taught me how to 'set up' ready to animate in terms of understanding how the layers work in order to manipulate the individual parts, and then how to create a very basic movement. 

Magazine Draft!

This is our final draft of magazine cover - pre-tweak. We feel that there is too much 'blank space' in the mid section, particularly above Hazel, however this is where we intend to attach the 'free toy', therefore will upload images when we have done so. Adding a toy (and activities and crafts) helps the children interact with the product more and adds longevity to our product.

Peppa Pig is a brand similar to our own; sharing aspects such as target audience and style. These two existing magazine covers were the influence and inspiration behind our final version.

Test animation

This is just a small animation sequence that we've created and thought it would be good to upload; just to show that we're in the process :) 


The tweens etc are very basic in this sequence, however there will be a lot more detail added. As a whole we are happy with out ongoing animation so far (in terms of things like export quality, resolution etc etc).