Creating The Video

|Step 1|
The first step is to save the project. I saved my file as Cupcake Video.

|Step 2|
Next I started editing by opening all the images and the Sound files I need and dragged them to the Timeline.

|Step 3|
Then I created a text file by going to Title>New Title>Default Still. I chose default still because I didn't want the text to move.

|Step 4|
Since Flutterby represents Butterfly, I decided to put an animated butterfly to make the video more interesting. I animated the butterfly using Flash. The butterfly Image used is copied from flutterby's logo, then animated.

This is my first attempt to use Flash and the best and quickest way is definitely to Google for Flash Tutorial. I had no idea how to use Flash, so this time I had to follow the step by step tutorial (unlike the Adobe Tutorial where I only followed halfway and got the result I wanted before actually finishing the tutorial).

Animating the Butterfly using Flash

The Outcome

For the Flash Tutorial, click here

|Step 5|
I think my first try using Flash went allright, so I just proceeded to the next stage. I added the animated butterfly on the text and set it to Overlay (to make the text visible while the butterfly animates).

|Step6|
Next I added Video Transitions and changed the Speed/Duration for each Image and text.

Video Transitions

I also Increased the volume for the drumbeat to make certain part of the video more catchy.

Volume Adjustment

|Step7|
I played the video a couple of times to make sure that It's fine. Then I Exported the video. To do this, I go to File>Export>Adobe Media Encoder. I chose this option because I need to compress the video to a smaller size (to fit the web). And again, I managed to get an Adobe Video Tutorial from the internet, which thought me the trick to compress videos while maintaining the pixels. This guide is so simple to follow coz it's a video & audio tutorial.

For the guide, go to http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/premierepro/articles/prp2am_exportmovie/popup.html

Check out my final Video on my next post!

Captions for the Video

Before I begin editing the video, I need to create a storyline to make the video more interesting. This way, I'll know which picture to put. Here are the captions:

|First Phase|
It’s really not difficult to make people smile
Crack a joke
Bake some cookies
Or even by simply smiling at them

|Second Phase|
Want to know a better way?
Give them a cupcake!

|Third Phase|
Make your love ones HAPPY
Make your guests smile
Make your occasions worth remembering

|Fourth Phase|
Flutterby Cupcakes
The perfect gift for all occasion..

|Fifth Phase|
We can make your guests jump with joy!

|Sixth Phase|
Log on to www.flutterbycupcakes.blogspot.com
Or contact Ms. Kayla at 016-3020644

Now that the captions are done, I can start editing the video and suite the caption with the Audio.

Wish me Luck!

Materials for Video

Before creating the video, I need to gather materials to be inserted in the video. Since this project's requirements is to only use still images, I managed to get some interesting pictures that's related to the video.

Instead of putting only cupcake images, I decided to put Happy Faces to suite the happy theme. Here are some of the pictures:

Videos I Like

Check out these videos! I like the music. It blends with the video =) I hope I can make something like these 2 videos:

Cadbury Truck Commercial


Ferrero Rocher - Dazzle

I'm still looking around and trying to figure out my concept. In the mean time, I'll look for more commercials to get more ideas.

Enough with the Poster, Lets get on with the Video!

Previously, I planned to create a video based on classical English look (with English music). Then I thought, why not create something light and fun? So instead of using English music for the video, I plan to use the evergreen song by The Turtles, Happy Together. It's fun, creates a Happy mood and it's catchy too! If we create a happy feeling, of course people will remember it ;)

Here's a preview of the song:

I'm still at the first stage - gathering Information. I plan to start with my video somewhere around next week. I need to gather more info., familiarize with the software and try to learn flash (to animate some images). But flash isn't important for this project, so I don't wanna go into that too deeply. I'm focusing more on Adobe Premiere Pro.

What have i Learned?

|Review of the Poster|
While creating the poster, I started using more shortcuts than I ever did. Shortcuts helped to speed up my work and saved loads of my time!

I also learned to create the 'Soft Focus' or 'Glossy' effect. Although I didn't do the whole process, I was able to create my own glossy effect. And that was very satisfying ;)

I haven't done poster design for quite some time. Thought I wouldn't be that difficult since I used to play around with Adobe Photoshop. But I was clearly wrong. It took me some time to remember the shortcuts and tools. So next time if there's a project, I'll have to start doing wayyyyyyyyy earlier.

The most difficult part isn't doing the poster, but transferring my tacit knowledge. Being a KM student, I know I have to try my very best to share what I know. But it ain't that easy. We often plan on something and know why we do it (in our head), but to share with others why we do this and that, it's rather difficult. But I did my best to share what I know =)

I have to admit, if we didn't have to create a blog, I might not learn as much. Why? Coz I might just do things and don't even bother to share or to explain why I did that. At the end of the day, I might not remember what I did and might not be able to create the same effects (in Phtoshop) again. And I call myself a KM student? Haha. Well, I'm still learning ;) But knowledge sharing has always been my culture..

=D I'm happy coz one work is done!

Creating the poster

The first thing to do is to choose the right picture. I spend quite some time choosing the best picture (like choosing a model for a TV ad). There are loads of themes and colours. I decided to go with the red and white coz it's simple and nice. Not too colourful as well.

Unedited cupcake image

| Step 1 |
Before designing the poster, i set the image to:

1. CMYK colour (which is mainly for printing)
2. Resolution 300
3. Size: 29.7cm x 42cm (A3)

| Step 2 |

I opened the image in Photoshop CS2

| Step 3 |

Since I wanted my image to look glossy and dream-like, i searched for 'Photoshop Tutorial' for glossy effect and came across something called 'Surreal Soft Focus Effect'. I followed through some of the step by step process and got a satisfying outcome. The trick is the more you try, the better outcome you'll get. My outcome was different than the effect in the tutorial coz I played around with it a lil bit.

First I make a duplicate layer of the cupcake image (Hit Crtl+J) and change the name to 'Blur' . Then go to Filter - Blur - Gaussion Blur.

Gaussion Blur Effect

Then set the layer mode to Overlay. To get the desired Glossy effect, I duplicated the 'Blur' layer a few times to make it more 'dream-like'. There are a few more steps to complete the 'Surreal Soft Focus Effect', but I stop here coz this is exactly what I wanted.

Glossy Cupcake Image

Tadaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

To view the Photoshop Tutorial, go to http://freephotoshopguides.com/. For the full 'Surreal Soft Focus Effect', click here.

| Step 4 |
It's now time to add some lighting. And as usual, I'll create a duplicated layer instead of using the original one (in case if I mess up).

Adjusting the lighting


The 'Soft Omni' light effect

Somehow I dont like the lighting effect. I need something light and tasty. Something that gives the dreamy-fantasy-cupcake-world look. So I'm gonna stick with just the Glossy effect.

| Step 5 |
I created another layer and make the Fill brown. This will be the background colour of my poster. Then I cropped the cupcake image and place it on the brown background.

Cropped Image on brown background

| Step 6 |

Next I added text. I chose pink text over brown background because pink is a light colour and it stands out on dark colours such as brown. In my opinion, pink and brown makes the poster look yummy! It suits the product.

According to my experience working in a web publishing department, there should not be more than 2 types of font in a design. So I decided to use just one font for the whole description. I chose 'Century Gothic' coz it's simple and it's easy to read.

Every text in the poster is double-layered (linked together) to make it sharper and stronger. With just one layer, the texts are dull.

Text added describing the product & service

| Step 7 |
If you notice, there's a few flower images that has a a watermark effect on the poster. For that, I pasted a vector image from Flutterby's business card (the raw material given by Kayla) and set the blending mode to 'screen' with 6% fill. I did that to make the poster looks filled but not too busy.

| Step 8 |
I added up Flutterby's cupcake logo and recreate the font similar to the original logo (the logo pasted will not have a sharp text). The font used for the logo is Bickham Script Pro (90pt) - double layered.

Logo without text

Logo with text

| Step 8 |

To make it more interesting, I re-create a vector graphic from Adobe Illustrator CS2. The reason for me to re-create (although I have all of Kayla's raw materials) is because Kayla did the whole design in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and created an outline (to print the image). I was unable to paste it in Adobe Photoshop due to 2 reasons :

1. The file was created in CS3 (It says that I will loose some data if open in CS2).
2. Outline was created.

So instead of installing Adobe Illustrator CS3, i decided to have a lil fun with Adobe Illustrator CS2. I used the pen tool to trace the image.

Tracing process using 'Pen' tool in Illustrator

Then I copied the image and paste it to Adobe Photoshop. The vector image was resized (using the transform tool) by going to Edit - Transform - Scale / Rotate. I hit Crtl+T for the shortcut. When I'm happy with it, I rename the layer as 'Curve'. I also added some small butterfly images (from Kayla's raw material) to make it more attractive.

Tracing outcome

| Step 9 |

For final touch, I changed the 'Blending Options' of the texts, adding a couple of effects such as 'Drop Shadow', 'Outer Glow' and 'Inner Glow'. This should give some weight to the texts making it more attractive.

'Blending Options' Effects

| Final Outcome |

There you Go!

Since I set the image to CMYK (mainly for printing), the colour isn't that accurate on the web. Anyway, I can say that I am 98% confident that there will be no changes for the poster. However, nothing is fixed untill the final submission.

Now I can move on with the video! =)