Intellectual Property (IP)

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is often referred to as IP. There are four main types of IP rights which you can use to protect your work and creations, these are as follows:

1.      Patents

2.      Trade Marks

3.      Designs

4.      Copyright

A Patent protects designs based around how things actually work. For example what chemicals are put into a fizzy drink to create the flavour we like.

A Trade Mark protects a slogan or logo which is unique to a brand/goods/services.

A Design protects the appearance of a product, regardless of how it was made the design is protected. For example the shape of the aeroplane.

Copyright is an automatic right which applies when the work is fixed, that is written or recorded in some way.

Patents

‘A patent protects new inventions and covers how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of and how they are made.

Your invention must:

·        be new

·        have an inventive step that is not obvious to someone with knowledge and experience in the subject

·        be capable of being made or used in some kind of industry

Not be:

·        a scientific or mathematical discovery, theory or method

·        a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work

·        a way of performing a mental act, playing a game or doing business

·        the presentation of information, or some computer programs

·        an animal or plant variety

·        a method of medical treatment or diagnosis

·        Against public policy or morality.

The patent also allows you to:

·        sell the invention and all the intellectual property (IP) rights

·        license the invention to someone else but retain all the IP rights

·        discuss the invention with others in order to set up a business based around the invention.

Trade Marks:

A trade mark is a sign which can distinguish your goods and services from those of your competitors (you may refer to your trade mark as your "brand"). It can be for example words, logos or a combination of both. The only way to register your trade mark is to apply to us - The Intellectual Property Office.

Trade marks are acceptable if they are:

·        distinctive for the goods and services you provide. In other words they can be recognised as signs that differentiates your goods or service as different from someone else's.

Designs:

A Registered Design is a legal right which protects the overall visual appearance of a product or a part of a product in the country or countries you register it.

For its registration to be valid, a design must:

·        be new

·        have individual character.

Copyright:

Copyright can protect:

·        literary works, including novels, instruction manuals, computer programs, song lyrics, newspaper articles and some types of database

·        dramatic works, including dance or mime

·        musical works

·        artistic works, including paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos

·        layouts or typographical arrangements used to publish a work, for a book for instance

·        recordings of a work, including sound and film

·        broadcasts of a work

Copyright applies to any medium. This means that you must not reproduce copyright protected work in another medium without permission. This includes, publishing photographs on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, a painting of a photograph and so on.

A copyright protected work can have more than one copyright, or another intellectual property (IP) right, connected to it.  For example, an album of music can have separate copyrights for individual songs, sound recordings, artwork, and so on.  Whilst copyright can protect the artwork of your logo, you could also register the logo as a trade mark.’

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ - Access 13/02/14

 

People tend to often feel that just because an image or piece of work has copyright attached they are not allowed to use. This is not technically true. There are many ways around copyright. The main way is to gain permission to use the copyright image. This can be done in two ways, one is to gain a license, these often cost money however can be worth it in given circumstances. Another way is to contact the owner directly. You can explain your circumstances and exactly what you wish to do and seek their permission. Obviously there is no grantee that they will allow you the use of their image/work however it is a quick and easy option. What many people don’t realise is that under certain circumstances you can use copyrighted images/piece of work.  The below list show all the circumstances where you can use a copyrighted item:

1.      Non-commercial research and private study

2.      Criticism, review and reporting current events

3.      Teaching in educational establishments

4.      Helping visually impaired people

5.      Time shifting

In most of these cases it is still vital that you give sufficient levels of acknowledgement however this is normally standard with using any copyrighted material.

Although Creative Commons is not necessarily a way around copyrighted material it is a way of sourcing images which don’t have any copyright to worry about.  Creative Commons are a non profit making services which simply aim to increase the amount of creative sources available freely. They still use copyright licenses however these are adapted to Creative Commons licenses which are not as strict. The author of a piece of material can apply for a Creative Commons license and can communicate which rights they wish to reserve. The main aim of Creative Commons is to allow re distribution of images freely but still protecting the author’s wishes.

There are six licenses related to creative commons, they are as follows:

1.      Attribution (CC BY)

2.      Attribution Share Alike (CC BY-SA)

3.      Attribution No Derivatives (CC BY-ND)

4.      Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC)

5.      Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA)

6.      Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

 

When creating my own work within this assignment it seems clear that IP rights will be present throughout due to the volume of images I will be using. Although I am only creating this for educational purposes and hence copyright doesn’t apply I should be creating this with the impression that it is for distribution throughout the industry and hence then copyright would play a major part. The simplest way to get around copyright would be to use images which have Creative Commons rights, these are not as strict and hence easier to get around. The other option would be to gain a license from the owner however it is likely that more than one image would be needed and this could become costly however within the industry this would probably only be a small cost.

Photoshop - Moral And Ethical Issues Of Photoshop

Moral And Ethical Issues Of Photoshop
Although Photoshop has many advanced and impressive features it can cause high levels of controversy due to the way the Media use it. It is used heavily within the Media industry to edit and perfect images. People tend to have their own opinion on whether Photoshop editing is morally and ethically correct and I feel it is definitely a matter of opinion rather than being simply right or wrong. The levels in which Photoshop is used tend to influence a persons opinion. For example, I personally don't feel that a small amount of editing or perfecting of an image using Photoshop is morally wrong however if the image is edited and perfected too an extreme I feel this is wrong. This type of editing has become an issue with the lives of our young people with young girls trying to look like those in magazines, these type of images which have been edited and are hence unrealistic. Below I have attached part of an article about the morals and ethics of photoshop. I personally feel I can relate to what is being said. We should not worry about perfecting ourselves in images however we do whatever makes us feel most comfortable and if that means a little editing then so be it! What we Photoshop and to what extreme is our own personal choice and therefore I feel that we should accept and appreciate all sides of the argument. We should all be happy within our own skin and those who feel images shouldn't be edited have every right to feel that way however I also see the other side of the story and for those people who feel a little perfecting is needed to make them feel comfortable over a picture then I stand by this also.

'So, knowing our culture is becoming very materialistic, including over ourselves, we could say we are a possession to be polished. Can we accept a photo of ourselves, or others that embraces our flaws? Photoshop is a very tempting and easy way to quickly brush out those little flaws. What happens in real life? Who wants to waste a precious minute of life worrying about a wrinkle? Getting another one thinking about it?
Therefore, I deftly brush aside all worried and fears about PS. For now. Its just a little cover up, a little enhancer we use for special occasions, like when we decide THIS photo is going to be enlarged for grandma. Who doesn’t care anyway, and loves us no matter what. SO WHY? Again, why?
This draws me back to photographing children, who love themselves no matter what. Who we love no matter what. Who we love with dribble on their chins. With cuts and bruises. With tears.
Our bodies give us clues about our environment, our lifestyles and our health. Dark circles under eyes mean need of more sleep, more water (8-10 glasses everyone!) and less over loading the kidneys with sugar etc. Pimples just mean our skin is getting dirt trapped in it-pollution, touching it, hormones. Rolls of extra weight-tv, inactivity, insulation. Babies have it, but we usually know its diet related.
Our bodies remind us we’re human. We’re experiencing time. They remind us of the choices we’ve made. Sometimes, seeing evidence reminds us of our choices, and that’s not always fun. PS can help take the stress of guilt and remember and aspire to the best we can be.
So lets be nice to ourselves, and use PS to that effect, knowing the message is there, and the changes we make remind us of the best we are.'

http://www.redbubble.com/people/sunset/writing/77386-the-ethics-of-photoshop - Accessed 13/02/2014

Photoshop - Current DVD Covers

Current DVD Covers

In one of my first blog posts I looked at a couple of current DVD covers as inspiration. As I have progressed through my design and research stage it became apparent that I would need to look into this section deeper in order to gain more knowledge but also come up with different ideas in order to chose the most suitable. For this reason I have analysed many current DVD covers in order to help me make my own decisions as to what works well and what doesn't work quite so well. Within this blog I have uploaded the DVD cover and made comments on its appearance and its overall suitability commenting on what I like and hence could take forward into my idea.

Sex And The City 2:
The colour scheme of this DVD cover is very professional and sleek. The colours of SJP's dress compliment the background perfectly. The background is not in film footage but does portray the basis of the film as it is set in Dubai. The idea of only one main character doesn't appeal to me although it does work well. I think I would prefer my film cover to have all the main characters rather than just the one. The title of the movie sat in the centre of the picture works well however I don't feel like the colours used for this stand out very well against the already gold/yellow background. I like the idea of having all four actor names along the top of the cover  and the age rating in the bottom right hand corner.
The spine of this DVD uses the same background as the front cover (it wraps around). This does look effective however on a personal level I'm not sure I like this over a plain spine. The film title is clear and positioned at the top which works well. The spine includes the age rating and the company logo which is good however these are both positioned at the bottom of the spine. although this does work I would like to compare this to one which has these two items separated to see which works best.
The back cover for this DVD starts with a large quote taken from a magazine about how good the film is. I like the idea of having some kind of quotation however I don't feel this is the best place for it. underneath this is the story line information. This is very standard and I don't feel the most effective way. I wouldn't use this in my design. The long image of all four actors on the back is effective and give off the correct impression of the film. I would like to compare the images on the back of more of the covers in order to see which look most effective however I do like the way this particular one is positioned. As most standard DVD back covers this film has all of its language features, running times etc... positioned along the bottom of the cover. This does work and is standard however I am interested to find out if any I analyse position this anywhere else and what effect this has.

 

 

 

Dear John:

From simply looking at the cover of this DVD you would expect this to be a film set in the summer time due to the beach background. The image set in the centre is very simply but effective. It covers the two main characters which Sex And The City didn't and hence scores higher for me already. The two actor names are also positioned along the top of the cover with the film title directly underneath. The colours used for this is surprising and the way the title colour is split between the words is also something you don't see very often. I personally don't see what the colour pink has in common with the film however it does stand out and this way justify the choice. The main DVD age rating for this film is positioned in the bottom left hand cover. When comparing this position to that of Sex And The City I personally prefer the age rating in the right hand corner and hence my age rating will be positioned here on my cover. This cover has a star rating which looks highly effective and also gives the viewer an idea of the quality of film they are about to watch. This is definitely something I would like to try on the front cover of my DVD case.

The spine of this DVD uses the sky of the image on the front cover. The DVD age rating is positioned at the bottom of the spine with the company logo positioned at the top, this gives me the comparison I wanted from Sex And The City. I personally prefer all the logos together at the bottom of the spine as apposed to them being separated. The spine also has a smaller version of the main image from the front. Although this aspect does work I feel it isn't needed and hence I wouldn't chose to use this when designing my own spine.

From simply turning over this DVD cover I immediately feel this is more effective than Sex And The City. It is instantly more exciting with more going on and more colour. The first thing I notice from this back cover are the quotes. There are three quotes from different sources about the film. This is effective and by using the pink text also stand out. The main image on the back of this cover is effective and of a good size however it is the other four images which catch my eye. I like the way they are framed and mixed together. This also acts as a wall between the film information at the top and all of the DVD information at the bottom. As just mentioned all of the information from language to running time are positioned at the bottom of the back cover as standard.

 

 

 



theHoliday:
The cover of this DVD is very different to those I have looked at previously. This uses two main in film footage images, one top and one bottom with the title in the centre. I am currently unsure as to whether I like this layout or not however I do feel I prefer the other two layouts to this. The title in the centre is however very eye catching and effective with the white background and red text. The red and white contrast could be something I look into with my own DVD cover as red would work well towards my Valentines Day theme. Like the other two covers I have looked at this also includes the names of the four name actors. This seems to be a running theme. The age rating of this DVD is in the left hand corner but as already previously stated mine will be in the right hand corner.
The spine for this film is one of my least favourites. It has a plain white background which I do actually like the idea of however the image of Cameron Diaz at the top looks out of place and I feel really doesn't work. The age rating is located at the bottom with the company logo at the top. Overall I don't like the idea of this spine and wouldn't use anything on it for inspiration.
When looking at the back cover for this DVD the first thing which strikes me is the red. This is really effective with the white text over the top. The way the film information is laid out on this cover is different to most others with images in an 'L' shape around the text. I still feel like I prefer the picture frame effect however the slightly larger images work better. Again like all the DVD's I have looked at the Running Time and Language information is located along the bottom of the cover. I am yet to find a cover which differs from this trend.

thebigwedding:
This DVD cover is similar to the previous in a sense that it is separated into different sections. I immediately feel that splitting the cover into three sections rather than two works a lot better. I also like the way the title is set into the middle image off centre. This is unique but still stands out and does its intended job. The two main colours used on this cover are pink and black. These two colours contrast well and I feel the pink adds a splash of girly colour which would also work well for my own design. The two quotes on the front of this DVD cover are effective but I question the use of grey for the text colour. I personally prefer the simple star rating to actual quotes on the front, I feel these are best left to the back cover. This film has many more main characters and hence there is a longer ribbon along the top of this cover. I feel this is too much and that the main characters should be cut down however the fore and surnames in separate colours works well and I would like to use this within my own design. On the border of the top picture is a bow. This is a simple but very effective add on. I wonder if I could maybe use a simple love heart in this way to achieve a similar style.
The spine of this DVD is my favourite of them all. The simple white background is very effective with the black and pink text continuing for the film title. There is a simple image of a wedding cake however I don't feel this is needed. The age rating for this film is located at the bottom of the spine with the company logo at the top. I don't like this layout however in general this spine has a better look than all three others.
The backcover of this DVD uses the general style which I didn't like but actually this time it works really well. The border of the back cover is really pretty and effective. The small details seem to make this DVD cover in general stand out. The main image on the back cover is of a good size with the text wrapping around it gives an overall good feel. The pink and black colour scheme remains here and like all the DVD covers I have looked at this has the language and running time details featured along the bottom of the back cover.

Photoshop - Inital Brainstorms

Initial Brainstorms

When I first began looking at this assignment it was important that I thoroughly looked into all the possibilities I had to ensure I was making the right decision. The first decision I had to make was in relation to whether I created a DVD or a Game cover. The first brainstorm below shows the genres I looked into for both sides. It can clearly be seen that I have a greater knowledge of the genres and in general more genres for DVD's than Games and for this reason I chose to undertake my assignment on a DVD cover. With the DVD section of the brainstorm I then looked at which areas interested me most and these would be areas where I would hold the most knowledge as well keep me hooked throughout the whole assignment rather than just this first section. From these interested genres I looked through my personal DVD collection to see which I had most of and hence were I could gain the most inspiration. This led me to Romance/Comedy and Family DVD's. Out of pure personal interest I decided to go for a Romantic Comedy style. I liked the idea of adding a twist to this theme and hence have decided to go along the Sex And The City route with 4 main female characters who are out to have fun. This led me on to my second brainstorm. I focused this on 4 main areas: Places/location, existing films, actors and the general basis. I came up with 3 main places where my film could be set. These were London, New York and Paris. After looking into these further I feel that New York would be too similar to the original Sex And The City Movie as this was based in New York. London was a strong contender however I feel that the iconic landmarks in Paris would look much better on a DVD case and Disk and hence the location of my cover will be based around Paris. I have six main characters/actors which I would like to use in this assignment however I feel six is slightly too many and would like to narrow this down to four. Sarah Jessica Parker is a must along with Cynthia Nixon. The other two main characters for this film have no yet been decided. The basis of my film was quite easy. The girls (Whoever they end up being) are going on a singles girls holiday to Paris instead of sitting in alone on Valentines Day.

With all of this in mind I'm looking at all 4 girls on the front cover with the Eiffel Tower in the background to set the scene. I would like to use rich colours as a colour scheme such as red and pink to emphasise the girly Rom/Com feel I am going for but to also bring in the idea of Valentines Day. Again to bring this theme into place I would like to use love hearts however I have decided how I want to do this yet as I don't want to make my cover look cheap and tacky.  The name of my film is still unknown.

Photoshop - DVD Cover Template

DVD Template

The first stage of creating my DVD case was creating a template. It was important I created a guide which would allow me to simply add elements and arrange them to fit within my template. This prevented me from worrying about sizes when creating different elements.

When I began this task it was important to first understand what was needed within my DVD template. It was important that I included a bleed and a safety area. These were two key words which were unknown to me prior to this research. Below are my thoughts and interpretations of the bleed and safety areas.

The bleed area is the perimeter around a piece of work which purposely has little/no important content. It is normally set at around 3mm thick and allows a margin for error when cutting. The edge of an image is taken into this bleed area however there would be nothing which would cause an issue if it was to be cut off. This is important when considering my DVD template as my cover will not fill a whole A4 sheet of paper and will hence have to be trimmed to size. Leaving myself 3mm around the perimeter will retain the quality of my finished piece.

The safety area is another 3mm margin which sits in behind the bleed area. This area acts as a barrier for text and photos. If you were to place a piece of text right up against the bleed line there is potential for this to be cut off or be so close to the edge of the piece of work that it looks unprofessional. The safety area prevents this from happening. This ensures there is at least a 3mm margin between the edge of the piece of work and the start of any text or image. This will allow me to keep my DVD cover professional and all nicely on the page when cut to size.

When looking at creating my DVD case it was important I found accurate dimensions. In order to achieve this I used two methods, one being physical measurements and the second being internet research. Both my research methods tied in together and were accurate within a few millimetres. The dimensions of which I have and will use for my DVD case are as follows: an overall size of 279.00mm x 189.00mm. This includes a spine size of 14.00mm, a 3 mm bleed area and a 3mm safety area. The front of my DVD case will be 129.5mm x 183.0mm.

In order to actually create my DVD template I firstly opened Photoshop and then went to open a new document. This document acts as a layer and the layer would act as my template. I was then given the opportunity to change various factors such as the width, height and resolution. The width of my DVD template was 279.00mm and the height of my DVD template was 189.00mm. I set my resolution to 300 pixels per inch. This is an abnormally high resolution however for quality printing this is required. The average resolution for an image created in Photoshop would be between 70 and 72 pixels per inch. However it is worth noting that the higher the resolution the larger the file size of the item being created.

 The standard settings for the colour mode are RGB. I left this as the standard. I was unsure whether to leave this setting as RGB or change it to CMY. The screen of a laptop is set to RGB, for this reason if this setting was changed to CMYK there would be a difference in colour when printed. Magazines, catalogs and such material use the CMYK colour structure as they cannot generate light. For this reason most printers convert the colours from RGB to CMYK when printing at such a high quality as a standard. This therefore shows no reason for me to need to change my colour spectrum for this piece of work and led me to my decision. The colours used was left at its standard setting of 8bit. This gives me a massive number of colours to choose from when making my DVD case and hence was fine left. The higher the bit the more colours available however a higher bit wasn’t needed for my project this time.

The background content was changed from white to transparent, this was for the ease when using layers. With a transparent background I am more able to add different layers to create different affects without having to worry about a coloured background.

I didn’t change any of the advanced features within this template as I feel it wasn’t needed and would complicate my design too much.

Once I had set these features I needed to add my guides. These allowed me to split my DVD cover into various sections such as the front, back and the spine. I also added guides for my bleed and safety areas to make sure I never placed anything too close to the edge of the cover. To insert these guides I simply went to View and then New Guide. I was then able to enter the position at which I wanted my guides and the table below shows these positions. I was able to set my positions to vertical and horizontal depending on where I wanted to add my guides.

Feature	Vertical or Horizontal?	Position (mm)
Front Cover	Vertical	132.5
Spine (Left from Centre)	Vertical	139.5
Spine (Right from Centre)	Vertical	125.5
Safety Area (Right)	Vertical	273.0
Safety Area (Left)	Vertical	6.0
Safety Area (Top)	Horizontal	6.0
Safety Area (Bottom)	Horizontal	183.0
Bleed Area (Left)	Vertical	3.0
Bleed Area (Right)	Vertical	276.0
Bleed Area (Top)	Horizontal	3.0
Bleed Area (Bottom)	Horizontal	186.0

The screenshots below show the features I changed when creating my new template and also my template when finished.

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshop - Design Ideas

The City Break

Paris:

·       Bars/Resturants

·       Eiffel Tower

·       Shopping

·       Hotel

Cast:

·       Sarah Jessica Parker

·       Kristin Davis

·       Cynthia Nixon

·       Kim Cattrall

DVD Cover Layout Ideas:

Idea 1:

·       Four portrait images

·       Separated by lines

·       Evenly split

·       Large title (Top Central)

·       Cast names under each actor

My thoughts behind this idea include 4 separate images of the four girls featured in my film. The DVD front cover would be evenly split to accommodate these four images. There would be a large title in the top centre with the cast names along the bottom of the cover, each name would be with the section of the given character. Depending on how this looks I could also add a quote from the film or from a film critic. There would also be an age rating however I am undecided as to where this would look best.





Similar Cover Design
Available at:  http://www.sexandthecity3.com/author/admin/ Sourced: 06/02/2014

Idea 2:

·       Paris backdrop – Eiffel Tower?

·       All 4 girls – central

·       Large title (Bottom Central)

My ideas behind this concept are slightly more complex than those of the first idea. Within this idea I would take an image (most likely the Eiffel Tower - as seen below) and use this as a background. I would crop and change the effects of this image to make it create the atmosphere intended. I would then take an image of ideally all the girls together, however I could take individuals if this seemed to work better, and cut them away from any background which wasn't wanted. I would then use layers to combine these two pictures together. The title for this cover would be located at the bottom centre with an age rating in the bottom right hand corner. Although I want to go for a simplistic cover I would like to include the actors names however I haven't decided where these would fit within this design idea.





Example Of Foreground Image For Cover Design
Available at: http://absinthrill.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/about-sex-and-city-2-in-us-marie-claire.html Sourced: 06/02/2014
 

Example Of Background Image For Cover Design

Available at: http://www.anderson-tours.co.uk/top-10-things-to-do-in-paris/ Sourced: 06/02/2014


 

 







 

Similar DVD Covers

The ideas and thoughts behind my DVD cover design are related to those of the Sex And The City DVD’s. I have decided to use the cast of Sex And The City but change the location and themes behind the film itself. There are two previous Sex And The City DVD cases which I have looked at when designing my own. These can be seen below. The DVD case for the first movie shows the image of all four girls naturally. This I have, and will, continue to use for inspiration with my second design idea. I feel my design could be unique by using a photo behind an image of the girls as opposed to the plain background which was used for the film.

The DVD case for the second movie (Sex And The City 2) only used the one main character on the cover. Although this is effective and Sarah Jessica Parker is arguably the main actor in the film I feel the film is better represented by all four girls together and hence I have taken little inspiration from the main aspects within the front cover of this DVD case. The colours and simplicity of this case are very effective and hence this could be taken into my own design when I come to look at colours later. The main aspect which I have taken inspiration from is the way the actors have been announced on this cover. The four main actor names are spread evenly among the top of this cover. I feel this would look effective if I was to use this method in my first design idea. Each actor could have their own individual image along with their name. This could be simple yet effective.

 

Sex And The City 2 DVD Cover

Available At: http://www.covershut.com/DVD-Covers/49287-Sex-And-The-City-2-2010-2-Disc-Front.html Sourced: 06/02/2014

 

Sex And The City DVD Cover

Available At: http://www.covershut.com/DVD-Covers/26270-Sex-And-The-City-Chec-Front.html Sourced: 06/02/2014

 

 

 DVD Disk Design
After researching into the design on the disks which accompany the DVD cover I have discovered two main patterns. The two main ways which the disks have been designed is to use a very similar, if not the exact same, design as the front cover itself. Many disks which I looked at used the same image/s as the cover. Very few disks had larger amounts of colour however those which did looked more effective and hence this is something I would like to take forward. Other disks which I researched used a simply background/base colour and then used the title of the film and the age rating along with any logos and marks. These had no images on at all. If I was to go down this route with my own disk I feel that my film title could be made more effective by using layer masks to add some colour and also link in the DVD cover without using an image. Both of these disk designs work well and I am undecided which I would like to use. The image below shows a DVD disk design which I used when researching.

Sex And The City 2 Disk Design

Available from: http://www.covershut.com/DVD-Covers/35997-Sex-And-The-City-2-2010-Disc.html Sourced: 06/02/2014