Process of creating my blu ray cover

I began my cover by downloading a template from a website and opening it in photoshop. This template had preset guides for me to follow which made the whole process a lot easier and quicker. I used the rectangle tool to create the black background first.

Next I copied the same image from my poster, onto the cover as I want to establish continuity across my products. I just had to resize it as it was rather large when I pasted it into photoshop. I then had to write my title so I used a text box for this and also used the same font and colour as on my poster. I then went onto google images and searched for both the BBFC and Irish Film Classification 15 rating logos, and copied and pasted them onto the cover. I had to use the magic wand tool to remove white backgrounds. These two logos add a great deal of realism to the poster as it is a convention of blu ray/DVD covers.

I wrote the names of my two stars at the top of the cover, as they are on my poster, but instead I changed the colour of the surnames to red as I wanted this cover to have a bit more colour than my poster because blu ray/DVD covers often do this. I feel like doing this makes it look more professional and sophisticated. I also added 'A Nick Richardson Film' above the title because this is how it is on my poster and I wanted to have my name on the cover as this is also a convention of home video covers. I, again, used a text box to do this.

Covers often have review quotes/star scores on them so I made this one up from the Sunday Times. To do this, I found a grey star on google images, copied and pasted it into photoshop, then duplicated it three times so I have four stars. I then scaled it down to the current size and used a text box to name the publication.

I duplicated the text layer from the front, turned it 90 degrees clockwise, scaled it down, and placed it on the spine so it has the title there, as is the norm for covers. I then duplicated the rating layers and scaled them down to the current size and placed them in the conventional place on the spine. I also used the Wyke logo form my poster, and copied the Warner Bros logo from google images to add realism to it. I again had to use the magic wand tool to remove the white background from the Warner Bros logo. 

Here, I recreated the rating labels that are commonly found on the backs of cover, using the rectangle tool, text boxes, and by duplicating the ratings again. The fonts I have used look very similar to the actual fonts used and makes it look even more real.

I copied and pasted all of these logos from google images, I just needed to scale them down and place them when I pasted them into photoshop. I used a text again to write the approximate running time on the back. These logos are all commonly found in this area of a blu ray cover.

For the credits, I rasterised and merged the text layers on my poster, then copied and pasted them onto my cover. I then scaled down the layer to an appropriate size and placed it in its current position, which is where the credits are normally found. I also created some more ratings as they are also commonly found on the back of covers. To do this, I duplicated the grey stars from the front. I then used the magic wand tool to select the grey area, and then I filled them in, in red. I then duplicated these layers and placed then like so. To write the names of the reviewers, I used a text box and italics.

Covers tend to have screenshots of the actual videos on the back, so I went through my film and picked some of the best shots, and shots that tease some of the story, and imported them into photoshop. I scaled them down so I could fit three in a row on the back. I then used the rectangle tool to create the white boxes around the pictures. These boxes make the pictures stand out and add some professionalism to it.

A synopsis of the story is very important on a cover as it is ultimately one of the main things that helps sell the blu ray. To do this I again used a text box, as is evidenced above. I used the font Helvetica Light as this is a simple yet appropriate looking font and resembles something we would see on a real cover. 

For the specifications box, I used the rectangle tool again to create the lines. I lined them up perfectly with each other to create the box. I merged all of the individual lines together so I could scale and move the box much easier as they all do this together on one layer. I used the specifications format used on many covers, as well as the type of text that is written, such as the video resolution, audio types, and subtitles. I used text boxes to do all of these.

Finished product: