The Pelican Case: Mock Up Digital Flipbook

 I wanted to try out a digital flipbook programme FlipHTML5.  I began by opening a Google Doc and then inserting the front cover that I created on Photoshop. 

On the first inner page I added copyright to the bottom as per book conventions

On the second page I added the book title 'The Pelican Case' and my name.  I centred this using the formatting tools in the top menu and I chose Playfair Dispaly at 25pt for the title.

I then added page numbers by clicking on 'Format' then page numbers.  I chose to add these in the footer and I clicked on on do not show first page.  Then on the fifth page I added my contents

I then added an illustration on the next page just by inserting an image.  I then copied and pasted all the text from each chapter.  the title of each chapter was in bold 14pts, main text at 12pts.  All the text was in Playfair display font.

I also added Picture on the last page.  I then downloaded the whole document as a PDF file. 

I then went FlipHTML5 and uploaded my book - this was then converted to a flipbook which worked well and I could see teh latyout and format in this version.

To view the book Please click on The Pelican Case

Creative Media: Book Cover Creation on Photoshop/Target Market

 Today I am making a bookcover for Flipbook/Chapbook which I will create on Photoshop.  I opened Photoshop and Clicked on 'File' in the top menu and then clicked on 'New'.  In the dialog box I clicked on 'Print' in the top menu and chose A4 size, portrait orientation and resolution was high at 300dpi and I chose a white background for my canvas. 

I searched for a suitable image, I was looking for an image that represented Mika the Japanese woman in the book I am writing.  I found something that I thought would work as the woman in the image in to the side of the frame and there would be the right space for the title and my name on the cover.  In my previous post where I had added this to Blurb I used the same image on the front and back but just reversed the image and this did work and was the right feeling for the story in this book.  

Target Market

I also thought about the target market and I am hoping this will appeal to women millenials/Generation X.  Women do reads more and the millenial market is larger and they will read both in traditional form and in ebook form so there are additional ways to capture this market. In 2025 the global book market was worth $103.5 billion (Taiwo, 2024).  Format distribution in 2023-24 was broken down into 65% print books, 20% ebooks and 15% audiobooks.  For my own target market of Millenials (35-44) Print books was the most preferred format at 58%, reading an average of 14 books per year and spending an average of $245 per annum.  Gen X (45-54) print books again the preferred format at 65%, average reading of 16 books per year, spending $267 (Taiwo, 2024). 

I looked at further research to find out what sort of books were most popular and what people are reading.  Love reading states that; 'In 2024, Fiction achieved its highest sales since accurate records began, surpassing the previous peak by an impressive £50 million.' (Love Reading, 2025).  Information released prior to the Frankfurt Book Fair states that book prices whike still increasing are slowing down and in some countries acually decreasing, unfortunatly in the UK the price increase in 2024 was 1.9%. (NIQ, 2024).  In terms of my assumptions above through research it has been proven that, 'research confirms that while women read books by women and men equally, men overwhelmingly reject books written by women in favour of male authors.' (Womens Prize, 2024).  The reseach here also showed that men on average read a lot less than women.  The choice of fiction aimed at women who are millenials and Gen X, is the right choice here as these are big target markets that are growing.   

I then on Photoshop went to 'File' in the top menu and then 'Open', I was happy with the image and so did not need to make adjustments.  I then clicked on 'Select' in the top menu and then 'Select All'. I then went 'Edit' in the top menu and 'Copy'.  I went back to my canvas tab, then cicked on 'Edit' in the top meu and then 'Paste'.  The image was now on my canvas and I used transform controls just to drag out the image to cover the page.  Then I clicked back to my move tool on on tools menu to ensure my tranform stayed in place. 

I then wanted to add my title and my name so I clicked on the 'T' tool in the tools menu and the tools for this appear at the top my workspace. I then clicked on the canvas, I changed the font using the tools for the text tool to Baskerville Old face, I also changed the size to 36pts for the title and changed the colour to white.  I then clicked back to the move tool and just manouvered this into place.  I then repeated this process with my name using the same font and colour but this 30pts.  

Lastlu I used the gridlines so that the centre of the image was used to line up both text pieces and they balanced giving a good rule of thirds to this image. 

I then clicked on 'File' and the 'Save' and this is psd format so I could edit this later if I needed to .  I then also clicked on 'File' and the 'Save a copy' and used the dropdown box to save in jpeg format so this could be used anywhere.

I do like the design of this cover, I think it is gentle and appealing and well balanced as a design.  

References

Love Reading (2025). Fiction Book Sales in 2024 Top The Lot While Non-Fiction Lags Behind. [online] Lovereading.co.uk. Available at: https://www.lovereading.co.uk/blog/fiction-book-sales-in-2024-top-the-lot-while-non-fiction-lags-behind-9226 [Accessed 18 Feb. 2025].

NIQ (2024). Global Book Market 2024 shaped by strong fiction, declining non-fiction and slower price increases. [online] NIQ. Available at: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/2024/global-book-market-2024-shaped-by-strong-fiction-declining-non-fiction-and-slower-price-increases/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2025].

Taiwo, I. (2024). Book Sales Statistics 2024: The Complete Industry Analysis - ExpertBeacon. [online] Expertbeacon. Available at: https://expertbeacon.com/book-sales-statistics/#google_vignette [Accessed 18 Feb. 2025].

Womens Prize (2024). Gender bias in men’s reading habits still exists - Women’s Prize. [online] Women’s Prize. Available at: https://www.womensprize.com/gender-bias-in-mens-reading-habits-still-exists/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2025].

Blurb Book Layout: The Pelican Case

 I have now completed the book and so I started to complete the page layout, this is the front and back cover - I liked this image and reversed it on Photoshop to give this mirrored look.  The text throughout is Alegreya

I then added copyright and title and contents page, on this add a small image of myself as in this book I was not going to add an about the author page so this is just a snippet of me instead.

I showed the first chapter on previous post so in this section I will show the third chapter 

I enjoyed writing this chapter the most, it could be as I could feel much more affinity with the woman and understood her completely whereas he second chapter in the pub I still think needs work and I think is a little clunky and awkward in places.  The whole book needs proofreading again and I need to add picture credits at the end.

Digital Arts Major Project: Silent Scream - Process Two

 I continued editing, after my rough cut, I tidied up the clips and transitions and then I began by adding music. I went to the free music archive and chose a piece by Plushgoolash. I chose this piece as it was completely absurd and reminded me of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band.  Here is a Bonzo clip of Jollity Farm...

I liked very much one of the comments underneath which read:

@chrishowgill888

1 year ago

Neil once told how they were stopped by a cop in the USA, just driving to a gig. He wanted to know what weapons they had - when he was told "none" he asked, "how do you protect yourselves?" Vivian said "Good Manners!"'

In my own film I imported the music using 'import media' the music is in MP4 format.

I then began adding text subtitles, I used rapid red text in Crimson Text font with a black background.  I clicked on 'Text' in the left-hand menu and chose the text then in the right-hand menu changed the font and background.

i did this throughout to exemplify Trump's orders since the inauguration.  I then at the end added credits

I again clicked on Text in the left-hand menu chose the 'credits roll' and wrote these out, I changed the font again to crimson text.

I then exported the video in High quality HD  onto my computer, my drive and onto Youtube. Please see the final cut here.

I am quite pleased with how this turned out, I liked the music and words, I think the images work and as a performance film it does what I wanted. It could have been smoother, and more stylish - but I wanted it to retain that performance feel to it and too slick and ut may have lost this...

Digital Arts Major Project: Silent Scream - Process One

 After software practice with Clipchamp, I began the filming of my clips for my project.  I used a Canon 700D camera and filmed in Black and white, I used continuous auto-focus, and I used a remote control as I was filming myself.  I also used a tripod for all shots which were all located in the domestic environment.  These shots will be mixed with stock images in my final film. 

Here are some of my rushes, I have added as links as these files are too large to upload to blogger.

Video One

Video Two

Video Three

On the final video this will be rendered and added to YouTube. 

I then collected stock footage to add to this which represented the Trump inauguration, this included footage of the America Flag, Explosions, Deportation, War and Money 

I began by adding my footage to ClipChamp, I did this by clicking on 'import media' and selecting my clips from my computer

I then added the title and my name to the beginning of the timeline.  I did this by clicking on Text in the left-hand tools menu and dragging the desired text into the time line.  I then changed the font and size in the right-hand text editor.  I also then chose to reduce the seconds to 3 seconds for each title page. 

I then began thinking about the opening scene and I had decided this should start with an explosion and the American Flag so I added these clips to the timeline just by dragging and dropping.

 

Once in place, I created a crossfade of 2 seconds so that the explosion and flag would overlap.  I did this by clicking on 'transitions' in the left-hand menu of the crossfade.  I then went to the transitions editor on the right-hand menu to adjust the time. At 17 seconds I used the snipping tool to cut the flag video, I then wanted to change everything to black and white so I clicked on each clip and then in the right-hand menu went to 'effects' and chose a black and white filter.

I then detached all audio from all clips using the 'detach audio button on right-hand menu.  I made a rough cut slicing the clips together and adding the same crossfade throughout.

My roughcut looked okay so now I just needed to tighten up the edits add a running subtitle and add sound/music.  I will add this process in my next post.

Chapbook: Chapter Two & Three

 This is my First Draft of Chapter Two   the backstory here becomes a little more complex however I think it is necessary to give depth and meaning to the third chapter - this certainly won't be the end of the story but as much as can be written for this chapbook. 

A map of Canada is needed here... The location of the Pelican case is here but where is Mika?

Who is Mika?  The First Draft of the Third Chapter is here set at the University of British Columbia Nitobi Gardens

Nitobe Memorial Garden

After considering the second chapter I adjusted some phrases and corrected errors but essentially kept the content the same so this is the Second Draft of the Second Chapter

The third chapter needed more detail and depth so I added this as like the first chapter I wanted Mika's character and life to start to emerge.  This is the Second Draft of the Third Chapter

I have researched for both these chapters the relations between Canada and Japan in the Cold War era.  For the third chapter, I researched the place above where Mika lives in Canada. 

These three chapters are the set up or a much longer story but I am hoping they will work and that as the reader, it leaves you wanting more. 

Digital Workshop: Architecture/Interior

 Today I am doing the digital workshop for Architecture and interior on Photshop.  I will be starting to design my presentation boards. 

I began by creating a canvas.  I clicked on 'File' in the top menu and the 'New'.  I then clicked on 'Print' in the top menu of the dialog box. I then chose A3, Landscape orientation, checked it was 300dpi resolution which is high quality and a white background.  Then I clicked 'create'.

To design the board I chose three different back drops that were in abstract wood design so I could decide which might work best with my presentation boards.

To decide which background I wanted I uploaded to Photoshop just by clicking on 'File' and 'Open'.  I then clicked on the tab for each and then in the layers menu I clicked on the padlock to unlock each background as this opens up the opacity, so I tried lowering opacity to decide if this would work. 

I chose the one I liked and then I clicked on 'Select' on the top menu and then 'Edit' and then 'Copy', I then went to my canvas tab and clciked on 'Edit' and then 'Paste'.  I then went to my move tool in the tools menu on the left hand side, I then could use the transform controls to drag the image out to cover the canvas, I did this then clicked back on my move tool.  I then went back to layers menu and clicked on the Layer One with the image then I lowered opacity to 60%. 

My next step was to add text layers, so I began by clicked on  the 'T' tool in the tools menu and then clicking into the canvas, I then chose my font which was Baskerville Old Face and for the title of my project this was at 60pts, I then added subtitle using the same process however this was at 48pts.  Underneath this I added the title of the board which was 'Concept' 48pts.  As by backdrop was a little dark I lowered the opacity further to 51%. 

I then used Adobe Express to create a logo.  I chose an elegant style and approriate icon and typography for architecture.  I then downloaded this and made sure I had a transparent version. I then opened this on Photoshop, I did not like the colour so I duplicated ther layer then went to 'Image' in the top menu and 'Adjustments' and then I went to the and saturation and I just used the sliders to find the right shade for my logo.  I then went to crop tool in the tools menu and cropped excess space round the logo .  I then Selected this and the copied and pasted as previously onto my canvas.  

I then chose a 'stand-in' image until I have completed my own concept picture.  I opened this Photoshop and selected and copied and pasted into the canvas. I then just used transform controls and the move tool to put this in place. 

The final piece of work was to write the concept in line with my research and ideas for this design.  I added the concept using the text tool and the first few lines were 24pts and then the majority I changed to 20pts to fit into the space.  I finally did my own proofread and checked teh spelling. 

I saved my board as both a jpeg and psd file.  This is my final board here...

Reflection