Unit 58: DVD Menu Design & Authoring

A DVD (Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital storage disc, which can be played in DVD Players.

Conventions of DVD's (Task One)

1. +R  (DVD+R) are record-able only once. They have a storage capacity of 4.7GB. DVD+R is more reliable than DVD-R because it will be much less likely to receive interference.
2. +RW (DVD+RW) are rewritable; meaning you can use it to record multiple times. They also have a storage capacity of 4.7GB, like the +R
3. -R and -RW (DVD-R and -RW) have a much quicker write speed. Apart from this, they share similarities with DVD+R and +RW.

1. Dual Layer - An upgraded disc with higher storage capacity within the DVD. It's storage can come up to 8.5GB per disc, almost double the amount on a standard disc. However this has a slower write time.
2. Writing Speed - The speed that data is burned onto a disc. This could be for instance DVD, CD, or Blue-Ray.
3. Audio - Can be in many different formats, with the more popular being Mono (1.0), Stereo (2.1) or Surround Sound (5.1). Mono is routed through one channel while stereo is routed through two.
4. Video - DVD Video format discs are primarily used in Asia, North America, Australia and Europe.
5. Menus - Almost all DVD's have a menu, giving the options to either play the movie, select a certain scene, use subtitles, find behind the scenes, ect. They are created on software such as Encore and After Effects.

Additional Features of DVD's (Task One)

Subtitles  - are available on DVD's for the hard of hearing, or to help someone who doesnt know the language of your film.
Different Languages - are options which allow the audio to be heard in a different language, as apposed to visual subtitiles. This can be useful for the visually impared, or those who do not understand the main language of a film.
Easter Eggs - are hidden messages inside the film for the viewer to discover by clicking on them. These can be in the main menu, and will often be hard to find. For example, a small button which is not highlighted may lead to a behind the scenes talk with an actor.

DTS (Digital Theatre System) - are more commonly known as surround sound. This was created to create cinema-like quality sound within viewers home. This is usually made up of 6 speakers - one central speaker, one sub-woofer and four surrounding speakers.
Dolby - the technology used to create the quality of sound, which is used in surround systems.
Printable Disks - are DVD's that can be printed on using a certain kind of 'ink jet' printer. These disks are printed on the non-recordable.

Regional Codes - are used to control distribution of films. There are 6 regions in the world, each with a regional code.
Copyright Protection - these are installed onto a DVD disk, in order to make the disk hard to copy and distribute illegally.
Parental Controls - are in place to prevent underage viewers from watching films above the rated age of the film

Case Study (Task One)

A case study is a form of quantitative descriptive research. My case study will be of Disk 1 and 2 of Pan's Labyrinth, detailing ways which the designer has tried to make a useful menu, the functions and elements, additional features, structure, and why the producers have chosen to design the menus the way they did. My case study will be printed out.

Designing a DVD Menu (Task Two)

Sketches, moodboards, navigation charts and notes have been made in preperation for my DVD Menu. I am confident with this planning, to be able to go ahead and try to make them using adobe software, with a little help from video tutorials.

Producing a DVD Menu (Task Three)

I have scheduled, produced, and tested and almost completed my production of my DVD. The only thing left to do is to put it onto my ready made disk and test it.

Evaluation (Task Four)

Software I used through this was Adobe Photoshop, Encore, After Effects, and Premier Pro.

After Effects - 

 

Creating a composition was first, I needed to make sure my Preset was in NTSC D1 Widescreen Square Pixel to create my design (though I exported it in Widescreen mode). The duration of this Menu Screen was 15 seconds.

 

I worked with creating solids at first, with dark pastel colors that matched Courier, I then masked these solids to create gradients, these were preparation for my buttons, so they could be seen easily. I then created my title, Courier, which was in the font 1974 Report. I then added buttons, 'Play', 'Scene Select' and 'Extras'.

 

I was then ready to add my footage I wanted to use for the menu. My footage was of Clover and Boe starting off-scene and then appearing, walking into the distance. As they got further into the distance, I wanted the screen to flash, pause, and fade in buttons and title. I needed to cut re-position my footage to make sure it was in the right place. I then tried to find the frame where I wanted my buttons and title to appear, then used the Layer 'Time Remap', which makes anything past my chosen frame to be paused.

 

After tweaking the color of my footage to match couriers saturation, and create a couple more gradients and color bars to make sure buttons and title were visible, I created a solid which I added where my footage pauses, to create a quick flash before it pauses, and when the menu actually starts.

 

I then made a new composition, this time in NTSC DV Widescreen, and dragged my main menu into this comp. I added audio that faded in and back out. 

Adding this to my render queue, I made sure my format was in MPEG 2 DVD.

Encore

I made a new project in Adobe Encore, dropping my main menu video and audio, and making sure the aspect ratio was 17:9.

 

I then began to create buttons by using Adobe Photoshop. By creating colored rectangles and placed then where I wanted buttons to be. These showed up in Adobe encore. In Encore I can duplicate these buttons, and matched them to the correct timeline footage. It was important to make Back Buttons too, to let viewers head back to previous menus.

 

Other Menus

I needed to create my Scene Select and Extras menu the same way as I created my Main Menu. These menus were not animated, they had still pictures from some of Courier's photoshoot's.

I then linked everything to where they needed to go. Previewing my menu's showed I have a couple 'Orphan' timelines which need to be sorted out, but apart from that, there were no issues.

 

Finished Evaluation

Watching Video Copilots tutorial on how to create a Menu, I feel like I have learned an incredible amount of valuable infomation about Encore and After Effects. I am more confident in using this kind of software. I am very pleased with the aesthetic of Couriers menus, and the accuracy of them to my sketches.

I was able to experiment and test out different layouts and styles of my menus, I feel like I have made great progress toward learning about Adobe software, I am confident enough to make more.