Applications and Practice of DVD menu design and authoring - Unit 58 Task 1

DVD Types
DVD-R: A DVD that can only be recorded over once.
DVD+R: This is more modern than DVD-R and is more reliable to not cause interference.
DVD-RW: A DVD that can be recorded over multiple times.
DVD+RW: This is more modern than DVD-RW and is more reliable to not cause interference.
Dual Layer: A Dual Layer DVD holds 8.5GB compared to a single layer 4.7GB DVD.

Conventions
Writing Speed: The speed that data is burnt onto a disc, The amount of MB burned to the DVD per second depends on the speed of the DVD. DVD speeds have a ranging amount from 4X-52X in more modern DVDs.

Audio: There are 3 types of Audio in DVD's; Mono which only uses one speaker of audio (left or right); Stereo uses both the left and right speakers this makes audio recorded from the left side sound like it is on the left side and vise versa; Surround Sound uses 4 or more speakers giving audio from a 360° radius.

Video: A DVD cannot hold High Definition videos (1080p) DVDs go as high as 720p x 480p before not being able to hold more data. DVD videos usually record at 24fps.

Menu: Most DVDs have Menus, a menu is the navigation of the DVD, some of the options you can get on a DVD menu are; Play, Scene Selection, Subtitles, Extras/Bonus Features, Language etc. Generally most DVD watchers go straight to the play button and watch the film so some DVD Menus highlight the play button more than others.

Additional Features
Subtitles: Subtitles are used if the film is your second language so don't fully understand the language of the film or for people who are hearing impaired.

Different Languages: Films can be played in different languages this is helpful for people who's second language is English and are visually impaired. They can also be used for people who are different nationalities and don't have English as a second language.

Easter Eggs: Easter Eggs are hidden messages used in menu screens or special features. A couple of examples are:
Rush Hour 2 - Which has 2 Easter Eggs, One of them is on the Scene Selection Menu which links to a Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring trailer. The second is on the Main Menu which links to "Thank You" credits.
The Fast & The Furious - Which has 3 East Eggs, the first is on the Bonus Features Menu which links to a video about "Racer X". The second is at the end of the credits,  a small video about a character. The final one is on the Bonus Features Menu also which links to a video showing various camera angles from one of the scenes in the film.

DTS (Digital Theatre Systems): Digital Theatre Systems has invented a lineup of surround-sound encoding schemes. DTS Digital Surround provides 5.1 channels of digital audio. DTS uses less compression (higher data rate) than Dolby Digital.

Dolby: Dolby Digital, formerly known as AC-3, is a digital audio coding technique that reduces the amount of data needed to produce high quality sound.

Printable Discs: Printable Discs are DVDs that can be printed on to (On the non-recordable side) using a specific ink jet printer.



Regional Codes: Regional Codes are used to control distribution of films, the world is split into 6 regions:
Region 1 - U.S.A, U.S. Territories and Canada
Region 2 - Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland
Region 3 - Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong
Region 4 - Mexico, South and Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean
Region 5 - Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Africa (Excluding South Africa), North Korea, Mongolia
Region 6 - China

Copyright Protection: Copyright Protection is something that is installed onto a DVD to make it hard to copy and distribute illegally.

Parental Controls: Parental Controls are used to prevent underage viewers from watching films rated above their age. In America they've created DVD Players with parental control systems that edit out explicit content and inappropriate language.


DVD Menu Examples
1 - Warrior
Menu Design & Why producers chose to design them as they did
The design of the "Warrior" Menu uses a similar design to UFC Tale of the Tape cards as shown below.

This design is chosen because it is relevant to the subject, Warrior is a film about Mixed Martial Arts and UFC is a Mixed Martial Arts company.

The main menu as shown above has 3 images from scenes of the film, these pictures change every 10 seconds, and there are 6 changes meaning the menu loops every minute.

Functions and Elements in the Menu
There are 4 buttons on the main menu:
Play Feature - Does what the packaging says and starts playing the movie from the beginning.
English Hard of Hearing Subtitles - Gives the option to have subtitles On or Off.
Extras - Goes to the Extras Menu
Scene Selection - Goes to the Scene Selection Menu

The flowchart at the end shows a more detailed route of how the menu works and how the buttons connect.

On the main menu there is music and audio snippets from the movie but the other menus don't have any music.

Additional Features
The Warrior DVD doesn't have many Additional Features, it has the option for English Subtitles on the main menu, a director's commentary in the Extras and other various videos in the Extras.

Menu Structure
The structure of the 3 different menus are simple the Main Menu as previously said uses a Tale of the Tape design, and the 4 buttons along the bottom are clearly seen because of the contrast of white text on black background and are separated nicely so don't look to far away or too clumped together.

The Extras menu and Scene Selection Menu are transitioned to using a silhouette of an Octagon which is another reference to the subject of MMA as the sport take place in an Octagon. The Structure of the Extras Menu lists the buttons in another Tale of the Tape design on the silhouette as shown below:

The Scene Selection Menu's use the silhouette design as well but just list 6 scenes a page on the silhouette instead of a TotT design.

DVD Menu - Warrior Flowchart

2 - Never Back Down
Menu Design & Why producers chose to design them as they did
The design of the Never Back Down DVD Menu is very basic, the background shows clips from the movie, the foreground is shaded red with dirt marks and a zoomed up image of movie title.

The dirt marks run to the theme of the movie as it is Dirty MMA (Not caged) and no rules.

Functions and Elements in the menu
The functions of the menu are the buttons to the different menus and to the movie. The main menu has music that loops along with the clips.

 Additional Features
The Never Back Down DVD doesn't have many Additional Features, it has the option for English Subtitles on the Set Up menu, a director's commentary in the Special Features and other various videos in the Special Features.

Menu Structure
The Structure of the different menus keeps to the same theme on all of the sub-menus. The Main Menu has the video background and yellow tabs whereas the other menus have still images and the buttons are simple white text buttons in the center of the menu.

DVD Menu - Never Back Down Flow Chart

 

 

 

DVD Menu - The Wish Flowchart