UNIT 58 DVD MENU

DESIGN ASSIGNMENT 1
THEORY
BY JOSH CHAPMAN

AUTHORING
CONVENTIONS

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: DVD+R

A DVD Plus R is a digital optical disc storage format. It can hold around 4.7 GB of storage, which is generally used for non-volatile
data storage or applications. A DVD+R is a DVD that can written once and read arbitrarily many times. The DVD+R format is similar
to, but not compatible with the older DVD-R format. A DVD+R can be written once only, in contrast with a rewritable DVD formats
such as DVD-RW or DVD+RW which can be rewritten over 1000+ times.
The DVD+R format was developed by a coalition of corporationsnow known as the DVD+RW Alliancein mid-2002 (though
most of the initial advocacy was from Sony). The DVD+R format competes with the DVD-R format, which is developed by the DVD
Forum. The DVD Forum initially did not approve of the DVD+R format and claimed that the DVD+R format was not an official DVD
format until January 25, 2008.
DVD+R discs carry up to 8.5 GB of data, approximately the same as DVD-R. Unlike DVD+RW discs, DVD+R discs can only be
written to once. Thus, DVD+R discs are suited to applications such as non-volatile data storage, audio, or video. This can cause
confusion because the DVD+RW Alliance logo is a stylized 'RW'. Thus, a DVD+R disc may have the RW logo, but it is not rewritable.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: DVD+RW

DVD+RW is a physical format for rewritable DVDs and can hold up to 4.7 GB. This authoring convention was created by the
DVD+RW Alliance, an industry in consortium of drive and disc manufacturing. DVD+RW must be formatted before recording by a
DVD recorder. The rewritable DVD+RW standard was formalised earlier than the non-rewritable DVD+R (the opposite was true
with the DVD formats). Additionally, DVD+RW supports a method of writing called lossless linking, which makes it suitable for
random access and improves compatibility with DVD players.
The recording layer in DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs is a phase change metal alloy (often GeSbTe) whose crystalline phase and
amorphous phase have different reflectivity. The states can be switched depending on the power of the writing laser, so data can
be written, read, erased and re-written. DVD-R and DVD+R discs use an organic dye.
A double-layer DVD+RW specification was approved in March 2006 with a capacity of 8.5 GB. Manufacturing support for
rewritable dual-layer discs exists today.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: DVD-R

DVD-R is a digital optical disc storage format. A DVD-R is a DVD that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. A DVD-R
typically has a storage capacity of 4.7 GB. Pioneer has also developed an 8.5 GB dual layer version, DVD-R DL, which appeared on
the market in 2005. DVD-R(W) is one of three competing industry standard DVD recordable formats; the others are DVD+R(W) and
DVD-RAM. A DVD-R can be written only once, in contrast with a rewritable DVD formats such as DVD-RW or DVD+RW which can
be rewritten multiple (1000+) times.
The DVD-R format was developed by Pioneer in 1997. It is supported by most normal DVD players and is approved by the DVD
Forum.
The larger storage capacity of a DVD-R compared to a CD-R is achieved through smaller pit size and smaller track pitch of the
groove spiral which guides the laser beam. Consequently, more pits can be written on the same physical sized disc. In order to
write smaller pits onto the recording dye layer, a red laser beam with a wavelength of 640 nm (for general use recordable DVD,
versus a wavelength of 780 nm for CD-R) is used in conjunction with a higher numerical aperture lens. Because of this shorter
wavelength, DVD-R and DVD+R use different dyes from CD-R to properly absorb this wavelength.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: DVD-RW

A DVD-RW disc is a rewritable optical disc with equal storage capacity to a DVD-R, typically 4.7 GB. The format was developed by
Pioneer in November 1999 and has been approved by the DVD Forum. The smaller Mini DVD-RW holds 1.46 GB, with a diameter of
8 cm.

The primary advantage of DVD-RW over DVD-R is the ability to erase and rewrite to a DVD-RW disc. According to Pioneer, DVDRW discs may be written to about 1,000 times before needing replacement . DVD-RW discs are commonly used to store data in a
non-volatile format, such as when creating backups or collections of files. They are also used for home DVD video recorders. One
benefit to using a rewritable disc is if there are writing errors when recording data, the disc is not ruined and can still store data by
erasing the faulty data.
One competing rewritable format is DVD+RW. Hybrid drives that can handle both, often labelled "DVDRW", are very popular due
to the lack of a single standard for recordable DVDs.
The recording layer in DVD-RW and DVD+RW is not an organic dye, but a special phase change metal alloy. The alloy can be
switched back and forth between a crystalline phase and an amorphous phase, changing the reflectivity, depending on the power
of the laser beam. Data can thus be written, erased and re-written.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: DUAL LAYER

Dual-layer recording (sometimes also known as double-layer recording) allows DVD-R and DVD+R discs to store significantly
more dataup to 8.5 gigabytes per disc, compared with 4.7 gigabytes for single-layer discs. Along with this, DVD-DLs have slower
write speeds as compared to ordinary DVDs. When played, a slight transition can sometimes be seen in the playback when the
player changes layers. DVD-R DL was developed for the DVD Forum by Pioneer Corporation; DVD+R DL was developed for the
DVD+RW Alliance by Philips and Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM).
A dual-layer disc differs from its single layered counterpart by employing a second physical layer within the disc itself. The drive
with dual-layer capability accesses the second layer by shining the laser through the first semi-transparent layer. In some DVD
players, the layer change can exhibit a noticeable pause, up to several seconds. This caused some viewers to worry that their duallayer discs were damaged or defective, with the end result that studios began listing a standard message explaining the dual-layer
pausing effect on all dual-layer disc packaging.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: WRITING SPEED

Original CD-ROM drives could read data at 150 kibitzes per second. As faster drives were being released, the write speeds and
read speeds for optical discs were multiplied by manufacturers, far exceeding the drive speeds that were originally released on
the market. In order to represent this exponential growth in drive speeds, manufacturers use the symbol nX, whereby n is the
multiple of the original speed. For example, writing a CD at 8X will be twice as fast as writing a disc at 4X.
A higher writing speed results in a faster disc burn, but the optical quality may be lower. If the reflectivity is too low for the disc to
be read accurately, some parts may be skipped or it may result in unwanted audio artefacts such as squeaking and clicking
sounds. For optimal results, it is suggested that a disc be burnt at its rated speed.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: AUDIO

DVD-Audio, commonly abbreviated as DVD-A is a digital format for delivering high quality audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio
uses most of the storage on the disc for high quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. DVD-Audio has a
much higher audio quality than video DVDs containing concert films or music videos.

The first discs hit the marketplace in 2000. DVD-Audio was in the format wat with Super Audio CD or SACD, and along with
consumers tastes tending towards downloadable music, these factors meant that neither high-quality disc achieved considerable
market infiltration; DVD-Audio has been described as Extinct since 2007.
Researchers in 2004 found no detectable difference in audio quality between DVD-A and SACD (and subsequent research found
no detectable difference in audio quality between SACD and CD).

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: VIDEO

DVD Video is a consumer video format used to store digital videos on DVD discs and is currently the most powerful consumer of
video format in Asia, North America, Europe and Australasia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and an
MPEG-2 recorder, which is a DVD player or a computer DVD drive with a software for a DVD player. Commercial DVD movies are
encoded using a combination MPEG-2 compressed video and audio of varying formats. Typically, the data rate for DVD movies
ranges from 3 Megabytes to 9.5 Megabytes and the bit rate is usually adaptive. It was first available for retail around March 26,
1997.
The DVD-Video specification was created by DVD Forum and can be obtained from DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation for a
fee of $5,000. The specification isnt publicly available and every member must sign a non-disclosure agreement. Certain
information in the DVD book is proprietary and confidential.

AUTHORING CONVENTIONS: MENUS

There are two types of menus you can get on a DVD. One is called an Overlay Menu, and the other is called Layered Menu. I feel
that the Layered Menu is more complex as compared to the Overlay Menu, however it does offer more of a creative output towards
the product, and will allow you to customise everything to your own personal taste or target audience.

A DVD menu is something that you will see on all professional DVDs, these give you the ability to play your movie, select a specific
scene, see special features, change the language and many other interactivity within the menu. This makes the DVD home
experience interactive for the audience and saves a lot more time.
There are also a large variety of different menus other than just Overlay and Layered. You can also obtain; Main Menus, Secondary
Menus, Chapter Selected Menus, Slideshow Menus and Feature Menus; the possibilities are endless, hence why no DVD menu is
ever the same.

ADDITIONAL DVD
FEATURES

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES: SUBTITLES

The main purpose of subtitles is for those who can not easily hear, or could even be deaf, help them understand what is happening
within the movie. Subtitles arent just for people with hearing disabilities, they can be used for people trying to understand a
movie in their language, so in other words, you can get translated subtitles which will appear on screen as a character is talking, he
may talk English, but the subtitles can be altered to the French language or the German language, and so on.
The possibilities of subtitles are endless with the idea of creativity; you can change the colour, the size, the font, the style, the
location and the language to however suits you best. Sometimes people who do have the fortunate ability to hear, can easily
mishear a word or phrase, or maybe they cant understand if they have a funny accent, subtitles can help the viewer easily
understand what was said.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES:

DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Films that are made and due to go in cinema are often shown in loads of different countries meaning that all films have to be
adaptable to different cinema audiences to get the film more well known. Having different languages as an option would mean that
the film would be more excepted in other countries.

Some people also like to hear the film in the original language that the film would be made in Gladiators during the time would
have spoke in Greek, but translated to English for the majority of the population to watch, but by having the option to hear it in
Greek would make the film more realistic and understandable with the help from Subtitles.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES: EASTER EGGS

Hidden Easter Eggs are those of which that are hidden in DVD menus, or and in software such as about Photoshop options. Easter
Eggs are undocumented features available by finding hidden links within the various menus found on a DVD. The Easter eggs
were created to credit the hundreds of programmers involved on an application. The name originated from Russia from them
creating jewelled Easter eggs with hidden gifts in that they would exchange to there loved ones this is why creative softwares
such as Photoshop and DVD Easter Eggs are named what they are. According to my research the first Easter Egg was in 1984s by
Macintosh operating system.
Easter eggs are found on film DVDs and Blu-rays, often as deleted scenes or bonus special features. Klinger states that their
presence is "another signifier of artistry in the world of DVD supplements. According to Berardinelli and Ebert, most DVDs do not
contain them, and most examples are "inconsequential", but a very few, such as one found on the Memento DVD release, are "worth
the effort to seek out.
The TV series Doctor Who has an episode using Easter eggs as a major part of the plot; the episode in question even has an Easter
egg on the chapter selection for that episode on the disc release, showing the full in-episode Easter egg.
Another example of an Easter egg is one that runs through a franchise of Disney films. The Easter egg is called A113 and is
frequently hidden throughout every animated Disney film. This is because the animators who created the films worked in a room
called A113.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES: ANIMATIONS

This is the first thing that you see when a DVD menu comes up, the animation can be anything from the animation of the play and
other buttons available for you to press, or whats going on in the background. Animations are important as it makes things more
interesting for the audience, it will also tell a lot about the film before its watched. The animations shown can tell you parts of the
plot in the film and the genre of the film.
Animation can be recorded with either analogue media, such as a flip book, motion picture film, video tape, or on digital media,
including formats such as animated GIF, Flash animation or digital video. To display animation, a digital camera, computer, or
projector are used along with new technologies that are produced.
Animation creation methods include the traditional animation creation method and those involving stop motion animation of two
and three-dimensional objects, such as paper cut-outs, puppets and clay figures. Images are displayed in a rapid succession,
usually 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES: DTS (DIGITAL

THEATRE SYSTEMS)
(Digital Theatre Systems); also known as The Digital Experience until 1995. The first commercial use of digital sound on a large
scale, this was first used during the release of Jurassic Park. Its a digital surround system that offers up to six channels HD audio.
DTS is available in DVD, SAT/ CAB, TV and CD mode. (When digital cable is connected).

In 2008, the cinema division was divested to form DTS Digital Cinema. In 2009 DTS Digital Cinema was purchased by Beaufort
International Group Plc. and became known as Datasat Digital Entertainment. Beginning in 2011, the DTS cinema branding has
been dropped, in favour of the Datasat Digital Sound branding. The original DTS Inc. company continues to exist developing and
licensing DTS products in the home consumer market. Datasat Digital Entertainment has also announced a range of very high-end
consumer audio processing products. In 2012 DTS acquired the business of SRS Labs, including over 1,000 audio patents and
trademarks.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES: DOLBY

This is the sound used to bring a DVD menu to life. This is a sound system that makes the sound quality much better, reducing
unwanted noise or hiss.
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally named Dolby
Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide
digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints. It is now also used for other applications such as HDTV broadcast, DVDs, Blu-ray
Discs and game consoles.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES:

REGIONAL CODES
This was designed for Film Distributors to protect content, release dates, and change prices according to a certain region. A
regional code is a code that is given to every country, and those of a same code can watch the same disks, but those of a different
regional code will not be recognised in the different countries due to the codes.

DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release,
including content, release date, and price, according to the region.
This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region. The American
DVD Copy Control Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the regional-playback control (RPC)
system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially available, and many DVD players
can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES:

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
Copyright is put in place for anything whether it be Films, adverts, books, anything that belongs to someone and they dont want
other people to use it without there permission or paying them to use it.
Copy Protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, is any effort designed to prevent the
reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons. Various methods have been devised to
prevent reproduction so that companies will gain benefit from each person who obtains an authorized copy of their product.
Unauthorized copying and distribution accounted for $2.4 billion in lost revenue in the United States alone in the 1990s, and is
assumed to be causing impact on revenues in the music and the game industry, leading to proposal of anti-piracy laws such as
PIPA. Some methods of copy protection have also led to criticisms because it caused inconvenience for honest consumers, or it
secretly installed additional or unwanted software to detect copying activities on the consumer's computer. Making copy
protection effective while protecting consumer rights is still an ongoing problem with media publication.

ADDITIONAL DVD FEATURES:

PARENTAL CONTROLS
Now a days parents have a lot more control over what there children see. Now there is even a special DVD player specifically
designed to stop anything you dont want your child to see, just by changing a few settings on the DVD player, this apparently
works with ANY DVD rented from stores.

Several techniques exist aimed at creating parental controls for blocking websites. Add-on parental control software may monitor
API in order to observe applications such as a web browser or Internet chat application and to intervene according to certain
criteria, such as a match in a database of banned words. Virtually all parental control software includes a password or other form of
authentication to prevent unauthorized users from disabling it.

FUNCTIONS AND
ELEMENTS

FUNCTION AND ELEMENTS: BUTTONS

Buttons on DVD menus are used to navigate and choose what you want to do with the DVD when inserted. For example, if you have
watched half of the DVD and want to watch the other half another day, you will simply go to the button select chapter and you will
choose where you left off. Other buttons could also be Play, Special Features , language, credits etc. All of which customise the
viewers experience. This makes the menus interactive.
Because of this great use of interactivity, it allows the user to have full control of their media, giving them the power to do as they
please with any of the interactive buttons within the film. This is a great technique as some people may want to pause the film, to go
and do something else and come back to it another time, meaning that they have full control.

FUNCTION AND ELEMENTS: STILL IMAGES

These can include images, photographs, slideshows and even text. If it doesnt move it is classed as a still image. Having graphics
and/or photographs make the layout and design of the menu more intriguing and will inform the audience a little bit more about
the film, just so they know what to expect within the film. With still images, you can easily capture the greatest moments from the
film, some of which can be quite exhilarating and breath-taking, so the audience will want to see this scene in the movie, making
them want to watch it more.
For a more professional flow throughout the product, I would recommend a moving image rather than a still one, just because it
bring more ideas of media into the flow of the product, giving it a better aspect for the viewer. Because it will be moving, it gives
the audience an opportunity to see a little bit more of the best scenes, before they then proceed to watch the product.

FUNCTION AND ELEMENTS: MOVING IMAGES

This is where the menu of the DVD comes to life, by showing you the most exciting parts of the film, its much like a trailer in a way,
but you dont have the power of interactivity coming into play. It is normal for the moving image to be on a continuous loop, which
could get annoying if you are waiting for someone to come and watch the film with you, as you have already seen the best bits
multiple times. The main purpose of a moving image is to excite the audience and give them a brief idea of what the film will
feature.
Often both before and after the start menu appears, you will have to go through a wide range of moving image trailers and short
videos advertising possibly, the new movies coming out from the corresponding production company or could also be updating
you on the latest from 20th Century Fox Anniversary, or about illegal DVD trades and stealing, just so that everyone who is
watching will be aware of this

FUNCTIONS AND ELEMENTS: TEXT

This element will help the audience navigate the product if they are unsure of what to do. This will be the options available to you
as a viewer when the DVD menu appears. The text will be the button options: Play, Special Features, Languages, Credits etc. Often
both before and after a menu has appeared, warnings will come up regarding Piracy being illegal, and about the age restrictions
on the movie.
It will help the audience understand something that may be difficult to figure out, whether it be a button icon that isnt easily
identifiable, or maybe you need some extra information on something within the DVD menu. The text can provide detailed
information as compared to an image, as the text actually gives a meaning, as with a picture you have to find that out yourself.
The text can include things like; Navigation, Information, Help etc. It will help with navigation as you can see where the button or
link will take you, it will help with information as you are able to read the text to gain more knowledge from it, and it will help with
help, if the user ever gets stuck, and just need some assurance to get them back on track.

FUNCTIONS AND ELEMENTS: SOUND

In my opinion, I think that sound is the most important media-based aspect within a DVD. The trailers and other kinds of media will
require sound in order for it to function properly, as it adds the little extra something that everyone desires within a film.
Without sound, sound effects will definitely not exist, and we wouldnt be hearing the sound of gunshots or the sound of glass
smashing from a car window, and other sounds that will be either difficult or dangerous to perform live. To make a great quality
film, it is extremely crucial that it has sound, as the film wouldnt survive without it. Without sound we would miss things like; lines
of dialogue, music, sound effects etc.
If we could not hear what people were saying, and we only had subtitles to help us, it wouldnt be the same as we can understand a
characters emotion by hearing their voice, and if the subtitles displayed emotions or actions, it would look like this *He starts to
laugh*, using the stars to open and close the emotive line of dialogue, and in my opinion, Id rather hear how happy or angry
someone is through their voice, so I can know how the character is feeling.

USES AND
APPLICATIONS

USES AND APPLICATIONS: MOVING IMAGE

A moving image is a piece of media that moves constantly and smoothly, much like a trailer or even the actual film itself. This is
commonly used in cinemas and on DVDs of a film, as the trailers will begin to play before the main title does. This gives the
audience the chance to see the latest trailers of new films, and it is also a great way for the cinema company to make money, as the
audience have already paid to see the film, so with the exciting, new trailers, they will pay more money to see the film shown on the
trailer when it is released.

USES AND APPLICATIONS:

INTERACTIVE MEDIA
This could be a game for example, or an online magazine. Sometimes you can also find YouTube adverts that interact with you by
asking you to type things into the video. Interactive media isnt limited to digital or electronic media meaning that this could also
class as things like flip books, board games or crosswords. Kony would be a good way of interacting with the audience as in the
video he mentions a date and says about panting the town with posters to create recognition which would be involving the
audience; the audience also had the chance to order wristbands and banners etc. social networking sites would play a huge role in
interactive media as it is formed entirely to interact with people from all over the world.
With this interactivity running consistently throughout the product, it is easy for the user to use as they have all the control of the
product within their hands.

USES AND APPLICATIONS: TEXT-BASED FILES

This is something that entirely relies on text, perhaps subtitles or titles, something that must be read by the audience. They often
have text based files at the start of a DVD when it tells you the age rating and warnings etc.
This is something that tells the DVD player what to do, this is also used when putting a DVD into a computer and it asks you what
you want it to do, often when you open the files up on your computer you will have a blank like file marked .TXT which is a text
based file, and when you open it, it will be loads of different letters and symbols that mean nothing to you but everything to the
computer.

USES AND APPLICATIONS: IMAGE-BASED FILES

Image-based files can be used to highlight the best images from the DVD. It can be displayed however, whether it be part of the
navigation process, or within a slideshow, all of which can help the user decide if its a good idea to watch the film.
One of the best ways of using an image-based file is to use it for navigation. The best way to do this is within the scene selection of
the product, where users (if watching the film properly) can see where they left the film, and find their way back using the scene
selection, they can just look at an image and see if they remember, and they keep doing this until they have found where they are
up to in the film.
Another way is a slideshow, as it highlights the best moments of the film, more information will be on the next page.

USES AND APPLICATIONS: IMAGE SLIDESHOW

This is a presentation of images that require little activity from the viewer. Some DVD authors like to show photographs in a
timeline that allows the audience to navigate through the images as they please. This sort of media-based aspect can be used on
different events in peoples lives, such as a wedding or a birthday, and with a few additions including sounds and effects, a
slideshow can really bring back the good memories of the best moments of that time.
Some companies use slideshows to promote their products, much like the idea of a memory slideshow, and highlights all the best
bits, well the slideshows that companies use, apply the same sort of style, they will find images that really captures all the good
sides of them, maybe using a child laughing and having fun, or a satisfied customer, all of which will help the company become
more noticeable for members of the public to catch their eyes on.

USES AND APPLICATIONS:

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL & FEATURES
Additional material is added to the layout of DVD menus to offer more the for viewers who have purchased the product. This is
more commonly known as Bonus or Extras within a DVD menu.
In terms of additional material, this can be used to change images or videos of a DVD menu, however it'll work the same if it has a
simple design. You could easily change a wedding DVD into a construction DVD with some simple editing and design tweaks.
Additional features are commonly used throughout a number of Hollywood films, used on their DVDs. These are called bonus
features. Within the bonus features, you can get extras that have been included, but can only be obtained once in the purchased
DVD menu. Some bonus features can include outtakes and bloopers before the final edit of the film and can include exclusive
content for only DVD menu purchasers can access. They can also include soundtracks, and a common one amongst animated film
is the clip art, and the design and creation of some characters.

As you can see in the image, there is an option for BONUS.