DVD Menu ResearchBy Callum Edwards

Related Genre Research• The genre that I am going to be focusing on for this DVD Menu assignment will be Action/Adventure. The reason that I have

chosen to do this certain genre, is because I mainly watch films that are fitted into the genre. For example, many different films are action, adventure or even action/adventure, the films that can fit into this are high grossing films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Avengers and Jurassic Park.

• A film that features an action genre, is usually the protagonist (main character) having to track down the villain or even the personal archenemy of the main character to either come into combat, or even use different equipment to track them down and defeat them (for example, a car, weapons or even futuristic objects depending on what and where the setting is), where as an adventure film usually shows the protagonist travel to a distant place not known to them, and either shows how he/she or the team mates find their way to find the place they are heading, but it isn't just a walk in the park to get to the destination, they have to face all different have to face numerous amounts of obstacles to get to where they need to be, or where they want to be to accomplish the goal they was aiming to achieve.

• The DVD menu’s for the action/adventure genres can either be really eye catching for some, or just the plainest thing you have ever seen… On the next page I will give a few examples on which I think are really good DVD menus, and also the ones that are not so good.

Related Genre Research

• The last menu I had looked at for an idea, was Indiana Jones. The look of this menu, really does make it as if it’s a part of the film. The background shows you a variety of different film content, like the map they have faded in the background, along with a video of all the different characters that are featured in the full movie. The navigation menu is also good for blending in with the movie, as it isn’t perfectly a box in any way (normally films tend to use them). The only thing I would change is to have the navigation menu rise above on both the left and right sides.

• In the menu for Jurassic Park, it doesn’t show you what you can expect in the film, but does show you that it involves dinosaurs. The background shows part of the ground that has been dented by a dinosaurs foot. The navigation bar is really good as well, the text that they have used is simple and they even match the menu in a strange way. The only thing I would change on this menu, is the green outline on the navigation box, I would make it more a colour to match the menu’s colour scheme.

• This DVD menu is for Star Wars Episode 3. In this menu, it gives you a pretty cool background, showing you what is to expect in the film. You can see one of the planets from out of the window, along with a hologram of The Emperor. The menu goes really well with the film, the only thing I would change is the navigation buttons and that is because they are a bit too plain and boring, they just float on the screen with no sort of box to show you where it is on screen as it might be hard to see from distance or if you have bad eye sight.

Mood Boards.The first idea that I had came up with for my DVD Menu to be based for a Marvel Comics film. If I was to design this menu, I think I would try to include a variety of different actions for the DVD menu to do. I would make the menu look more like a cartoon, than a live action film, this way I could show a mixture of 2 different cultures in the Marvel fan universe. For example, I could use a whole bunch of Onomatopoeia, which is used mainly in different comic books, like Marvel, DC, Harvey Comics ect. If I was to do a DVD menu on a Marvel film, I would make it exactly like a comic book, instead of having the live action version as it would look a lot worse than what I am capable of. You can do plenty of different menus with cartoons, because with a comic book, you could have that as a background, and a few comic strips as the navigation bar. The font comic sans is normally classed as boring if you used it as a normal font, but it really blends in well with this sort of movie. The colour scheme for this would be a Tetrad colour scheme, as it features a variety of different shades for common used colours. If I use this idea as my final DVD menu, the ideas would be endless.

Mood Boards.My second idea that I had came up with, is to do a DVD menu on the popular Japanese TV series Kamen Rider. Now the only difficult thing about doing this menu, is that I know it doesn’t really look appealing to people who are not fans of Japanese culture. The heroes in the series are kind of like the Justice League or The Avengers of japan, they all start of separately but they also fight along side each other in the movies that are released in the cinema. If I was to use this as my menu, I would consider adding the main setting as its background, along with including the main characters of the film in a variety of places on the screen. Even though I have used cartoons on my mood board, the film is Live Action, but the photos on the mood board might be considered to be used in the final piece if I decide to do my menu based on this. I have used a free style colour scheme for this type of menu, and this is due to the amount of colours that would be included on my menu, as all of the different heroes are different colours and they aren’t all the same colour as one another. If I used this as my final DVD menu, I think it would be a pretty plain one as I do not want the menu to be too colourful as it will just look really messy.

Mood Boards.My third and final idea is to do a DVD menu based on Power Rangers. Since Power Rangers has been running for 21 years, it is one of the greatest super hero shows of all time. The audience is mainly children but many of the children who grew up with it still watch it too this day, so if I did use this series as a menu design, I would try and make it as mature as possible, but aimed at the real target audience at the same time. As Power Rangers is a series that changes every 2 years into a different story, I would try to make it a variety of different rangers in history. This would mainly summon up the whole of Power Rangers, but it wouldn’t give off any spoilers on what content is on the DVD. The DVD wouldn’t be a film though, as Power Rangers only has 2 movies and they are both plain and boring, so if I did continue with this idea, I would just put a selection of the most popular episodes on, in which you can either play them all or select a certain episode. The colour scheme that would be used in this menu, would be a freestyle colour scheme and that is so that all the dark colours can blend in with the darker ones. If I was to use this idea as my final DVD menu, I would try and make it as realistic as possible, by adding a bit more of a darker tone to the menu, so it doesn’t look like a mess with all of the different colours.

Ideas Justification

• The idea that I went for in the end was to create a DVD menu that is based on Power Rangers. I decided to go through with this design because I knew that I would be able to show my creative side by designing a menu based on something that I enjoy to watch. The design of this menu will consist of a home page, with 3-4 DVD extra menus for side menus (episode selection, settings ect). With all the features I will add onto my menu, I will add mainly ranger themed features alongside the main navigation buttons. I would also include a variety of different backgrounds and characters, and they wouldn’t be the same on every menu (as this would make the menu look lazy). I am also thinking of adding a Power Ranger themed text, so that my menu doesn’t look like it has just used a simple font like the one I am using now (Calibri). One final idea I have, is to make the main menu themed around the green ranger, and this is due to the green ranger being one of the most popular hero's in the franchise as he returns to the series now and again when the series has reached an anniversary.

Proposal

• I have been assigned to create a DVD menu for an upcoming DVD for Power Rangers, Ultimate Alliance (this is not a real DVD). The menu will feature a variety of Power Rangers on the main menu, but will also feature them on the side menus. The main menu will feature a background that is featured in the first ever series, along with a few of the latest rangers for the past few years, surrounding the green ranger. The remaining menus will consist of another variety of the shows past. The bonus content will show the inside of the Command Centre, with another past ranger on the navigation menu box. My episode selection will also include a team of Power Rangers in a pitch black room (possibly some of the rangers from the Disney era). The final remaning menu will be the video settings, which I will try and add the latest red ranger with a few of the former red rangers appearing in the background. The menu overall will be really colourful due to all the rangers that will feature on the main menu, but I will try and make them look a bit darker so they blend in with the suitable backgrounds that has already been added before any other layers of images have been.