Hollywood Movies

[TeFLoN]

Do movies like Shrek represent the ULTIMATE in DVD authoring? Motion menus that interact with you when selecting it? Does it take a full time job using Scenarist to do stuff like that or can you a newbie with Maestro or DVDArchitect do it also? :rolleyes:

TeF

[oddyseus]

?y opinion is that there is a distinct line that separates original creation and authoring from re-authoring. The team that designs and creates such menu system is more than one person and it sure has an artist in it who will sketch and visualize the outcome prior to its realization.

From our point of view, since we have the final form and structure of the menu its fairly easy to achieve the same result. I believe that a user that has delved into Scenarist for a couple of months has enough raw knowledge and experience and he knows where to search in order to refine and enrich it, therefore he is capable of re-producing the same menu.

The same timeframe applies to the situation where u have start from scratch and u have the knowledge and creativity to supply yourself the elementary streams needed for such a menu system.

Finaly I believe that the Matrix menu was the most difficult for one to design and author.

[TeFLoN]

Yeah,
I guess if I was getting paid to do it, I would be a bit more creative ;)
I don't remember the Matrix menu, but I'm going to check it out to see what your talking about. I just remember the Shrek menu doing neat things like the Donkey was jumping up and down and saying "PICK ME!" when your selection would hover over something he would want, and the pigs would run to a door and run through it when you selected an option for them....pretty neat. I don't think I would be capable of something like that given my knowledge level.

TEF

[Arky]

The thing about Shrek is that because it was synthetically created (Computer Animation), they had the option of doing alternative scenarios from the same starting frame. This is often very difficult to achieve in a visually-seamless manner with standard film footage.

This is not so much an authoring issue, though, as it is a source file issue, although these, in the case of the one-man authorer are still the result of skill in themselves.

It is the complex navigational structure of the Matrix, and the active and animated subs (seen on the main menu, for example) which continues to draw wide admiration - the White Rabbit navigation is very cool.

Anyway, on the topic of the Matrix authoring, have a browse of this thread:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26610&highlight=matrix+white+rabbit

and don't forget the Scenarist guide on the main site:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/scenarist.htm

And, referring to backups, but nevertheless informative reading:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/doitfast-guide.htm

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ButtonOverVideo.htm

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/Seamless_Branching.htm


Arky ;o)

[TeFLoN]

Thx Arky for the links...very informative :)

Unfortunately, sometimes in life you have to admit when your are not capable of doing something, and I don't think I have the brain bytes to operate Scenarist :D My hat's off to you guys who have mastered it. I'm going to stick with ole' Maestro for now and see where I can go with that. The white rabbit stuff was very cool though.

TeF

[Arky]

Lol - I never said I'd mastered it! :D

One day I'll find time. To be honest, though, I'm in a bit of a quandry because much as I like the prospect of creating incredibly impressive titles, if I go into small scale production, it is highly unlikely that I will have the time to create such complex titles. furthermore, I won't be able to afford a Scenarist license, and I should therefore direct my efforts towards mastering something affordable. ReelDVD is obvious, but I am waiting to see what else hits the market over the coming months. Fantasy is all very well, but reality must bite at some point!


Arky ;o)

[auenf]

Originally posted by TeFLoN
Do movies like Shrek represent the ULTIMATE in DVD authoring? Motion menus that interact with you when selecting it? Does it take a full time job using Scenarist to do stuff like that or can you a newbie with Maestro or DVDArchitect do it also? :rolleyes:

TeF

actually, you mention 'menus that interact with your selections', which actually can be done with just ReelDVD, with (as Arky pointed out) the right source clips.

personally, the ultimate in dvd authoring is currently spread around between discs, there is the white rabbit on the matrix (and variations of it on other movies), there is programmable playback on shrek (the mix and match character thing) as well as on Harry Potter 2 (colins darkroom), among other things. the programmable playback requires the use of command sequences, which is about as indepth as you can go when authoring.

while the format is still quite young, everyone is experimenting with the specs, and working out what they can and cant do, and after that (which is where we are up to now), they are combining things that makes the end user impressed by the interaction they can have with what is essentially a 'movie'.

as easy2bcheesy mentioned in the who wants to be a millionare dvd thread, game DVD's are going to be appearing slowly more frequently as the developers stretch the format as far as they can.

Enf...

[liquidnumb]

Just a note, but almost always the DVD author has nothing to do with the menu design and how it will look once authored. The things you talk about regarding shrek, you really should be giving credit to the menu designers.

If you want to see the top of the top in DVD authoring anything with seamless branching, that is a very difficult thing to author and encode. Also check out School House Rocks, the games on there are very complex, regarding the authoring it took to get them to function properly.

[TeFLoN]

ok i will, thx fellas, good inputs

TeFLoN