"Screencap" of the root DVD Menu from your Wedding DVDs. (Design Reference).

[Yi Fong Yu]

hi,

can you guys screencap the DVD menu design from your Wedding DVDs? just wanna see what types of designs are there for wedding DVDs.

[Peter Jefferson]

for some good inspiration, best to go to your local video shop and hire out afew movies...

another option is that when your working job afer job, and u dont have time to keep making new menus, create on which is a "standard" for you and stick with it.
Basically a template that u can always go back to when needed or to tweak as required..

Instead of showing video here (which really wont give u an idea as to how the menu wrks (which is more important) Ill explain how ot get a decent DVD package together..

1) decide what material you will use for you first play... being that as soon as the DVD begins, this piece of media will play. I used to use my company logo, however i find that to be a little cheesy. Now i only use Dolby Trailers, as im licensed with Dolby Labs. Its looks far more professional and doesnt give that feeling of tryin to sell yourself. Its a reversed psychology selling technique i guess...

OKies, once uve worked out ur first play, you want the first initial DVD page to come up.

In here, i usually try to keep the media at 1minute and no more. U can fit ALOT of info in one minute..
Now depending on my clients, they might want a small hilight piece for the menu, or i like to have an animated slideshow of either the day, or from them growing up... This conintuosly plays in the background and loops to the Dolby Trialer when completed, then starts again..
Now the structure of this element is key.. coz u dont want to clutter it up..

For my buttons, i have one "Play Movie" button.. this is ALWAYS on the front page and it always links to the main feature.
I then have a Scene Selection button, which jumps to another page with a still image as teh background and no music (this is for compression reasons)
All buttons on the first page are text only, as the video in the menu is the focus of teh piece, not how flashy my buttons are... (that comes later)
From there, moving to the scene selection area, as the background is a still, i switch the style to have Animated thumbnali buttons. This brings movement to this area, and is a good way for the client to sneak preview each chapter.

All buttons are using underlines, arrows or colour changes to signify that the button is selected.

If i have a special feature, such as a reedit of a photoshoot or an outakes piece, i always import it as a seperate piece of media and have it looping back to the menu.

I then create a playlist (on the same front page of the DVD Menu) which has a play all... usually the fetaure, bonus scenes, and then the outakes.

I use DVD Architect and Spruce (for commercial stuff which is a little more intense) and am yet to have an issue with either.

[Rick Steele]

Mine is similar to Peter's.

I have a short First Play clip (about 5 seconds).

The main menu with an animated background and soft, low level looping music (30 - 60 sec).

Two text buttons on the main menu (Play All, Scenes).

For the Scenes menu I use text buttons as well. I used to use motion thumbnails but find them a bit too cheesey. (I can't recall the last time I rented a movie with motion thumbnails - if ever).

[Yi Fong Yu]

so... no1 likes to share? i mean, i don't need to see it animated. in fact i hate animated menus in commercial DVDs that i have skip over. i love static DVD menus or DVDs that play instantly (like Godfather) the minute you put it in. but in keeping with the clients, i gotta make it look swell.

i'm interested in where people put play, scene selection, etc.

[Peter Jefferson]

play movie, is lower left, scene selection is lower right

everythign else is on the lower right hand side as well, and i try to keep play movie alone.

To tell u the truth, i dont know what to share, coz its literaly just a looping video with buttons...

[Patrick Jenkins]

RE: sharing..

There's probably some caution in handing out designs willy-nilly, but also most DVD players don't allow you to take screenshots for various copyright/technical reasons (Apple won't let you screenshot, PCs don't let you screenshot an overlay).

My main menu usually is structured:

Play [plays the feature length wedding doc]
Chapter or Index
(optional) Setup
Special Features

Chapter Index menu:
chapters to the feature - animated if I have the disc space

Special Features menu (no particular order):
1. Bonus Footage / Deleted Scenes [opens another menu to Play All or just select one]
2. Trailer(s)
3. Alternate Edits [anything that was in the feature that got cut short - no menu, all play back to back, or an alternate angle]
4. Still Gallery [if I've got the space left I'll create something out of these, otherwise it's just a simple slideshow]
5. Anything else

Setup menu:
If I have a client that does audio commentary they can turn it on here (or via the remote).

Any selection brings you back to the menu where you selected (like playing a bonus/deleted clip brings you back to the bonus menu). All menus are navigatable back to Home or Previous menu.

[Jason Magbanua]

hi.

here are ours.

http://www.pinoyvideomaker.com/dvd_g...gallery02.html

[Yi Fong Yu]

thx Jason, those were awesome =). definitely gave me some good ideas.

[Peter Jefferson]

Jason, very nice and stylish menu pages.. very nice work.. looks like something id do..lol
just curious, as these stills or are these using video at all??

oh and one other thing, with ur stills i assume their screen grabs from tape yes?

[Jason Magbanua]

Yi Fong Yu
No Problem. : )

Peter
Most are grabs (from dv) except for julie and eric's menu.

cheers.

[Paul Gallagher]

Originally Posted by Jason Magbanua

hi.

here are ours.

http://www.pinoyvideomaker.com/dvd_g...gallery02.html

Yes indeed Jason,
Some super menus there, very creative. Do you design them all in photoshop?
Paul

[Craig Terott]

Originally Posted by Jason Magbanua

hi.

here are ours.

http://www.pinoyvideomaker.com/dvd_g...gallery02.html

They look better than what I do...

I'm always worried about overscan on standard TV set. It looks to me like a few of those menus would have some problems with being cutoff on a standard set. Is this an issue for your menus?

[Mike Cook]

Jason,

What is that font for Rico and Gracci? I just dig it! If you don't mind telling I would love to know.

VERY nice work by the way, you have a talent for design.

Mike

[Jason Magbanua]

Thanks guys. My wife Pang does the designs in photoshop.

Craig
Yup, some design elements are cut off but we make sure the text objects aren't.

Mike
If I'm not mistaken, I think it's Scriptina. It's a nice elegant font, classy yet not dated.

[Paul Gallagher]

Jason, she has a real talant there, your a lucky man. Some super designs.

Paul