Analysis of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King DVD

The Main Menu of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King starts off with an opening clip with the inscription that's on the ring written on a piece of paper in its native language. The paper is old with a slight yellow/gray tint to it and the ink on the paper is a dark brown. There are clips from the movie being played in the center of the ring with a feathered border so it blends in. After the clips are done playing the text from the ring slowly fades into the menu, which has only three different menu items (Play Movie, Setup Screen and Sound Options, and Select a Scene). Underneath each of the menu items is an eight-pointed star. These will become the same color as the text (an off-white) when it is selected; otherwise they are faded in the background. The text is a serif font that resembles the native type family in the movie. When making a selection they turn to a pale yellow color.

In the center of the menu items are clips from the movie being played with a feathered edge. The background is pencil drawing of gate being opened with an army behind it. The army fades out as the movie clips star playing. On top of everything is what looks like a moving cloud layer that moves very slowly and has a very low opacity level.

After a selection is made, such as for the scene selection, the menu will transition with those moving clouds in the background and then head into a building with archways (also pencil drawn). A still image of the scene is played underneath the arch in the background as the different scenes are selected. Four scenes are listed in the middle with titles underneath of them in the same font as on the main menu in dark brown. The same highlight and selection features are carried over with this menu and the others as well. Down each side of the four listed scenes are a total of 14 (seven on each side) items listing scene selections so it is possible to jump to a later point in the menu. Those are in the same font, but in a dark, pale blue or violet. The left side also contains a “Main Menu” menu item. When reaching the last item in the menu and if you press down on the remote an extra time it goes to the next set of four menu items.

The audio in the background is music from the soundtrack of the movie and varies depending on the menu are in. The music does not continuously play on the scene selection menu, but does on the Main Menu slightly longer on the Screen and Sound options menu (it seems like it plays long enough for the user to make their selection).

Analysis of "The Beach" DVD Interface

“The Beach” DVD menu interface is so far one of the better flowing menu interfaces that I have viewed. Once inside the main menu there are several things to look at. The background is the map that is used in the movie to get to the secret beach. On either side are the two main characters, one being Leonardo DiCaprio. In the center is the title, “The Beach” in what appears to be handwriting with an arrow pointing to the beach on the island. After a few seconds, the title fades and movie clips start playing in its place and they are over-laid the map with a slight translucency so the map is still visible underneath. It appears that the movie clips playing in the center are masked because there are hard edges that follow the two main characters along with a heavily feathered border s o it blends right into the background. The overall masked shape appears to be an oval.

When making the main selections the all caps serif font highlights in a light blue with the original color being white. Along with the text being highlighted, the individual islands on the map are also highlighted in a light ocean green color. After making a selection, the whole entire screen seems to scroll either to the left or right. There are however, at least three different layers that scroll at different rates to make it seemed layered. Two of the layers consist of characters through out the movie along with a background layer containing the menus and background images. When making a selection the text will change to a goldenrod color and everything will start scrolling. If the menu is further to past the different selected items, it will slow down at the other menus, then continue to your desired menu. It seems to be one really wide image with different menus that slide into place. The other layers that move at a different rate containing the other characters really tie it in and make the scrolling side-to-side work.

The color palette is mostly bright earth colors, consisting of browns, blues, greens, and yellows. There is a soft, semi-upbeat music being played in the background that I believe is the theme song to the movie.

Analysis of Family Guy Season 1 DVD

For my first analysis for IDD 300 DVD Interfaces, I chose to do the Family Guy Season 1 Disc 1 DVD.

When you reach the title menu, Peter Griffen is standing there with a silly grin holding a sign that says, "Disc 1" and occasionally you will see him blink. The background is a bright light blue and yellow. The overall theme for this title menu seems to be bubbles. There are bubbles floating up in the background. The larger bubbles have small scenes from the episodes in the background and you can hear the voices in the audio. The overall background music is the Family Guy theme song.

The text seems to be a very easy going and carefree font that is highlighted along with a drop shadow behind it. They are on a slight negative angle. The Family Guy logo is in the upper left hand corner behind Peter's head.

When selecting something from the menu, it uses a cartoony TV as its selector icon. With each one you select it alternates which side of the menu item it is on. The menu consists of 7 different episodes, a "Play All" feature, as well as a FOX.com promos item.

When making a selection the TV selector icon will change from its yellow to a light blue and load the next menu. Off to the left or right hand side are characters from the series and it looks like its an except from the show. The title of your selection uses small caps and seems very comic book like and is in yellow with the blue background.

The Scene Selection menu uses an image from the scene with a number in the top left corner just outside an oval with the scene image inside. It still uses the TV as the selector icon but this time it moves the TV viewing part to highlight the number of the selection. At the bottom are the Episode Main Menu and Resume Episode buttons in the same font as the title.