DVD Menus

I chose three Tim Burton movies to see what the DVD menus look like, how they are laid out and how you navigate around them. They all use elements of the film for example in Sleepy Hollow, you appear to gallop towards the tree, suggesting the horse which features in the film. A pumpkin and a sword are used in different areas of the DVD, and are animated when you press something. In the Nightmare before Christmas DVD the options are on a background scene of towers and pumpkins which is appropriate to the movie. These scenes are still images and the only moving parts are the flickering of light in the windows and pumpkins and the smokey sky, yet these small movements make the whole thing seem animated. The corpse bride is slighty different because the options are set over parts of the movie playing in the background. The type in all three is typically Burtonesque - like a horror font- which enhances the mood of the films. Looking at these has helped me think about the new brief because I have cosen to do a DVD skin and although I might not do something in the same genre as these films it is clear that the imagery and type has to be appropriate and engaging for your film. Also I have learnt that in the transitional parts when you press things on the menu you can be very experimental with what happens in these couple of seconds. These three DVDs were very computer based in their menus but I may consider using hand drawn/ written things in my work.