DVD authoring
Workflow
Converting the footage
Despite how most of the footage to be used
in the DVD was captured in HD or full HD resolutions, DVD is in SD format. In
order for the footage to be playable on TV screens the video has to be scaled
down to PAL or NTSC format. The standard
dimensions are 720x576 (PAL) or 720x480 (NTSC). It is best to use built-in
presets as depending on the TV system and whether the footage is destined for
widescreen or regular TV the pixel
aspect ratio differs.
Readjust the picture quality accordingly (keeping
in mind the maximum capacity of 4.7GB). Note: the maximum safe bitrate for an
authored DVD is around 9mbps. The
maximum bitrate value should not exceed this, whereas the safe maximum for
average bitrate is 8.8mpbs
Export as MPEG2-DVD (also acceptable
is MPEG-2 preset however most of the time it will require manual setting
input).
Designing the DVD menu
A default menu is a fixed
dimension still image using parts of an image as buttons. The buttons navigate
the menu to movie sequences, further options, slideshows or extras. In most
cases however it is worthwhile adding at least basic animation or ‘reveals’ to
the project - after all it’s the menu which will play first. In this fashion, the menu is designed in
After Effects or similar and then exported as a movie sequence to match the
attributes of the desired video system.
To preserve the most image
information on DVD, the menu should be designed in widescreen square pixels ratio. The format differs from the default
NTSC/PAL however it will be stretched later.
When designing your menu in After
Effects, consider the button placement; include
the necessary lettering but remember that buttons themselves (as areas) will be added later in Encore/Photoshop. After
Effects is not an interactive application and menus require user’s input.
NB: consider splitting the sequence into two parts
– 1)the intro to the DVD. This is where the action and animation/reveals
will take place 2)menu/loop content
: this is where the menu becomes interactive – the user can select the buttons,
animated elements are kept to a minimum. This part by default will loop to infinity. To make things easier
one should take a note where the loop-point is on the timeline to input later
in Encore.
Think about the menu audio – does it
fit with the loop you decided on? Sometimes it is best to readjust one or the
other so the loop appears clean.
Rendering the menu
Having completed the initial menu
design in your Widescreen Square pixel
ratio composition, open a new composition. This time choose DV Videscreen and drag the first
composition into it.
Export the sequence using the same DV Videscreen settings (progressive, 16:9
aspect, be sure to check for exporting the audio if necessary). This will
produce two files: m2v file which
contains the video and a wav file
with the sound content.
Importing your menu into Encore
Open a new project in Adobe
Encore, match the TV system. Create a
new blank menu (again PAL or NTSC) in menu
-> new menu... Since the video created in After Effects was 16:9, make
sure that 16:9 is selected in the menu options on the right-hand side.
Import the menu files (m2v and
wav) into Encore.
In the motion tab of the menu you just created, drag the pick-whip button
(which will turn into a string) onto the m2v
file for video and the wav file for
audio. Below this information is the loop
point dialogue box – enter the frame number from which the menu should loop.
You can either select how many times the menu will loop, or keep it looping
forever (recommended).
Adding buttons
Buttons help navigate the menu
much like on a website. A default feature menu would include a play button and
several others to access additional content, dvd chapters, audio/subtitle
settings etc. The buttons present in the library are rather simple and cover a
shallow subject range, thus most of the time user might desire to create a
button ‘from the scratch’.
To ‘manually’ create a button,
right click on the menu and choose Edit
menu in Photoshop. Encore will open Photoshop and load your menu.
The process of creating the
buttons is pretty specific: make a new
Layer group. Rename the group, make sure that the name begins with ‘’(+)’’
as Encore will interpret this sequence as indicator for a button. The rest of
the group name is not relevant.
In this layer group, create a new
layer (or a shape layer), rename and begin with ‘’ (=1) ‘’. Again, whatever follows is up to you. This layer is the
Button Highliht - equivalent to a
‘roll over’ commands used for designing interactive buttons for websites.
In order to make a default
highlight area for a button, simply create a shape on low opacity and drag it
on top of the lettering. So for example, create a 20%opacity rectangle over the PLAY VIDEO area.
Once this is done, hide the ‘’(=1)’’ layer and save.
Go back to Encore. In the Layers tab (default lower-right), the
button information will appear. You will not be able to notice any change to your
design thouh. To preview the button, go below the preview window, select the Show selected state. Click to see if
the highlight is working well. If not, you can go back to Photoshop and tweak
the opacity/add other effects.
To avoid having to design every
button respectively in Photoshop, one can drag the button to the Library tab which will save the
information and keep it for future use. Simply drag the button back on the
preview to duplicate it.
Note: the buttons may not overlap
as given menu area may only include one action.
Creating main timeline
To build a movie sequence import
and select the movie clip and its corresponding audio. Go to timeline - > new timeline. Rename
accordingly.
Basic structure
Now that the project has a menu with at least
one button and a timeline user can link some structure in the DVD project.
Each DVD has to have a First play – this is a starting point telling the dvd player where
to begin and what will happen next. Unless working on a specific project, most
of the time the main menu (along with the intro) is the First play. To set it, simply right click on the menu and select ‘Set as First Play’ from the drop-box.
The next step is to address the
buttons and establish End actions. To assign a command, select the button and
once the button menu appears on the side, drag the string from ‘Link’ box to the corresponding item on
the list.
For every film sequence
(timeline) or Slideshow, one must also set an End action. By default this would
be navigating to the main menu, however in some circumstances (e.g. ‘Extras’
especially when it features short clips like trailers or promos) it is a good
alternative to link back to the menu which triggered the action (e.g. linking a
trailer back to ‘Extras’ instead of main menu).
To set an End Action, select a
timeline and on the right-hand side chose from the first drop box where the
clip should take the user to when it ends.
Once everything is ‘structured’
in this method and you are happy with the outcome, double-check the project in File - > Check Project. This option
will let you know whether there are elements which are inaccessible or lead to
nowhere.
Chapters (optional)
Chapters are useful for navigating longer
features.
To add chapters to your timeline you can
either:
a)
Mark the chapters back in Premiere Pro (or
similar editing program)
b)
Manually place the chapter points in your
timeline
NB: when stacking multiple clips in one
timeline, Encore will automatically assign chapters to them.
As all chapters are marked, you
will be able to assign the button actions to specific chapters rather than a
timeline. For instance, if you have designed a chapter selection menu which has
several buttons, just assign chapter 01 for button 01 etc.
A default End action for a
Chapter is to play the next Chapter.
c)
Automated chapter list.
If using a feature with multiple
chapters, the quickest way to design a menu is to use a template and customize
it. To do so, select any SUBMENU from the menu library, customize in Photoshop
(e.g. by replacing background). The submenus are designed for chapter selection
and normally feature several buttons. In order to automate a chapter list,
assign the first button to chapter 01, then go to menu ->
create chapter index
Encore will automatically assign the buttons to menu
chapters and create submenus to fit all chapters. For instance, you are using a
timeline with 17 chapters and given chapter menu has 6 buttons, Encore will
create 3 submenus to fit them all.
NB: Make sure to check if Encore has renamed the buttons accordingly.
Depending on a menu, button names may remain unchanged resulting in Chapter 07
(The first of the second submenu) will remain as Chapter 01. Select the button,
go to button menu and rename accordingly.
