DVD menu

I have started looking into the look I want for my DVD.
I looked into the Star Wars DVDs because I always like how they have the moving footage within the scene, I want this to be something I include in my main menu.



I also found this video on Youtube. I like the menu especially showing the footage, but I would prefer to have less movement in the backgrounds so it is not too over the top and hard for the audience to focus. I may have a little bit of movement but no animation in the background (which I was initially going to do) for this reason.





I initally thought of having a cinema screen with my showreel being shown on it, and using my signature as a logo in the stars like in the second image below. I did start on this but thought it would be a little too normal and may not make my work stand out to the audience.





I then started playing around in Maya with my name and making it 3D, and thought it may be a bit different to actually use the interface as my menu, making the links on the right hand side and then maybe animating in the space around my name or making my showreel appear in the gaps. I tried a few variations of this:

I did start to use the first image, but thought that the grey was a bit overpowering and also that it may off put people from looking at the DVD, so I began having a play with the colour schemes for the 3D space and the grid lines and got this result:

I much prefer these colours as it makes the menu stand out more. However, after viewing the screen like this it does not really match well with the UI elements of Maya. I tried looking into changing their colours too but apparently you only can on Linux and I have a PC. I also began to wonder if there would be copyright issues with me distributing the Maya image as my menu without their permission. I realise that I have used it in my Playblasts but that is different from using it as a brand.

So I finally decided to cut off the UI elements and just use the centre screen as my menu. I like it because it is a bit retro looking and suits my interest in computer games. I am going to add my showreel to the front of it and have the links to my animation and galleries down the front left hand side.

The grid is also good as I can change the angle easily and use it for the sub menus of my dvd. This will keep the consistency and the style throughout, which was something I was struggling with.