Setting up a DVD menu

Before setting up a DVD menu, I needed to have an idea of what I wanted, the images I wanted to use and how I was going to place them in order to create a DVD menu I was going to be happy with. I also did some research before hand on DVD menus and and what i needed to include on my own.

I used Photoshop to set up my DVD menu as I was using a still image, so I opened up photoshop and selected 'File' and 'New' to start creating my DVD menu.

This menu appeared and I first changed the name to something relevant and suitable, I ensured that the colour profile was set to 'Working RGB: sRGB IEC61966-2.1'. The pixel aspect ratio must be set to D1/DV PAL Widescreen (1.46). And once all the setting are correct like in the image below, and then select 'OK'.

This grid with faint blue guide lines will appear once OK is selected.

I dragged the image I wanted onto the blank grid and it appears as this and to change it to fit the grid, I pulled the image.

I then take this image into Adobe Encore to add in the buttons and make the interactive. When I open Adobe Encore, I first set the television standard to 'PAL' and then set the authoring mode to 'DVD'. Finally, save the project into a suitable place.

This is the timeline of the bloopers video in Adobe Encore, and it shows the length of a video.

This is the flowchart all of my short film, bloopers and DVD menu. They're linked so when play is selected, the short film is played and then the user if taken back to the DVD menu.

The image below shows all of the images and videos I have created in one box, ready to be organised into the flow chart. I needed a relevant audio, my short film, the bloopers video and the DVD menu.

In order to import these, I had to select a certain option depending on what the film type is. So when I needed to import my bloopers video and the final short film I selected 'Import As' then 'Timeline'. Menu can be selected when I needed to import my DVD menu. 

In order to turn the text on the DVD menu into a button that worked, I selected the text, went to 'Object' and then 'Convert to Button'. Then link the text to the video, for example, the 'Play' button needs to be linked to the film. and the 'Outtakes' button to the bloopers video.