1. INTERACTIVE MENU
An interactive menu is a navigation page displayed at the beginning of the movie's DVD, very
similar to a web page. It allows you to control what you wish to do, such as watch the movie,
choose a specific scene, look at special features (like outtakes, deleted scenes, etc.) and in
some cases, play games related to the movie.
The interactive menu I analysed for this project was for the 2011 superhero movie, Thor.
The interactive menu begins with an elderly man (who appears to be the father of Thor)
talking about the power that Thor’s hammer possesses. With one catapult, the hammer
travels through space, journeying past stars and travelling through the Milky Way and
various space landscapes. After he throws the hammer, the text appears at the bottom. It is
in a gold banner, with two symmetrical golden wings on either side. This embodies the film
and the character of Thor perfectly.
Animation and CGI play a huge part in not only the movie but the interactive menu too. At
the start, prior to the elderly man throwing the hammer, we can see that the background of
where he is standing is animated. It looks like he is stood in a circular room with many exits
into space. The animation and effects are there for all to see when the hammer begins its
journey. By the fire effect used, we can see that the hammer is travelling at extreme speeds
through the galaxy. Obviously the galaxy itself is animated too, and the effects team have
done a great job by making it look tremendously appealing to the audience.
The hammer is always rotating during its time on screen, starting out by spinning quickly
before gradually decreasing in speed. This technique is used as a way of making the audience
always keep their eyes on the hammer as it makes its journey through the distractions that
are the space background and various stars and vortex’s. The hammer varies from a
sharpened effect to a distorted one. It begins distorted and this is due to the sheer speed of
its rotation. However when it begins to slow down the hammer appears more and more
sharp and easier to see.
The screen ratio is in its average setting for an interactive menu – a widescreen 16:9.
The video format is on the highest it can possibly go for this kind of video – 480p.
The frame rate remains smooth throughout the duration of the interactive menu, even with
its many distractions.