This interactive DVD menu for Iron Man uses animation and visual effects to showcase scenes from the film. The menu features an animated and rotating 3D model of Iron Man in a laboratory setting. Screenshots from the film rotate around Iron Man in the background. Some screenshots are blurred as the viewer gets a glimpse of key scenes. The entire graphic rotates to keep the focus on the screenshots. The techniques used include animation, visual effects, color rendering, graphics, movement, blur, sharpening, distortion, and rotation. The video format is PAL with a standard definition 4:3 resolution and 25 fps frame rate in MP4 compression.

1. Salford City College
Eccles Centre
Creative Media Production
Use of text: The text on the graphic tells us what the options are, it includes: Play, scene selection, subtitles
(Title, Credits, animated captions, stings, and special features, it is an interactive menu.
indents, interactive menus, web banner)
Brief description: We see Iron Man in a laboratory or something similar and he press something which brings up
What do you see? the title menu, we then see the menu and see Iron Man and the room rotating with what looks
like screenshots of the film in the background which are also rotating around Iron Man. This is
done to show us a bit about what the film is like, shows us the main protagonist and that he
knows a lot about technology and it’s used a lot in the film.
Techniques used: The majority of the menu uses animation because the actual Iron Man himself is animated and
Animation, Visual Effects, Colour Rendering, the menu that he makes appear is animated. The visual effects include a constant flickering to
Graphics, Movement make it look more like a science laboratory and to show that the technology may be faulty or
something. Movement includes the movement of Iron Man as well as the scenes from the film
rotating in the background. This is done to give us a small glimpse of what the film may be
about as well because we can see parts of a few key scenes and they may look interesting so
you won’t want to reconsider watching it.
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2. Salford City College
Eccles Centre
Creative Media Production
Advanced techniques: As the screenshots rotate around the screen, some of them are blurred as we get only a small
Blur, Sharpen, Distortion, Rotation, Opacity glimpse of them. Iron Man has been sharpened because he is the main focus of the graphic.
The whole graphic uses rotation because Iron Man rotates as well as the screenshots around
him and the whole room Iron Man is in. This is done so you keep your focus on the screenshots
til they become clear because you’ll want to know what they are.
Technical comments: Video Format = PAL, Screen Ratio = 4:3, Resolution = Standard Definition, Frame Rate = 25 fps,
Video Format, Screen Ratio, Resolution, Compression = MP4.
Frame rate, Compression
Motion Graphics and Video Compositing Unit 64
Glossary
Motion graphics - Graphics that use video footage and/or animation technology to create the illusion of motion or rotation, graphics are
usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects.
Compositing video - When there are several different clips of video are layered over one another to create a single image.
Interactive Menus – DVD Interface or Interactive Menus on a web page
Ident – The ‘call sign’ of a channel or production company to identify themselves on screen, usually shown before a programme.
Animated Captions – Animated Graphics layered over an image / video
Web Banners – A form of web advertising that is embedded into a web page. They are used to attract a viewer to their website. A Web
Banner usually a mix of motion graphics and video
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3. Salford City College
Eccles Centre
Creative Media Production
Video Format - 3 Main Formats HD, PAL, NTSC. HD is the highest resolution (720 or 1080 vertical lines in the image). PAL is the UK
Standard definition image (576 vertical lines). NTSC is the US Standard definition image (480 vertical lines). Now in the
digital age we now look at video format in terms of pixels (i.e. High definition 1080; 1920 x 1080 or 2,073,600 pixels)
Screen ratio – Standard TV ratio is 4:3; this means that for every 4 units wide it is 3 units high. It is likely that the screen ratio will be
Widescreen (16:9) in a cinematic sequence.
Resolution – The amount of detail in an image or signal, such as Standard TV Definition and High Definition. See Video Format.
Frame Rate - The number of video or film frames displayed each second (frames per second; fps). PAL frame (standard UK TV) is 25
fps, NTSC (standard US TV) is 30 fps, film is 24 fps. This means as NTSC updates more regularly there is less strobing
(jerkiness).
Compression – The use of Codecs (WMV, DivX) to reduce the file size of a video by a variety of methods. This sometimes means a loss in
image quality (a “lossy”). Codecs are found in Video Cameras, DVD players / recorders, Editing Packages, Video upload
sites)
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