In addition to the main motion menus, I also needed to create Chapter Selection menus. I wanted each button to show a thumbnail image of the chapter. Initially I wanted the thumbnails to be animated so that they actually showed the section of the movie beginning at that chapter, but after testing this I realized it was too busy, and that a still-shot was better. This was the one time where it was easier to use Encore’s built-in menu creation tools. The program has some great pre-made chapter buttons, and it was easy just to drop in my still background and then drag the chapter buttons over top of it. I then linked each button to a chapter point using the “Link” drop-down, although I could have just as easily used the pick-whip again. Encore automatically created the thumbnails from the chapter points, but unfortunately many of them were set at fade outs and thus created black thumbnails. I was able to adjust them using the “Set Poster Frame” feature in the timeline, which changes the frame that shows up in the thumbnail without affecting the actual chapter break point.
Finally, everything was done. I went to the File menu and clicked on “Check Project”. This checks for all sorts of errors such as broken links, button overlaps, high bitrates, etc. I’d accidentally forgot to set an “End Action” on one of my timelines, which basically means it didn’t know where to go once the timeline finished playing. I set that, put a blank disk in my DVD burner, and then hit “Build” on the Build tab. After a few minutes, the disk was burned, and ready to be tested!
I popped it into my DVD player, and everything looked great. However, after living with it for a few days I decided that I wanted to change the “Audio Options” menu selection to read “Commentaries” instead, mostly because there weren’t actually any audio options aside from selecting or deselecting the commentary tracks. The thought of making this change filled me with dread, because I imagined having to recreate the entire menu, buttons and all, and then having to relink everything. Fortunately, I wised up and realized that there is a feature in Encore that lets you edit the menu in Photoshop.
You select this option directly from the menu editor, and it automatically opens up your menu in Photoshop, subpictures and all. You can then make any changes you want, close Photoshop, and those changes are immediately reflected in Encore. So basically making this change was as simple as retyping the text on that layer, turning what was formerly a one hour job into a five minute quick fix.
The DVDs just came in from the duplicator, and I’m absolutely thrilled not only with the final product, but with how easy and fun it was to create. Knowing that I could go back and change things on the fly allowed me be a whole lot more creative, and more willing to take risks and make changes. In the old way of doing it, if something wasn’t quite right I’d probably say “good enough” because I knew it would be a nightmare to fix. Now I’m able to tweak everything to perfection with very little hassle, making me much happier with the final DVD.
Be sure to check out the Livelihood website for information on ordering the new Livelihood Special Edition DVD, created completely with Adobe Creative Suite 3: Production Premium!
Ryan Graham is the director of Livelihood, a critically acclaimed ultra-low budget zombie comedy. He also runs 37.5 Productions, a post production company specializing in giving a Hollywood sheen to independent films. In his spare time he is the lead guitarist for The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad.
