Authoring Conventions

Authoring Conventions is something that is accepted and expected of a genre. It is the way in which
something is usually done. For example, when you buy a DVD you would expect there to be a start
menu, and on that start menu you would expect the basic option Play Special Features and
Scene Selection. Having these options will be a convention of a DVD menu.
The DVD+R is a recordable DVD format similar to CD-R. A DVD+R can record
data only once and then the data becomes permanent on the disc. The disc
cannot be recorded onto a second time. DVD+R is a digital optical disc storage
format. A DVD+R is a DVD that can be written once and read arbitrarily many
times. A DVD+R disc holds 4.7 GB of storage, which is generally used for nonvolatile data storage or video applications.
DVD+RW is a physical format for DVDs that allows the data on the disc to be erased and recorded
over numerous without damaging the medium. The DVD+RW has an equal storage capacity as the
DVD-R. The DVD+RW format was created by the DVD+RW Alliance, an industry consortium of drive
and disc manufacturers. The DVD+RW format supports a method of writing called "lossless linking",
which makes it suitable for random access and improves compatibility with DVD players. The format
was "finalized" in 1997 by the DVD+RW Alliance. It was then abandoned until 2001, when it was
heavily revised and the capacity increased from 2.8 GB to 4.7GB.
DVD-R is a digital optical disc storage format. A DVD-R is a DVD that can be written once and then
read arbitrarily many times. The disc cannot be recorded onto a second time. A DVD-R usually has a
storage capacity of 4.7GB. Pioneer has also developed an 8.5 GB dual layer version, DVD-R DL, which
appeared on the market in 2005.
DVD-RW is a re-recordable DVD format that is similar to DVD+RW. The data on a DVD-RW can be
erased and recorded over numerous times without damaging the medium. DVDs created by a -R/RW device can be read by most commercial DVD-ROM players.
A dual layer disc is a DVD disc with two layers of data one side which almost doubles the storage
capacity of the disc from 4.7 to 8.5GB. The second layer of the disc is accessed by refocussing the
laser beam through the top layer of the disc to read the second layer of the disc. These are often to
distribute a commercial title that is way too long for a single-sided DVD while avoiding the need to
continue the movie on a second disc.
Modern compact discs support a writing speed of 52X and higher, with some modern DVDs
supporting speeds of 16X and higher. It is important to note that the speed of writing a DVD at 1X
(1,385,000 bytes per second) is approximately 9 times faster compared to writing a CD at 1X
(153,600 bytes per second). However, the actual speeds depend on the type of data being written to
the disc.
DVD-Audio is a DVD Forum-defined format for high-quality surround-sound audio. Also supports
optional text, images, video, and menus. Manufactured or packaged with a version of the album in
DVD-Video format. Currently designed for audiophiles, and not supported in many DVD players
DVD-Video is a DVD Forum-defined format for movies on DVD, including high-quality video and
surround-sound audio; interactive navigation with menus and programmable control; and
Multilanguage and alternate viewing support with multiple video, audio, and subtitle streams

A DVD menu is the main mechanism for navigating DVD productions. They usually consist of a
background that is either a still image or a motion video, text title, buttons to link to different parts
of the DVD and background audio. The viewer is able to interact with the menu through pressing the
up, down, left and right keys on the Remote Control to cycle through the buttons, they then press
Select to activate the currently-highlighted button. A button on a DVD menu is a selectable option
that can be graphics, text, thumbnail images, or motion videos; with graphical highlighting to show
the current selection state. A DVD menu that incorporates motion video as the background image
and/or in the thumbnail buttons to link to video tracks is called a motion menu. The video is usually
a short clip that replays until a menu selection is made.
Additional DVD features
Subtitles are captions displayed at the bottom of a cinema or television screen that translates or
transcribes the dialogue or narrative. Subtitles are very useful for those who do not speak the
original language of the film or are learning the language. If a DVD does not include subtitles, then it
is likely that the user will need to download them themselves.
When a film is to be sold in different with different languages, dubbing
is usually used which is mixing, or re-recording is a post-production
process used in filmmaking and video production in which additional or
supplementary recordings are "mixed" with original production sound
to create the finished soundtrack. Films, videos, and sometimes video
games are often dubbed into the local language of a foreign market.
Languages can be set on the DVD menu typically.
Easter eggs are undocumented features that are available by finding hidden links within the various
menus found on a DVD or Blu-Ray. They started in computer software as a way of giving credit to the
dozens and even hundreds of programmers who worked on an application. The first Easter Egg
was in 1984s Macintosh operating system; By holding down the Option key and selecting the Apple
menu the first item becomes "About the Finder" and a crude black-and-white graphic of Silicon
Valley would come up with the names of all who worked on the OS. The name for DVD and Blu-Ray
Easter Eggs come from the Romanovs tradition at Easter. The Romanovs, the ruling family of Russia
in 1885, began a tradition of commissioning Carl Faberge to create increasingly elaborate jewelled
eggs which were exchanged by the family at Easter. Most of the known 50 eggs created contain
hidden surprises such as miniature portraits, miniature coaches, and even clock-work birds that sing.
Animations in a DVD menu can be used in a variety of different ways. For example, animations can
be used to show which element is selected and it can also be used to bridge certain transitions in
montages, like in the Indiana Jones DVD animations of planes, snakes, etc. are used to do just this.
They also use a mine cart as the propelling theme of the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Dooms
main menu animation.
DTS (Digital Theatre Systems) is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. An
American company specializing in digital surround sound formats for both commercial/theatrical and
consumer grade applications. DTS provides 5.1 channels of digital audio. However, DTS uses less
compression than other audio technologies such as Dolby Digital. As a result, some say that the
sound produced by DTS is slightly more accurate than the sound produced by Dolby Digital. While
most audio/video receivers will have both Dolby Digital and DTS, fewer discs and video games are
encoded with DTS, compared to the number encoded with Dolby Digital.

Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories.
Dolbys audio compression is lossy which means that some of the audio files data that isnt deemed
important is deleted to reduce file size. Dolby Digital 5.1-channel audio is a discrete multichannel
surround sound system, unlike earlier forms of surround sound. With six discrete channels, sounds
can be placed very precisely, for improved dialogue clarity, imaging, spaciousness, and realism.
There is also a dedicated subwoofer channel, for plenty of deep bass.
Regional codes is a system that is used to control which DVD movies play on which DVD Players. 7

The image above shows the DVD region codes. 1 is the USA & Canada, 2 is Europe and Japan, 3 is
South East Asia, 4 is Latin America & Australia, 5 is Russia, the rest of Asia and Africa and 6 is China.
Blu-Ray Region codes are quite different and are as shown below:

A is the Americas, East and South East Asia, B is Europe, Africa, Oceania, Middle East, French
territories, Greenland and C is Central and South Asia; Mongolia, Russia, and People's Republic of
China.
This means that DVD movies from DVD Region 1 wont play on a DVD player in regions 2-6/ This is
because movies are released on DVD at different times around the world. Usually they will be
released in America and Canada first, Australia and Japan 6 months later, and Europe 12 months
after US release. Sometimes, DVD movies are available for purchase in America and Canada before
they are released in European cinemas.

The Copyright law originally came from the United Kingdom from a concept of common law; the
Statute of Anne 1709. This was the first statute to provide for copyright regulated by the
government and courts, rather than by private parties. It then became statutory with the passing of
the Copyright Act 1911.
The Copyright designs and patents act (1988) was introduced for two main reasons: making sure
that people were rewarded for their hard work and also to give the creator a form of protection
from getting their work stolen. Before this act was introduced there was very little that creators
could do, in a legal sense, if someone else decided to steal their work and claim it as their own. The
law gives creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films
and typographical arrangement of published editions rights to control the ways in which their
material may be used.
Currently in the UK one does not have to register or apply since the laws of copyright are
automatically enforced. Copyright lasts for a lifetime and then 70 additional year after the creator's
death. After this period of time has come to pass, then the copyright is usually passed down to the
creator's 'heirs' or beneficiaries. Often, the copyright does not only lie with the 'creator' alone, but
somebody else.
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, is any
effort that has been designed to prevent the reproduction of software, films, music, and other
media, usually for copyright reasons. Some examples of commercial DVD protections schemes are as
follows:

Analog Protection System This adds pulses to analog video signals to negatively impact the
AGC circuit of a recording device so the images on copied DVDs becomes garbled.
Sony ARccOS Protection This inserts corrupt sectors in areas where normal DVD players
will not have access but ripping software does to trigger errors during replication.
Burst Cutting Area This writes a barcode in circular area near the centre of the disc
(referred to as burst cutting area) which cannot be written without using special equipment.
DVD region code This restricts the region where media can be played by matching region
numbered players with configuration flag in DVD players.
LaserLock This includes a hidden directory on the CD containing corrupted data which will
cause errors while being copied.
ProtectDISC Software This adds a unique digital signature to the CD or DVD that cannot be
transferred from copy to copy. A solution for software and games on CD or DVD provided by
Protect Software.
ProtectDISC Video This prevents ripping software to analyse the structure of the DVD. A
solution for Video-DVDs provided by Protect Software.

Parental controls can be set to control the settings on a Blu-Ray Disc player. For example, a
password must be entered to change the security settings of the player in the future, this means
that is a child is watching something and because of parental control settings they are unable to
view something then they will be unable to change the settings themselves.

Functions and elements

Buttons are used in DVD menus to allow the user to select what part of the
DVD they want to see, for example if a DVD had a scene selection page, a
bonus clip page and the option to just play the whole film then there would
need to be multiple buttons for each of these options so that the user could
access all of these options.
Still images, such as graphics or photographs are used in DVD menus to set the theme of a DVD. For
example, In the museum of natural historys DVD menu a still graphic of what looks like the
reception for a museum is used and a graphic of a globe is
used, this makes the user know that the DVD is for
educational purposes and is about the world in some way,
without them even needing to read the text.
Moving images such as film or animation can be used to
show little parts of the film before the viewer watches to
set the theme of the movie and to make the viewer more eager to find out what is happening in
each clip.
Text is used in DVD menus to show the title of the DVD and also to help direct the user as to what
they need to do. For example, DVD menus usually have different options than just to play the film
and these options are usually written with text to tell the user what that button is, what it does and
where it will take them.
Sound is used in DVD menus as either background music or as parts of clips that are shown to tease
the viewer. If sound is used in a DVD menu as background music, it will usually be a signature song
for that movie, for example, the films theme song. The music that is used is usually looped after a
certain amount of time and is often not noticeable.
Uses and applications
Moving pictures is the effect of a lot of single pictures moving one after another to create the
illusion of motion. It is as if the still pictures come to life. Moving images are used in DVD menus to
attract the viewer by giving them clips of what happens in a film.
Cartoons are an example of moving images. No one can be certain when the first animated cartoon
was created. It is believed that a Frenchman, Emile Cohl, was one of the first cartoonists. His
cartoon, Fantasmagorie, was created in 1908.
Moving pictures do not just have to be cartoons. They can also be computer games and movies, for
example.
Interactive media is a method of communication in which the output from the media comes from
the input of the users. Interactive media works with the user's participation. The media still has the
same purpose but the user's input adds interaction and brings interesting features to the system for
better enjoyment. There can be interactive media in DVD menus since the user has to interact with
the DVD menu to achieve an outcome.
Text-based files are a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic
text. A text file exists within a computer file system. The end of a text file is often denoted by placing
one or more special characters, known as an end-of-file marker, after the last line in a text file.

Additional materials and features in a DVD menu are any

additional audio, visual or interactive media that exist beyond
the original version of a film on a DVD. These features may be
items such as extended versions, director's cuts of the film,
audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes,
documentaries, production stills, cast and crew bios, alternate
endings, animatics, interactive games, etc.