“The Lazy Dog” for those who missed it
Thank goodness - Review 3 - Pixar’s WALL-E
Well thank goodness tha pixar know how to redeem themselves eh?
I was genuinely considering giving up this site, (and, heaven forbid, my own personal, introspective devotion to the dvd menu screens in day-to-day life), after the last post, but thankfully Pixar have done good with this post’s selection of dvdmenuscreen.
This time it’s WALL-E, and the menuscreen is almost as beautiful a work of art as the film itself. Encouraging us, as we are encouraged to do throughout the film, to think from a Post-Humanist perspective, the screen makes us look through WALL-E’s own eyes, in a simplistic but devastatingly effective marriage of the metaphorical message of the film and the visual.
I’m sorry that I ever doubted the medium of dvd menu screens. Long may my fascination with them continue, as I hope shall yours be, as readers of this blog. Today is a happy day for all.
Review 2 - More Pixar - Up
From the good news of the saving grace that was the scene-selection screen of Toy Story 2’s Dvd menu screens, I am sad to say that this week’s menu screen review is nothing but bad news.
Pixar’s Up.
Unfortunately, Pixar have really let themselves down.
This is a poor DVD menu screen. Really poor.
There’s not much more I can say really. I’m disgusted with the lack of effort that has gone into this. Gone are the high production values for which I and many others hold Pixar in great esteem. I mean, they could have used different balloons as the different menu selection options, or maybe different windows or doors and the chimney of the house. Anything would be better than this. I am distraught, and I think it’s best if I stop dwelling on this before I do something i might later regret.
First reviews - Toy Story 2
I thought I would kick my DVD menu screen review site off by doing a few reviews based on a company who I consider to be one of the best film production teams out there. Their production values are huge, they never seem to hit a bum note, always bringing out films that really show what a bunch of perfectionists the team must be. I am, of course, talking about the most consistently brilliant film company of the last 20 years, Pixar.
But I’m not here to sing the virtues of their films, I’m here to see if those production values and that consistent quest for perfection extends from their films all the way to the oft-overlooked art form that is the DVD menu screen.
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So, first up is Toy Story 2. The use of characters in the menu is well done - they have used familiar and new characters alike - which is good for those who are seeing the film for the first time - as this screen acts as a point between the first and the second films.
However, the fact that the menu appears on a tv screen - although one that is seen in the films - is not at all imaginative, as that is how it would appear on the viewer’s real, physical tv screen in their living room, if the menu makers had simply put words on the screen.
Although this tv screen in a tv screen technique appears apt for a film as utterly postmodern as toy story 2, this is something either unintended, or simply misguided, because this postmodern flare will be lost on the majority of viewers, who will simply skip straight to the “play movie” option as though there is not a whole world of delight to be discovered in pondering, analysing, concentrating on and staring intently at the dvd menu screen.
Alas, I feel that this is the case for not just this particular dvd menu screen, but for the majority of them - which is mostly the point in this site, because i believe that this art form is cruelly unappreciated.
Although, one could argue that it deserves to be ignored with the lack of effort shown by one of the worlds most attentive-to-detail film teams in the above screen shot. Which is why it fills me with delight to show you the following screen.
As you can see, the menu designers have really thought about this scene-selection screen, with detail going from Jessie’s hat pin-badge, to the wall paper in the back ground that makes us so aware that we are interacting with the digital character Andy’s ACTUAL OWN notice board, with the scenes being photographs of his own memories. This is where dvd menu screen magic happens. When we are brought a step closer to, or even into, the lives of the characters and therefore made to love our favourite films that little bit more.
