In Convenience News

As I’ve said before, I love it when good ideas work out well. As Nels gathered assets for the DVD menu, I shot some artwork to use on the cover of DVD and to use with the soundtrack. Here’s a few of the shots, post Photoshop, that will be used when the soundtrack is released. I think you’ll like them.

There will be more to see when the actual product surfaces. Get excited.

Last Monday a few of us met together at Rays to shoot some pieces, both still and motion, that will be going into the DVD and soundtrack of the movie. With the completion of the final edit almost underway, it has been time to get the rest of the DVD put together, including the menu itself. Always one to think big, but having no experience with ever creating a menu, I sat down with Nels and discussed what would be possible. Together we came up with what will be the greatest menu possible for this movie, and an absolute killer menus against any that are professionally released.

The initial idea, to spoil the surprise, is that the viewer is greeted by a soda fountain, only the names are changed to reflect your decisions as you navigate through the menu. Take a look at the original artwork:

They were printed out and affixed to the soda label. I used a matte paper so that it didn’t become hard to read when the lights were upon it. It didn’t do well to make the labels appear as if they naturally belonged there, but I don’t consider that a flaw given that usability/legibility was the ultimate goal. Here’s a shot of Nels taking down the labels when we were done:

The menu’s going to be killer. I don’t want to sound cocky about it, because I don’t feel that way; I’m just really excited to see a great idea actually working out. I think when people pick up the DVD that they will be impressed at the effort put into all the assets, which compliments the same impression that will ineveitably happen as they view this film.

At the end of the day, we weren’t able to get everything done that we wanted. We’re grateful for Ray’s for letting us stay as long as we did past closing, and the next time we go to shoot, we won’t be such a nuisance, hopefully.