Interactive DVD-A Whole New Viewing Experience

by Terry Borst

Have you ever wanted to re-shuffle scenes in a movie, or find all the scenes that a particular actor is in? Ever wish you could view different camera angles of your favorite artist in concert? Ever want to dig up more on-screen textual or audio information while watching a documentary? Want to choose your own ending to the film you are watching? Well, you can! From feature films to movie/games to educational content, the DVD format offers viewers a chance to engage their television minds in ways never before available. You just have to know which titles let you play the way you want to. So come with us as we explore the many categories of interactive DVDs and discover how the traditionally passive experience of watching TV is enhanced and transformed by the interactive capability of DVD-Video.

Feature Films

Movies have been the driving force behind DVD player sales, because of DVD's enhanced sound and picture quality, improved slo-mo and freeze-frames, zooming features, extra scenes, "the-making-of" documentaries and much more.

But you might be surprised at an even greater level of interactivity available on many DVDs. Many of them include viewer-triggered alternate scenes and outtakes, text screens and storyboards, and sometimes, multiple camera angles and alternate shot selections, allowing a viewer to actually "re-cut" a sequence.

An outstanding implementation of this is Fight Club, which invites you to toggle between several camera angles and audio tracks in many of the film's most exciting sequences. Fight Club can then be experienced in different ways and with a different focus. For deleted scenes, Fight Club allows you to pop up text screens to explain the editing choices that were made.

The creators of the DVD Men in Black also added some exciting interactive features to their release. Not only does it include theatrical trailers, production notes, a music video starring Will Smith, storyboard comparisons, and production photo galleries, but it also includes character animation studies and deconstruction of the tunnel scene, both with angle options. Further, there's visual commentary featuring the director Barry Sonnenfeld and actor Tommy Lee Jones. You can study the creation of the animated characters from different angles and watch the making-of documentary Metamorphosis of Men in Black and more. With this DVD, interactive viewers definitely get their money's worth.

Another interactive feature increasingly included with DVD movies is the "Easter egg," or hidden graphics and video extras revealed only through selecting the correct sequence of remote control buttons and menu selections. For a list of DVDs and these hidden features you can visit such sites as, surprisingly enough, Hidden Features or DVD Easter Eggs. For example: at Hidden Features they reveal that in the DVD of the hit movie X-Men a feature can be found in the Disc's Art Gallery. You'll see Wolverine's Dog Tags at the bottom of the screen. Highlight them, press 'Enter' and you'll see character designs for Beast and the Blob, both X-Men characters that did not make it into this film but may be in the sequel.

Many DVD movies now use a hybrid DVD format. The DVD-Video is combined with extra DVD-ROM material that is accessible only on a computer with a DVD-ROM drive. Clickable "hot spots" can trigger pop-up text, graphics, audio and video clips, hyperlinks to Web pages and chat rooms as well as installable screensavers and Windows desktop icons. DVD movies such as Stuart Little, Independence Day and The X-Files Movie all come with games that can be played only on a DVD-ROM equipped computer.

Truly Interactive Movies

The features listed above include wonderful and unique elements of movies that have used the DVD format well. But there is an even greater level of interactivity that this medium is capable of and some producers are taking full advantage of it. We're talking the highest level of interactivity yet conceived in the DVD format: The ability of viewers to make decisions throughout the story that control the actual story line.

Some of the titles you will find in this category include I'm Your Man, Tender Loving Care and The Misadventures of James Spawn. All of these offer branching plot line narratives, enabling viewers to fully participate in the development of the tale. Don't like the ending? Play the movie again, make a few different choices at pivotal points in the story or in the emotions that characters react with, and voila, a different experience.

I'm Your Man claims to be the first interactive movie on DVD. It's a clever action/adventure spoof that follows three main characters. Not only do the viewers get to control the story line, but they also make decisions about the characters too. Add a commentary track from the director, a documentary featurette, outtakes, storyboards and more, and you have an ideal example of a truly interactive DVD.

Another type of the truly interactive DVD is the movie/game category. DVDs like Ace Ventura Pet Detective (Animated), Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, and the animated version of Xena Warrior Princess are examples in this category. Aimed at younger audiences, they require viewer input to help solve various mysteries, crimes, and other predicaments.

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, for example, is a live-action DVD-Video movie/game that, through interactive menu selections and on-screen "hot spots," allows you to question witnesses and detectives and collect evidence to solve various crime scenarios. This game fully utilizes random scene access to reward correct choices, generate new scenarios and create a fully engaging movie/game experience.

Instructional Titles

Interactivity is at the heart of instructional titles. For example, still have those old exercise videotapes? Throw them out. What you should look for now is what Your Yoga Practice offers: multiple camera angles on exercises that you can slo-mo, frame-step and zoom in on. Your Yoga Practice lets you choose from three different workout lengths, change the background music and keep or mute the verbal instructions of the on-screen instructor.

And those cooking tapes? Ditto for them. Check out Great Chefs, Great Cities, which will allow you to pop up step-by-step text recipes while watching a dish being prepared by a master chef. Watch only the segments you like in any order you wish.

Education for All Ages

Interactive Educational DVD is like having a classroom in your DVD player. Children's titles such as Jump Start and Math Blaster have been around for a while, but in the past, it meant you had to sit a child on your lap at the computer. It's much more comfortable to use from the couch.

The Baby Einstein series has found new ways to exploit the interactive features of DVD-Video. It encodes chapter cues throughout the video, allowing parents to repeat or skip parts of the program, or easily start over at the beginning. In addition, there are Baby Einstein flash cards in the form of video stills, accompanied by a multi-lingual audio study track.

A new breed of encyclopedias like Microsoft's Encarta use the interactive search tools, clickable multimedia hot spots and Web links to gather and present further information.

Other educational titles, like DVD-Video Mars: The Red Planet, provide multi-angle video (selectable on the fly), additional menu-triggered text screens and interactive maps (using zoom and pan features). With programs like this, interactive DVDs prove to be a great medium for teaching and entertaining you and your children.

Mind Games

It sure would be nice if your DVD player could also work as a game console. And, in fact, it can - with a small but growing number of DVD-Video games that are becoming available.

Classic arcade games like the Dragon's Lair series, Space Ace and Hologram Time Traveler all play in standard DVD players, using the remote control unit as game controller. The games play extremely well on DVD, and Don Bluth's breathtakingly detailed animations in Space Ace and Dragon's Lair are a perfect utilization of the combination of big screen TV and DVD-Video.

NUON

Looking for an even fuller range of interaction from a set-top DVD player? NUON-enhanced DVD players add computer-like functionality along with standard DVD video features when using NUON-enhanced DVD discs. Adding a fun graphic interface, the NUON-enhanced DVD player allows you to access the additional DVD-ROM features of many popular Hollywood DVD movies. Put in your favorite audio CD and the NUON-enhanced DVD player will turn your TV into a personal light show. Using gaming interfaces like joysticks you can enjoy game playing or edutainment from a growing list of titles, and, with a soon-to-arrive NUON Internet Connectivity kit, you will be exploring the Web as well.

Cool Music

Can a music video be interactive? Absolutely, and an increasing number of music DVDs go much farther than just being a music CD combined with some MTV visuals. Sarah McLachlan: Mirrorball is one example of a music DVD that allows you to "re-cut" music videos, switching between multiple camera angles on the fly, using just the angle button on your remote (a thumbnail image represents each selectable angle). A photo gallery is accessible through an on-screen "proof sheet" of thumbnails and a lyric sheet can be popped up for any song.

Other music DVDs give viewers the option of scene selection to accompany the music and match your mood. Some classical DVDs like Media Galleries' Bach-His Music, His Life; use this feature particularly effectively.

In addition, many music DVDs are also DVD-ROM hybrids, meaning that they also contain the screensavers, Web links and wallpaper graphics for computers with DVD-ROM drives.

Engage Yourself

If you've been using your DVD player like a glorified VCR, to watch movies in a linear fashion, you've been missing out.

Your DVD-Video player has the power to bring a world of interactivity to your living room. With the DVD-ROM extras offered by many titles, the content on the disk is just the beginning. With DVD-NUON, computer and game console are closer than ever, making it almost impossible to stay a couch potato!