One technique that many DVD-Video designers use to enhance the flow of titles from one menu to another is transitions. Without them, the response to user input—pressing a button, for instance, to move from a menu to a submenu—can seem abrupt.
"Basically all a DVD player can do is cut between menus, whether they be stills or video," explains TVA's Chris Ammen. "When going from a motion menu, the video will pause for half a second and the highlight will disappear. Then it cuts to the next menu and turns on the highlight again. Audio will also be muted during the transition. This is known as a 'seamy' break."
Ammen says that the task for the skillful designer is to "hide the seamy break. With the careful use of motion, any effect that you can create in video can be used as a transitional element."
While menu transitions add to the user experience, Jon Bender of Maus Haus points out that they also add time getting from one menu to another. "They need to be short and sweet," he says. "The user is going to get tired if he or she has to wait three to five seconds between each menu."
The most common type of transition, Bender continues, is one where the menu you are leaving is used as the first frame of the transitional video and the destination menu is the last frame. "In between," he says, "you can use a whole assortment of transitional video effects."
