Menu's and sub-menu's

thefox · Post by **thefox** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:55 am

Hi all - I'm using DVD MovieFactory 6 with all the updates on XP home. Had a good look around the forum for an explanation to what is probably a simple misunderstanding.

I have loaded a concert in one piece (clip 1) and created 12 chapters (9 songs and 3 interviews). I would like 3 menu titles: 1 - play everything, 2 - select song (then a sub menu for the 9 songs to select from), and 3 - extra's (then a sub menu with the interviews to select from).

Now, in the Help Guide, under "Creating Menu's" there's a lovely illustration showing me just whay I want. But how to do it is another matter! It will only allow me one menu title no matter what template I use, and combined with the navigation buttons, I can either play the whole movie or select the individual chapters already created.
Surely I don't have to create another set of clips (and therefore doubling up some of the content already included ie the interviews).

Hope this is clear and I haven't missed a blindingly obvious previous explanation!

Many thanks in advance.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:47 am

Firstly take a look at this flow chart whcih hopefully will clear up any mysteries.

Take a video. In the world of video editing/authoring we call this a title.
Each and every video you have in your project will appear on the title menu.

A Title can be split up into various chapters - this is optional.
If you create chapters, then every Title that contains chapters will also have a chapter menu. In other words if you have 1 title with chapters you will have one chapter menu. If you have two titles with chapters then you will have 2 chapter menus and so on.

The main difference between a chapter menu and a title menu when you click on the thumbnails (or text links) is that with a title menu you have a choice between playing the next title in the sequence or returning to the title menu.

With a chapter menu you do not have this choice, they are simply starting points - wherever you choose to start watching the title from (rather than the very beginning) it will continue to play all the way through to the end of that title.

thefox · Post by **thefox** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:33 am

Thanks sjj1805 for your reply. This is the diagram I am referring to, and it is all clear how it should work. But what is the best way to create those 3 titles in the top illustration? All of the 3 titles I want refer to footage in the same one complete film I've imported and will have their own chapters. Do I have to split the film before I import it into the 3 titles I want, or, in order for 1 of the titles to "play all" do I have to import the complete film for the 1st title, then two more clips for the other 2 titles (therefore "doubling up" the entire film?
Sorry, no graphics, so I'll put it this way:

Main Menu
Title 1 = Play All (complete movie, including tracks and interviews)
Title 2 = Select Tracks > chapter 1, 2, 3, etc
Title 3 = Extras > chapter 1, 2, etc

Hope that's clear!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:11 am

You always get a Play All Button so that bit has been taken care of.
In your example you need a Title for the main Movie - you also need to set chapters for it.
You then need one or more titles for the extras - depending upon how you want to present things. Do you want viewers to be able to watch 1 of many extras and return to the menu? If so you need separate titles for each.
Alternatively are they going to watch one straight after the other until they have all been viewed? in which case one title with chapters.

thefox · Post by **thefox** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:36 am

OK, Play All sorted (with chapters) and the creation of any other chapters I need is not the problem. It's the Titles I need help with. In order to have the additional titles, (there's only 1 at the moment), do I have to edit the contents out of the whole movie with a movie splitter then import them as, say, Extras and Select Individual Song? This is OK but it would mean that the complete film would be in the project twice (1 as Play All, and the second comprising of the Songs Title and the Extras Title). On a 4.7 disc, the quality would be halved in order to fit. Or is there another way?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:28 pm

Think of a Hollywood DVD and how they work.
Let us pretend you are making a DVD "Raiders Of The Lost Ark."

You will create a Title - Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
For the convenience of your viewers you will create chapter points so that if for some reason they had to stop watching the show - perhaps some unexpected guests arrived - they can later start watching it again somewhere near the point they left off.

You will create a second Title - The Making of the Raiders of the lost ark.
This may or may not contain chapter points - rather depends upon how long it lasts!

You might have a third Title - The Auditions for the role of Dr Jones,
A short video about various actors who applied to play for the part and how they chose Harrison Ford. This may also have chapter points depending upon how long it lasts.

Now apply this logic to YOUR video.