ot: terminology / definition - help need URGENTLY

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ushere wrote on 9/13/2011, 5:26 PM
ok, sorry everyone....

my client was writing from the states, so i thought (see what thought can do!) but.....

Sorry to cause so much confusion. The Censorship Board is my name for the Australian Classification Board, which used to call itself the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

...they always did require a summary of the video, which seems stupid since they are supposed to watch it. In the last couple of years they've added a "Classification Time Sheet," another form which you're supposed to fill out only if your DVD is an "interactive DVD." Apparently this is to reveal any parts of the DVD which are hidden in some way. You're supposed to list any "contentious material," whatever that means. It sounds to me like they just want you to do their job for them, so they can do the least amount of work themselves.

Till now, I've just written "not an interactive DVD" on my submission forms, and gotten away with it. Now, however, they say that my DVD, which has only a menu to the various sections (as you know), is an interactive DVD. From the message they sent me, it appears the only non-interactive DVD would be one that started automatically as soon as you put it in, and played the whole content of the DVD from there.

so again, my apologies leading you on a wild goose hunt (?) - but i suppose you could take this as a taste of what might (and IS in australia) happen when your government turns into a politically correct nanny state.
musicvid10 wrote on 9/13/2011, 7:47 PM
Good, glad to hear the confusion is a product of Australian bureaucracy, rather than American (for a change).
farss wrote on 9/13/2011, 9:04 PM
"i suppose you could take this as a taste of what might (and IS in australia) happen when your government turns into a politically correct nanny state. "

Whilst I agree with the sentiment this instance isn't all that bad. The amount of paperwork is not onerous, given it is a simple DVD with a scene selection menu all the info is readily available to complete the required attachment for an "interactive" DVD.

One way this could be avoided although given how easy it is to do I doubt it'd be worth the trouble, is to submit a DVD with no menu. Once all the content is classified then release it on DVD with the menus. As all the content is already classified you're covered.

Bob.
ottor wrote on 9/13/2011, 11:09 PM
I work at a production facility in Australia that does just what Bob suggests. We submit a disc that is authored to play every piece of content one after the other when the disc is inserted in a player. It does have a menu, but that is not what comes up first. (The menu is reachable from the usual buttons and is the end action for the last item of content). This disc is put together specially for the classification board. (We use TMPEG but I'm sure you could do it with DVD-A using a playlist).
ushere wrote on 9/14/2011, 2:43 AM
bob, ottor,

have passed this on just in case my client has given up in despair ;-)

many thanks for such a simple, elegant solution.
Earl_J wrote on 10/9/2011, 11:18 PM
Okay ... with all that has been said and insinuated here (grin) can Sony Vegas create interactive video as depicted in the Jeopardy example... or perhaps it isn't created in Vegas, it is probably created in DVD Architect, I suspect.
Any links, tips, hints, or online tutorials are welcome ... thanks...

Until that time ... Earl J.
farss wrote on 10/9/2011, 11:28 PM
DVDA does support scripting, the manual does cover the various commands etc but unless you're familiar with the basics of programming you're kind of on your own.

Bob.
Earl_J wrote on 10/10/2011, 7:47 AM
Gee whiz, Bob...
thanks for the quick response...
I apologize for sleeping through the night to find it here... (grin) (just teasing)
I'll go take a peek. . . it should be fun...
* * *
On a separate issue, If I'm posting such a video online (not on DVD) - does Vegas permit that sort of thing - or would it have to be a function of the place where the video is hosted? hmmm...

Until that time ... Earl J.
farss wrote on 10/10/2011, 8:19 AM
"On a separate issue, If I'm posting such a video online (not on DVD) - does Vegas permit that sort of thing - or would it have to be a function of the place where the video is hosted? hmmm..."

For an interactive online video I think you need Flash which Vegas does not do.
I know very little about Flash other than creating good interactive Flash is a very specialised field.

Bob.
Steve Mann wrote on 10/10/2011, 8:32 AM
[B]"but I don't know what the implications are."[/b]

Ratings are voluntary in the US, but most distributors won't take unrated product.

There is a documentary that tell a lot about the inside of the film ratings process. It should be a must-read for any indie filmmakers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated
Earl_J wrote on 10/12/2011, 8:18 PM
I think wix.com might come in handy there ... I can put the responses on separate pages with the buttons for the answers linking to each response available. . . that might be fun to create...

Wix.com is a web hosting site that lets you create everything in flash. . . quite fun...

Way off topic here - accomplished completely online, all in flash ...

http://www.wix.com/earl_j/alohazoo#!

For those who don't know about flash-based hosting sites...

Until that time ... Earl J.



hazelmaeby wrote on 10/12/2011, 9:55 PM
Earl,

This is probably better off as a separate thread, but I just so happened to be finishing up an interactive video product. It was a choose-your-own-adventure style story with four different characters to choose from at the beginning. It's all for a health awareness campaign.

One version was posted on Youtube, which takes advantage of the annotations option to create buttons on screen that the user clicks on to make a decision and link to the next chapter in the story. Obviously this is using Flash, but you don't have to know Flash to do this.

The last couple days I spent migrating it all to DVD. After three different strategies, I found a way. All the segments are individual video files -- tracks -- with one intro track that asks you to pick one of the four characters.

With DVD Architect, I managed to use chapter markers near the end of each video to create a loop until the user clicks on one of the "decisions." Obviously the DVD can't play the next track until you choose.

It's a trick to keep all the links, and storylines straight, but it works.

I found generic DVD scripts online that allow the user to accumulate points, etc., like in a quiz game. It looks pretty straight forward. I may try that in a future version of this product.

There's a temptation to use the newest tech, but sometimes old tech works. DVDs we haven't forgotten you.
Grazie wrote on 10/12/2011, 10:31 PM
Leslie, it's a Wild Goose "Chase", not "hunt". Hunt assumes you're looking for the goose, as I know, geese are notoriously noisy, boisterous and thoroughly obnoxious in gangs. That's why we chase them, and why the phrase is so apt. But there again, used in context here, discovering the legal "nice" points being made, that is, a "hunt", might have been a well meant ironic twist. In which case I'm talking nonsense!

Just thought I'd add my very useful bit of input here. Kinda guy I am.

In any event, pure Alice In Wonderland beaucracy.

Grazie

ushere wrote on 10/13/2011, 12:12 AM
grazie my dear, you're perfectly correct....

and you're my kind of guy. (opps, that could well be taken the wrong way!)
musicvid10 wrote on 10/13/2011, 12:38 AM
Quote of the day:They say what's good for the goose is good for the gander. So you just keep on a ganderin', and I'll be right behind you!-- George Jefferson, ca 1980?
Grazie wrote on 10/13/2011, 1:20 AM
Surely that should be "sauce"?

Grazie