Putting the Fun in DVD - Inside EMA Multimedia

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Site created 12/15/97.

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Putting the Fun in DVD:
Inside EMA Multimedia

Anyone familiar with DVD, knows that a disc's menu screens are an important part of the DVD experience. These menus allow you to navigate the disc, to browse its contents, and to access supplemental information. Good menu screens enhance the "feel" of a DVD, creating atmosphere with film-themed artwork and interactivity, in effect, serving to get you in the mood to watch the film. The very best menu screens use animation, sound effects and custom graphics, to create a unique and entertaining experience, in some cases as much fun as the film itself.

When I decided that I wanted to give readers of The Digital Bits a look at the process of creating these screens, I quickly decided that there would be no better place to do so, than EMA Multimedia. EMA has been involved in DVD right from the beginning, having completed work on well over 100 of the most popular DVD titles thus far. It would be very little exaggeration, to say that EMA has single-handedly reinvented the way DVD menu screens are done.

EMA Multimedia founder
and CEO Michael A. Pace.

EMA Multimedia was established in 1992 by founder and CEO Michael Pace, as an entertainment marketing and advertising firm. Pace (pronounced Pa-Chey) began his career in the marketing department of Carolco Pictures, creating promotional materials for such films as Rambo and Total Recall. He eventually began writing free-lance advertising copy for Walt Disney Pictures, on such projects as Pretty Woman, and quickly attracted a prestigious list of clients. His credits include an impressive array of feature films and other projects, for a virtual Who's Who of Hollywood studios and media firms.

EMA Multimedia quickly established itself as one of the first all-digital design studios in the country, spearheading the creation of promotional materials for such films as Space Jam, Batman Forever and Leaving Las Vegas. In addition, EMA helped to launch Sony's Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS), and is currently developing yet another fun interactive invention, Digital Trading Cards (DTC) TM. But it's EMA's DVD work, which has brought them the most acclaim.

The first thing that strikes you as you enter EMA's offices, is that the place has a wildly creative atmosphere. Nestled on the second floor of a small office and shopping complex in Brentwood (with the obligatory coffee shop just downstairs), EMA is home to a crack team of some 30 digital artists and technicians. These talented individuals have an inventive, take no prisoners attitude toward their work.

David Bonnabel and Michael Pace
in the main work room at EMA.

"When I first started here, Michael told me, "You have 100 percent creative freedom," which for a design studio is unheard of," says David Bonnabel, who is responsible for new media development. In terms of DVD, everyone at EMA gets involved in the process, from brainstorming ideas, to creating the actual artwork, to adding sound effects, music and animation. Everyone has a personal stake in the final product. And anyone who has seen the result of these efforts, knows that the folks at EMA really dig the DVD format. "We're just as crazy about DVD as everyone else is," says Bonnabel. "We're big fans."

EMA's design philosophy for DVD is simple: to innovate with each new project. "The DVD platform can do so much more... why not push it?" says Pace. EMA's senior art director, Jefferson Ballew agrees. "We're always trying to go one more step further. What haven't we done before? What can we do with this project that will blow people away? We look at it this way... if you go too far, that's better than not going far enough."

New Line's Spawn DVD (menus by EMA).

Until EMA appeared on the scene, DVD menus were a decidedly mixed bag (think back to the lifeless menus on early titles like Blade Runner and Legends of the Fall). Among the company's first DVD projects were The Mask, Seven and Mortal Kombat (all for New Line). Soon came Spawn, which was a watershed project for EMA and the DVD community. Recalls Ballew, "Spawn was our crowning achievement. Everywhere we could put animation, we did. HBO saw that and was really impressed." Spawn eventually won three awards for EMA.

Innovate is exactly what EMA has done. EMA's design and technical staff invented a number of the menu screen features much loved by DVD fans today. They were the first to bring animation to DVD menus, with The Player. Their Mars Attacks work included the first-ever sound enhanced menus. EMA was the first to introduce so-called Easter Eggs into DVD menu screens - hidden items for viewers to discover on their own, as they explore the disc. Their Star Highlights concept first appeared in The Island of Dr. Moreau. Other DVD ideas pioneered by EMA, include the first interactive games (The Adventures of Pinocchio), the first animated cast bio and voice-enhanced rollovers (The Grifters), and the first use of play previews (in Spawn and The Lawnmower Man).

Digital artist Stephanie Kang at work on a
menu screen for the new Avengers DVD.

"The studios we work with, particularly HBO and New Line, have been very open with us creatively," notes Ballew. Still, so much wildly creative work goes into the DVD projects that EMA is involved in, that sometimes it can't all make the final disc. The reasons for this vary, but are generally due to ever-tightening DVD production schedules, as the studios and authoring houses scramble to meet street dates.

I was shown some of these rejected ideas, and all I can say is... wow! Much of what I saw was really amazing, including absolutely dazzling animation, and even menus in 3D (funky glasses required, but provided in the disc packaging). For obvious reasons, I can't reveal which titles were involved, but don't worry - I have a feeling that the folks at EMA will find a way to bring many of these concepts to future DVD projects. And rest assured, they're always trying to find out what DVD fans would like to see. They scan the Internet's DVD newsgroups, bulletin boards, and web sites daily (The Digital Bits included, I'm proud to say). "We read the web sites all the time. We call them the trades."

My admiration of EMA Multimedia's DVD work stems from a pair of discs that really caught my eye, long before I even knew of the company's existence. The first of these was MGM's Forbidden Planet. Long a favorite film of mine, I purchased the disc and I was quickly blown away by the graphic style of the menus. By current standards, they're basic - no sound, no animation. But they showed a flair I hadn't seen before. The other disc to catch my eye, was New Line's Austin Powers, a big favorite of DVD fans. This was one of the first really loaded discs, with outstanding (and appropriately psychedelic) graphics. You've gotta love Music To Shag To... yeah baby! The bottom line - the menus on both of these DVDs were just a blast - lots of fun. And both, as I later found learned, were created by EMA.

EMA-created menus for Forbidden
Planet and Austin Powers.

At any given time, EMA may have some 7 to 10 projects in the works, although they've handled as many as 15 at once. Each of these projects is at a different stage of completion, and each can take from a few weeks to several months, start to finish. But it doesn't stop there - when a particular DVD is to be released internationally, EMA must create multiple-language versions of all of their menu screens, so each project can become even more complex. But perhaps no project EMA has been involved in, has been quite as challenging or ground-breaking as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon.

This 12-part series was a massive undertaking for producer Tom Hanks, HBO and Imagine Entertainment. Meticulous in detail, with carefully crafted stories and terrific performances, it eventually won three 1998 Emmy awards, including Outstanding Miniseries. So when the folks at EMA were tasked by HBO to design the DVDs, they knew they had their work cut out for them.

"When we learned we were doing From the Earth to the Moon, we really wanted to make it something special. We wanted to push the artistic content - to really get you in the mood to watch these films," says Ballew. Right off the bat, EMA decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to push DVD technology yet again. But the question was, how do you present a series that encompasses some twelve hour-long episodes (plus untold supplemental material) on DVD? After discussions with HBO, it was decided that the series would be released as a set of four DVD discs, with the first three discs containing four episodes each. The fourth disc would contain promotional spots, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and the like.

The process began in late May and early June of this year. Step One was to figure out what needed to be done. Clearly, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of menu screens would be required, just for the first three discs alone. An overall concept was devised for the set, a budget was calculated, and then each of EMA's graphics people were assigned menu screens to begin working on. "That was one of the toughest challenges," Ballew told me. "We needed to create overall unity to the package graphically, but each of the episodes had a unique feel to it."

An EMA flow chart, used to plan disc layout. Click on the picture to see a larger scan.

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