Or to keep things totally open, you could release the Monkey DVDs as:
PAL, region-free (better than region 0 - which is not guaranteed to be totally universal) - so anyone in the world can play them
2) Video clips to use when select options
On the DVD, when you select an option, play a classic video clip from Monkey before going into the selection.
One possibility is to have a clip of Monkey whisting for his cloud!!!
About showing a video clip on each option selection - feedback from Mark S:
"It could also be scripted to only appear the first time you access the menu.
Subsequent times can be scripted out. I'll mention it to Richard."
3) Auto-continue to next episode
One criticism of the Australian Monkey DVDs was that if you watched the 1st Monkey episode on the DVD, when it finished, it went back to the main menu.
It would be "nicer" if the 1st episode finished, and the 2nd episode automatically started, and similarly, the 3rd episode after the 2nd one, and the unseen one after the 3rd one.
4) Make the episodes "16x9 enhanced"
See the review of Australian Monkey DVD #1 (below) for more details on this. It says that the Australian DVD transfer is presented Full Frame, and that it's disappointing that it's not 16x9 enhanced.
5) Surround sound
See the review of Australian Monkey DVD #1 (below) for more details on this. It talks of the lack of "surround channel activity".
6) Pitfalls
Please read these pages, which contain an indepth review (plus criticisms) of the first 7 Australian Monkey DVDs
(these contain GREAT, INDEPTH technical reviews regarding video / audio presentation and quality):
Monkey - Volume 1
Monkey - Volume 2
Monkey - Volume 3
Monkey - Volume 4
Monkey - Volume 5
Monkey - Volume 6
Monkey - Volume 7
NOTE: It's worth reading more than one of these, as the technical review of the video / sound is done on a per-volume basis, and talks of specific problems with each volume.
These may highlight some things to watch out for / improve upon with the UK Monkey DVDs.
7) The Australian Monkey DVDs
Looking at what Siren Entertainment have done for the Australian Monkey DVD release might be useful (you used to be able to view screens from the DVD on their MONKEY web site at www.monkeyvideo.com.au but it doesn't exist any more)
8) Chapter Search
Not essential, but I just thought I'd mention it because it was done on the Australian Monkey DVDs, and you tend to get it on most DVDs.
9) DVD Credits
Not essential, as this can be printed on the DVD sleeve / insert - but just a
comment sent to me.
10) Menu navigation
I find the menu navigation slow... when I press my DVD remote button to move
the selection left / right / up / down, there seems to be a 1 second delay
before the selection changes. Just to compare it with other DVDs I own, I tried
one of those, and when I press an arrow key on those, the selection changes
instantly. This isn't the end of the world obviously, but I'm just curious
about why this delay occurs. For your info, I watched the DVDs on my
PlayStation 2 (maybe it's ok on normal DVD players?)
In contrast, the menu navigation on the Water Margin DVDs is much faster.
11) Monkey Magic played over title screen
Title screen - have music playing ("Monkey Magic").. not necessarily the
whole song, but maybe an instrumental part of it in a loop (from near the
intro, just after the "Monkeeeeey" scream)
12) Video clip intro before title screen
Before the title screen appears, have a video clip - e.g. the bit from the
intro where the narrator says "The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!", and
Monkey jumps out of the egg (thought of this clip because of the way that "The
nature of Monkey was irrepressible!" is being used on the packaging, PR etc. -
it would link in with all that).
13) Audio options screen
On most DVDs I've seen, when there's an option for subtitles, as well as being able to switch them on / off using the standard DVD "Subtitles" option on the remote control, there's often an onscreen option - e.g. on the DVD menu, an "Audio Options" section, where on screen you can say things like:
Subtitles: On / Off
Director commentary: On / Off
So I just thought that to be *really* friendly to the viewer, there could be an option in your menu system... although, the big thing here is that this option only applies to the 1 unseen episode on each DVD, so couldn't go into any global area.
14) "Additional Script Editing: Howell Parry" credit
I was wondering, for completeness, would it also be possible to update Monkey
unseen episodes 1 -> 8 to include this subtitle, so that the name credit would
then appear on:
- Reburns of Monkey DVDs 1 - 8 (if these are due to happen, no problem if
there's no plan to do this)
- All 13 unseen episodes when they appear in the Monkey DVD box set
- All 13 unseen episodes that will go into the NTV archives, for possible
future sales for Australian DVDs, TV broadcasting etc.
(you mentioned that they'll get copies of all the subtitled episodes as part of
the deal with them)
As the first 8 individual Monkey DVDs are "frozen" now, I understood that it wouldn't be possible to update those, don't want to create new masters etc., but it would appear on the unseen episodes from Monkey DVD 9 onwards...
Here's what we agreed:
1) Not possible to update Monkey DVDs 1 - 8, but the name credit would appear
on Monkey DVD 9 onwards
2) When the 25th anniversary Monkey DVD boxset is produced in 2004, it will be
possible then to add my name credit to all 13 unseen Monkey episodes, U1 -> U13
3) My name credit would be added to the "final subtitled versions" of all 13
unseen episodes before they're sent out to anyone else, so that wherever they
may end up, e.g. when they go back to the NTV archives for future possible sale
to 3rd parties (e.g. Australian Monkey DVDs, Australian TV), if they go to
Channel 4, my name credit will appear on all 13.
15) Hard-of-hearing subtitles
I've heard from Monkey fans that the Monkey episodes on Channel 4 are subtitled
for the hard-of-hearing.
(a) I guess that Channel 4 have done this subtitling themselves?
(b) Do they have the scripts in electronic form to help them with this? Or did
they produce them just from listening to the dialogue in the episodes?
(c) Would you be able to get these subtitles for inclusion in the 25th
anniversary Monkey box set?
I know it's not a v. important thing - but if you can get them easily enough,
you'll win over a whole loads of hard-of-hearing people...
PLUS: For the 13 unseen episodes, even when they're dubbed, offer optional English subtitles, for the hard-of-hearing.
16) Episode selection
The "Bod" DVD has a particularly nice way of selecting episodes... you go to an "Episodes page", and on the screen you get a layout as illustrated below:
----
"<<" button
">>" button
">" button
CARTOON DRAWING OF
TV SCREEN, WITH A VIDEO
CLIP FROM "current episode"
CONSTANTLY PLAYED BACK
IN A LOOP ON THE TV SCREEN
"Current episode name"
----
It works well, and it's nice that you get a clip from the current episode played over and over within a drawing of a TV screen
Anyway, just thought I'd mention it - this is completely hypothetical, but if you were to go with something like the above, a nice thing would be that you could put the episode synopsis for the current episode at the bottom of the screen, under the current episode name. So the viewer could cycle through the episodes, and if he/she sees one that sounds good, he/she can then press the ">" button. Just to get even more carried away, the Monkey episode video clip could be shown within a picture of Monkey's cloud!?