DVD Features

Paramount 'Transformers' HD DVD, way more than meets the eye

By April MacIntyre Oct 14, 2007, 17:21 GMT

Friday was spent at the beautiful Paramount studios to view the groundbreaking bonus features for the Transformers HDDVD.

Hosted by Jeff Radoycis, Chris Saito, Annie Kaprelian, and Alan Bell of the HDDVD's development team, a small group of us got a first look into the brave new world of web enabled features, and what Bell described aptly as the "connectivity" as they "grow the format" of their HDDVD projects. Heady stuff, as we learned just how labor intensive and future application-rich the discs are now capable of being produced.

Bell shared that 23,000 lines of code were written by Deluxe to build the bonus materials application that can connect through your HD player and DVR machine, constantly refreshing features, updating trailers, adding information and generally keeping their hooks into you as an end-user. The team at Paramount worked hard (still are) on this technology to effectively integrate the actual film with almost a game-like interface featuring widgets, dialog boxes, and life expectancy meters that in all, make the "Transformers HDDVD" a near 10 hour watching and interactive experience. Disc One is graced with the web-enabled feature of the "Intelligence Mode." Intelligence Mode frames the screen similar to a video game, with widget avatars of the good and bad 'bots, and their life health meter. While the film is running in a separate screen box, the robot in Intelligence Mode will kick in the character's biography and vitals plus weapon information. Underneath the live action film a pop-up ticker shoots up fictional tongue-in-cheek informational blurb about the scene. A GPS tracking system at the top of the screen listing the latitude and longitude too. Fans of this film will love the features in "Intelligence Mode." "My Clips" is a feature that allows viewers to construct a favorite clip montage and share as well. There will be a customizable tool bar for this feature. Tons of other downloadable material will be updated periodically. Menus that you can custom program to upcoming production information on Transformers 2 are just some of the possibilities the Paramount team mentioned.

Disc 2 is replete with supplemental material regarding the in-and-outs of production, and the Rhode Island-based Hasbro story of just how the Transformer toys were adapted from Japan, and the evolution of the fanbase from television series to a blockbuster film on screen. "Our World" focuses on different elements of production, from conception, casting, to car and driver stunts. Director Michael Bay talks American muscle cars and tight budgets; Steven Spielberg talks about how he played with the Transformer toys with his own kids back in the eighties. "Their War" is a tutorial of the robots creation, their dedicated fans, the morphing toy line, the construction of robots and selection of their vehicles. "More Than Meets The Eye" focuses more on the pre-vis and post-production digital work that went into constructing the action on film. "Tech Inspector" allows the end-user to manipulate their favorite 'bot in a 360 degree display insegments and as a whole. The Paramount team noted that the HDDVD has five Easter Eggs hidden within the discs. The development team were completely beaming about these marketing possibilities— future roll-out plans, more franchise sequel films, online communities, "future rich" interactivity, extra download content and personalization were some of the high notes they shared. Those of us who haven't taken the HD plunge yet need to get with it.

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