“A DVD created about a film series, done for the Web and centered around a car. That’s a lot of ground to cover, but this program does it simply and effectively.” —juror Allegra Burnette

“Beautiful, clean typography, an engaging color scheme and I love the use of the silhouetted-man in the video transitions.” —juror Sasha Kurtz

Overview: The slick interface of this DVD menu mirrors the content of the movies, connecting viewers with extra features commonly found on DVDs. Oftentimes there is a disconnect from the content of these “extras” to the movie itself. Not so with The Hire. The experience is seamless, logically taking viewers from the movies to the driver’s seat of the cars featured in them.

• Animation created in After Effects
• Interface produced using Sonic DVD Creator
• 11 weeks, 10 people

Comments by Kevin Flatt:
“We faced several unique challenges in producing The Hire Collector’s Edition DVD for BMW. One of the greatest, I think, was having to integrate two seasons of films—with different design themes and production—into one unified, compelling DVD experience.

“The project began with the simple goal of creating a Season II collection and evolved into a more ambitious two-season DVD experience that would be coveted as a Collector’s Edition.

 “To deliver our vision, we shot an additional series of multi-angle driving sequences through San Pedro, California, and down the famous Las Vegas Strip. For the shoot, we designed a custom rig that would snap still images from seven cameras every second while the car was in motion. This solution allowed us to produce a more dynamic and compelling visual product than we could have produced using a simple bank of video cameras. We then employed standard DVD authoring equipment to create an exciting user experience to highlight all the films, directors, actors and (of course) the BMWs.”