The Lost Art Of DVD Menus

In which I praise the nearly lost art of DVD Menus.

Nothing fills me with 2000s nostalgia like a good old fashion DVD menu.
From DVD menus, previews, to box engineering, a ridiculous amount of expertise and deliberate design was invested in selling the public on new forms of physical media during the 2000s.
What are the qualities, quirks, and merits of physical media during what is arguably the last era of its existence? Is there still a point to having a massive collection of DVDs and Video Cassettes when I can just rent Tokyo Drift on iTunes and watch it right now? Are there any strengths in physical releases compared to streaming video? Absolutely. Physical media, and DVDs in particular have artistic merit and valuable content beyond the movie itself. Before you even press play on your remote, you’re absorbing a powerful, deliberately designed, and sadly underappreciated form of art. Behold, the art of the DVD menu.

Video essay, movie analysis, film history, y2k aesthetic, 2000s nostalgia, 2000s trends, 2000s movies, y2k movies, art analysis, art video essay
#2000s #2000snostalgia #DVD

[Chris-bsex]

As a former DVD menu designer/producer, thank you for this.

[charlietheanteater]

It’s sad how kids won’t experience the awesome dvd menus we had.

[Kaiju_Queen]

The special features menu for Shrek is one of the menus I remember specifically from my childhood. I always remember selecting the gumdrop buttons on the Gingerbread man and hearing him say "Not my gumdrop buttons!". I love the main menu but the special features menu is always the one that comes to mind when it come to nostalgic DVD menus IMO.

[BodhiTOuellette]

Shit man, that ending bit about the Star Wars DVD menus and you discovering that Empire of Dreams documentary, coming to the realization that filmmaking is a career path you can take on and be inspired by... verbatim how I got into filmmaking too. You hot me with those feels man. Great work on this video, King. <3

[HankosaurasRex]

The DVD menu for The Incredibles was the best one that I can think of. It had TONS of bonus material. With that said, the one that is drilled into my memory is Christmas with the Cranks lol. My cousin and I left it playing for an hour after the movie finished trying to memorize and recite the theme song that played on repeat :)

[AlexTheMenace]

The first Spider-Man movie's DVD menus definitely were the ones I had on loop the most. Although I'd add the Cat in the Hat DVD as well for having the characters sort of chastise you for taking too long to pick something.

[firemonkey]

Oh my god I specifically remember that Shrek menu lmao, most of the time though I found the loops quite annoying however now that I’m in my 20’s, I want them back

[Anonymous.Throne]

I love how you mentioned the Spider-Man 1 menu, nobody from that time can forget that.

Freaky Friday’s menu music is engraved in my mind to this day lmao

[PinAViolet]

Omg the nostalgia!!!
It was the best when they had good music and terrible when the music clip was only like 20 seconds long haha

Also, I never thought about the dying art of "special features"
Either there's a documentary film style "The Making of..." piece or nothing. There's no little tab on a Netflix movie that let's you watch "the making of the lightsaber" or those clips of make-up artists working on the masks in Harry Potter.

So many memories of flipping through pages of bonus features trying to watch every single bit of my favorite movies...

I really liked this, really well done!

[Sims_it]

I always hated the menus where characters spoke to you because I grew up speaking French only and those menus were never translated so I never understood a thing. My greatest DVD menu memories are from the Platinum edition of Beauty and the Beast, though, as this was the first DVD we ever got in my family. It was one of those "Each menu takes place in a location of the movie" kind of thing. I also remember a lot about Shrek 2, even though that's one of those voice-over menus I never understood when I was young. I just watched that movie so much, I saw that menu an insane amount of time!

[ChazaChang]

Dvd menus always scared me. Mostly because my brother would leave on his horror movie dvds in the middle of night and I would find them with there scary ass menus. I couldn't stomach the courage to turn the player off but goddamm it was scary. Look at the evil dead dvd menu and the ring dvd menu.

[qavix]

the second disc of monster inc. I remember exploring that like if there's no tomorrow.

[SakuraStallion]

The Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron DVD menus were just... so good.. I'd love for them to be re-released text free as wallpapers or something. They were so beautiful.

[emmablue]

I really like the example of the Criterion Collection as a more modern day version of what DVD menus could look like. All these old 2000s examples got me right in the feels.

[CuriousRobinKnows]

Just finished watching all your videos today and this one was my favorite, perfect blend of 2000s notalgia and appreciation for something that was largely unnoticed.

[itsjayden]

When I was younger, a teacher gave me & my brother disc 1 of season 2 of SpongeBob, and I was confused by most of the menu clips not being from episodes on the disc. This was made more confusing by the fact that I never saw any of the episodes those clips came from on TV. The Incredibles was one of my favorite DVDs as a kid. I probably watched the 2nd disc more than the first. It was the main DVD that influenced my love of filmmaking. It isn’t my #1 DVD anymore because it’s in 4x3 and skips a lot, but I’ll still keep it for the nostalgia. I remember the DVDs for the 90s sitcom Martin, and I found it fun to do a sort of “scavenger hunt” to find the clips they showed on the menus. I also love the menu for the Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie, because it’s a really creative spin on the animated clip show type of menus. It reminds me of what Warner Bros. sometimes did (ex: live action Scooby Doo-ology, Looney Tunes: Back in Action) where they repurpose animation assets in a fun way. The early SpongeBob DVDs also did this, and I love them for it. Not to mention that most of those compilations had exclusive special features.

[AnnoyingMoose]

In summer of 2002 I was planning to propose to my first wife (the first movie that we saw together was Shrek (in a theatre)). While I have seen 95% of the movies that you mention here I have not seen ANY of the DVD menus since I saw those movies in a theatre.

[elfiebranford]

I'm genuinely so happy that this video exists. There really is a beautiful art to the DVD Menus of old, and I'm so pleased you could illustrate my exact thoughts!! Subscribed~!! You deserve way more views.
Also, if I had to pick a favourite DVD menu, hands down, it would have to be the one for "Over the Hedge".

[LetsCrashThisParade]

Did you make this FOR ME?!?!? I think you fucking did sir. Yes indeed. Jesus, this is exactly what I want in a YouTube video haha. And btw, it's Spider-Man.. that's my essential childhood DVD menu!

(And all those stupid mini-games 😂 ... I miss that era 😭)

[ibyinstitute]

I searched "video essay" and sorted by new on YouTube and found your channel. This video is super well made, I hope you get more popular!