Easier Red than Done: Making Alpha DVD's Mars: The Red Planet - Company Business and Marketing

Emedia Professional, Jan, 2000 by Marla Misek

Since the earliest days of space exploration, the solar system's third planet has been a mystery, an elusive frontier inspiring hundreds of questions, but few answers. As fodder for folklorists and sustenance for science fiction enthusiasts everywhere--not to mention the subject of much pop cultural preoccupation--Mars has achieved cult status among the common man as the source of answers to the question: "Are we alone in the universe?"

Given mankind's fixation on the Red Planet and its mythical inhabitants, it's hardly shocking to see our planetary neighbor find its place in the DVD sun.

THE CONCEPT, FEATURES, AND TIMELINE TO LIFTOFF

Though DVD title development is now in its second year of respectability, the tools and technology itself have not yet caught up with developers' unlimited imaginations. So when Ralph LaBarge, Managing Partner (and sole employee) of Gambrills, Maryland-based Alpha DVD, LLC, decided about 18 months ago to create a cross-compatible title about Mars--complete with WebDVD functionality--he had definite plans for what he hoped the title would achieve.

LaBarge explains, "My goals in developing Mars: The Red Planet were simple: (1) create a title that would be compelling for the viewer and (2) use as many advanced features of DVD as possible." As a long-time science fiction fan fascinated by Mars' legendary reputation, LaBarge believed there would be enough consumer interest in space, and particularly, in Mars, to justify the effort involved in creating a fully featured title from scratch.

Moving forward, however, demanded a clearer vision of what the title would include. Many of the final product's features weren't planned in the beginning--they simply emerged. Ninety minutes in length, Mars: The Red Planet includes 80 minutes of 5.1-channel AC-3 music specifically written and recorded for this title, as well as 60 minutes of narration. In that time, viewers may sample a variety of surface videos, still imagery, interactive maps, and historical spacecraft graphics. Other features include:

* Dual Operational Modes: Viewers may select the "Entertainment Mode," in which they simply watch the complete 90-minute program, or the "Interactive Mode," allowing access to more than 1,000 individual media elements and 8,000 title buttons.

* Planetary Views: Users may view Mars from any one of six camera angles, representing the planet's complete rotation.

* Surface Views: Viewers may explore Mars' surface around the Pathfinder landing site, or enjoy close-up, 3D views of each rock visited by the Sojourner Rover [using 3D glasses included with the title).

* Slide Shows: Four separate programs offer complete views of Mars' 200 largest features, including craters, valleys, volcanoes, mountain ranges, canyons, and rifts. Each show provides a Dolby Digital surround sound audio track and informational subtitle track.

* Mars Missions In-depth: This section of the title offers comprehensive multimedia information on past and recent explorations, as well as details on future missions.

* Interactive Maps: With more than 900 chapters and 8,000 menu links, users enjoy a fully interactive map of the entire planet, complete with zooms in and out and pan-and-scans in eight directions.

* Art Gallery: This section includes 33 space-themed works of art from artists Michael Carroll, Marilynn Flynn, and Michael Koonce.

* Screensavers: Windows 95, 98, and NT users may download, free of charge, more than 100 Mars images available as screensavers for their desktops. An additional 200 images may be purchased as well.

Likewise, Mars: The Red Planet incorporates Microsoft's new WebDVD specification, allowing users with Windows 98 or 2000 and Internet Explorer 5.0 to visit the title's companion Web site (http://www.MarsDVD.com) and play back much of its content within the framework of a standard Web page, right on their desktops.

NAVIGATING CRATERS AND CREVICES: THE PEAKS AND VALLEYS OF DEVELOPMENT

Obviously, LaBarge's first step in making his vision a reality was to collect high-quality content, at which point he encountered the first of several problems that plagued development: no one has managed to collect video footage or audio recordings of Mars. While NASA has created a number of animations highlighting various spacecraft destined for Mars, and has plenty of video footage documenting actual launches, the Agency has no moving pictures of the planet's surface. To resolve this problem, LaBarge created video using NASA's still-image database, splicing thousands of images together, animating them to create uncompressed video, and compressing them to create MPEG2 video files. He next made detailed digital maps of the Mars surface using still images from the Viking missions, printed maps created by the U.S. Geographical Survey, and the official IAU nomenclature for all of Mars' features, before turning the project over to an outside graphic artist, who worked to create the custom background and menu buttons, and a composer who integrated the soundtrack of Gustav Holst's orchestral suite, "The Planets," as well as recordings written specifically for Mars.