(Recent titles Paul has worked on.)
(Recent titles Paul has worked on.)
| Last February, Paul had a casual
conversation with his good friend Scott Williams that changed his life
forever. Paul has known Scott now for over 16 years... ever since they met
in college when Paul was directing the In-Between Acts for the "Rock
Chalk Revue" (campus variety show) at the University of Kansas.
Scott auditioned for him in 1984 as a dancer, and Paul was smart enough to
cast him! They lost contact over the next several years. Paul first moved
to New York, then Los Angeles pursuing acting and music careers, while
Scott began dancing professionally all over the world in theatre,
industrials, and cruise ship shows. They came in contact again eight years
ago, when Paul discovered that his then-recent friend Dennis Hensley was
actually roommates with his old friend Scott! A very small world, indeed.
Over the next couple of years, Scott began a stunning career
transformation... from successful dancer to highly successful Art Director
for New Wave Entertainment.
New Wave Entertainment is best described as a Trailer House (no, not a trailer park... there IS a big difference). What New Wave does is basically sell movies made by the studios. They have grown to over 140 employees at last count. They make the one-sheet movie posters, they design and produce the main title sequences seen in films, they create the newspaper, radio and television ads, as well as the "coming attraction" trailers shown in theatres. They also do color correction for videos and DVDs, they produce DVD content (such as "making-of" documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and on-camera interviews). And slightly less than two years ago, they started designing and producing DVD menus. You can see examples of the most recent International releases Paul has been working on below:
DVD menus are the navigation screens that guide the viewer through the selection options available on any disc, such as Chapter Selections, Language and Subtitle Selections, Special Features, Cast & Crew Bios, etc. The menus are designed to incorporate the theme and flavor of the movie, and they often include elaborate animations and 3-D environments, enhancing the overall entertainment value of the DVD (short for Digital Virtual Disc). For those of you readers out there who don't have a DVD player yet, I highly recommend getting one. The prices have come way down this season, not much more than a VCR, and you'll never watch movies at home the same way again! (Enough with the sales pitch.) Paul first approached DVD menu design from a "consumer" point of view. It was love at first sight (and sound)! And when he struck up a casual conversation with Scott Williams at the Bette Midler concert last winter, he discovered Scott was looking for menu designers. Paul seized the opportunity, having just taken several classes in Graphic Design, and Scott (God, bless him!) was willing to give the "kid" a shot. Since being hired full-time last April, Paul is rising quickly... officially hired first as an Assistant Graphic Designer, and moving up over the past eight months of his employment to DVD Coordinator for the ever-expanding Graphics Department. Who knows where things are headed? (Up to the moon, hopefully.) But for the first time in many years, Paul looks forward every day to going to work.
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