Andy Siditsky ------ is in the picture with stan Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment By JENNIFER NETHERBY Siditsky
Under Andy Siditsky's leadership, Disney has brought filmmakers and programmers together to create some of the most advanced interactive features on the format to date, winning it the praise of early adopters.
On the Blu-ray release of "Cars," the studio introduced the "Car Finder" feature, which challenges viewers to ID all of the different automotive bit players that appear throughout the film. The concept rose out of a conversation between Siditsky and helmer John Lasseter, who was explaining the detail-intensive process of creating so many vehicle "extras" for "Cars." "He said, 'Wouldn't it be cool to find out who they were,' " Siditsky recalls.
On another of its early BD releases, last year's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," the studio adapted a scene in the film into the interactive bluffing game "Liar's Dice," where viewers can compete against pirates from the movie who growl back appropriate comments during play. The fall release of "Sleeping Beauty" will take interactivity a step further, with the studio hinting at an online shopping feature using BD Live.
While refusing to talk about it, Siditsky promises the studio is on the verge of "an entirely new experience of watching and enjoying motion pictures at home in an entirely unique way."
POV: "What Blu-ray has done is opened a door -- it's unhinged for us the ability to dream and create something entirely new, far beyond the parameters of what DVD allowed us to do," says Siditsky, who also led production of the studio's more innovative DVD releases.