Movie that turns back into a poster

This is a poster movie.

When you click it, it turns into a movie with a controller.

The movie autoplays. When it's done playing, it turns back into a poster.

You can repeat the process as often as you like. Try it...

Why do this?

You can use this technique to embed multiple movies in a Web page. The page loads quickly because the posters are small compared with the movies they link to. Memory requirements are reduced because only one movie is loaded at any time; when it's done playing, it turns back into a poster and frees memory.

How it Works

The poster movie is embedded in the page with the attribute CONTROLLER="false".
Here's the HTML:
    < EMBED SRC=poster.mov HEIGHT=256 WIDTH=320 CONTROLLER=false >

Note that the poster is 16 pixels taller than the movie, so it occupies the same space as the movie plus controller.

The poster turns into a movie when you click it because a Movie URL and a TARGET have been added using Plugin Helper:

Note that the poster also has CONTROLLER=false embedded using Plugin Helper.

The actual movie autoplays because AUTOPLAY=true has been added to it using Plugin Helper. It has a controller because that's the QuickTime default. (You don't need to specify CONTROLLER=true using Plugin Helper, and you shouldn't.)

The movie turns back into a poster because it has an HREF track with a single sample at the end of the movie:
    A<poster.mov> T<myself>

Creating an HREF Track is described in detail in Chapter 13, "Text! Text! Text!", but here's a quick and dirty method:

1) Create a one-line text file, using a text editor or word processor, that reads:

using the actual name of your poster movie in place of poster.mov. Save this as a plain text file with a .txt file extension, such as link.txt. Close it.

2) Drag your new text file onto QuickTime Player. It should open as a movie. (Requires QuickTime Pro with a complete install).

3) Select All. Copy. Close.

4) Open the actual movie that you want to play. Go to the end and click on the last frame. Paste. This adds the text to the end of your movie as a new text track.

5) Change the name of the new text track to HREFTrack:

• choose Get Movie Properties to open the Info window,
• choose the last text track in the Info window's left pop-up menu,
• choose General in the right pop-up menu,
• click Change Name, and
• enter HREFTrack (exactly like that, mixed case, no spaces).

6) Choose Enable Tracks from the Edit menu and turn HREFTrack OFF.

7) Choose Save As (self contained). This creates a new movie that will turn into a poster when it's done playing.

That's all there is to it...