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Does it ever annoy you when 98% of the interesting features on DVD's are taken up with clips from the film that you have already, or are about to watch. Okay, so maybe it's useful when the direct is explaining how he did a particular thing. What gets me though is the making of "documentaries". You get 7 minutes most of which is taken up by entirely needless clips.
Why do film makers feel the need to pack a DVD with pointless extras. I can name hundreds of DVD's with no interesting extras at all, all because they have been padded out to seem more than they really are. I would rather have a DVD with one well-thought-out feature than a 2 disc extravaganza with nothing even remotely good on it.
So what have we seen this year that's been innovative. For starters some of the re-releases are being given commentaries, which is great. Directors also seem to be more used to commenting on their films for the DVD market. It's now quite rare to see a DVD where the sole source of comment from the director is a two minute interview clip. Now we get the full-blown commentary. These range from the fascinating to the humorous. I'm waiting to see a Coen Brothers commentary because each of their films is fiendishly well-made and there's a lot that can be learnt from good directors. The re-release of the Three Colours trilogy saw director Kiewolski give a 15 minute "masterclass", where he disected a scene from each of the films. These revealed how much the director has to consider, which just cannot be portrayed through a commentary. Shrek was another landmark in DVD innovation. The games may have been poor but they did show some character. The most original feature this year was probably the audio-dubbing DVD-rom feature that came with Shrek. You got to record your own version of a Shrek scene, which is more fun than it sounds...
Shrek also showed the current trend to stick interesting feturettes on DVD's. Instead of a stuffy documentary, Shrek's creators went behind the scenes of the internationalisation of their film. It's fascinating to see how different countries associate different voices with cartoon films where subtitling is not really an option. Another great DVD was "The Nightmare Before Christmas" where a brilliant documentary with no padding was included together with Tim Burton's first two films. Now this is the type of stuff I want to see on DVD's.
The year has also seen many disappointments. The Coen's have yet to release a substantial DVD (first-time round), though the 2-disc release of "O Brother" might suggest that they are embracing the format at long last. I'm looking forward to "The Man Who Wasn't There" on DVD with lots of meaty extras. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year, for me, was X-men. Sure it had pretty menus but overall it was a messy job with very little of interest. Equally Traffic provided very little of interest in comparison to Blow whose extras were informative and interesting.
Extras will never carry more weight than the film on a DVD. You will never buy a DVD solely because it has something interesting in the extras. However, if you're standing in a shop holding a copy of "The Big Lebowski" in one hand and a 2-disc copy of "Seven" in the other, it might be the factor that determines which you buy. Hopefully this will mean film makers really trying to do something interesting with the format. Instead of borrowing a promotional documentary of the film they might make their own. Instead of putting stills on the DVD they might put more obscure featuettes about the film's subject matter on. Hopefully we are approaching the point when films are made with the DVD in mind. Films like "Crouching Tiger.." covered their production costs from DVD sales alone and the format is expanding at an unexpectedly high rate. With this we should see more DVDs that don't follow the conventional route and this can only be a good thing. You might have noticed that static menu screens are almost non-existent now; well hopefully filler material will have ben eradicated by this time next year.
My awards for the best extras this year go to Blow for the documentaries it contained on the effects and history of Cocaine, even if the film itself descended into sentimentalism. Shrek's DVD-rom feature gets a mention for most innovative feature. And the other awards? Suggest your own..
Why do film makers feel the need to pack a DVD with pointless extras. I can name hundreds of DVD's with no interesting extras at all, all because they have been padded out to seem more than they really are. I would rather have a DVD with one well-thought-out feature than a 2 disc extravaganza with nothing even remotely good on it.
So what have we seen this year that's been innovative. For starters some of the re-releases are being given commentaries, which is great. Directors also seem to be more used to commenting on their films for the DVD market. It's now quite rare to see a DVD where the sole source of comment from the director is a two minute interview clip. Now we get the full-blown commentary. These range from the fascinating to the humorous. I'm waiting to see a Coen Brothers commentary because each of their films is fiendishly well-made and there's a lot that can be learnt from good directors. The re-release of the Three Colours trilogy saw director Kiewolski give a 15 minute "masterclass", where he disected a scene from each of the films. These revealed how much the director has to consider, which just cannot be portrayed through a commentary. Shrek was another landmark in DVD innovation. The games may have been poor but they did show some character. The most original feature this year was probably the audio-dubbing DVD-rom feature that came with Shrek. You got to record your own version of a Shrek scene, which is more fun than it sounds...
Shrek also showed the current trend to stick interesting feturettes on DVD's. Instead of a stuffy documentary, Shrek's creators went behind the scenes of the internationalisation of their film. It's fascinating to see how different countries associate different voices with cartoon films where subtitling is not really an option. Another great DVD was "The Nightmare Before Christmas" where a brilliant documentary with no padding was included together with Tim Burton's first two films. Now this is the type of stuff I want to see on DVD's.
The year has also seen many disappointments. The Coen's have yet to release a substantial DVD (first-time round), though the 2-disc release of "O Brother" might suggest that they are embracing the format at long last. I'm looking forward to "The Man Who Wasn't There" on DVD with lots of meaty extras. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year, for me, was X-men. Sure it had pretty menus but overall it was a messy job with very little of interest. Equally Traffic provided very little of interest in comparison to Blow whose extras were informative and interesting.
Extras will never carry more weight than the film on a DVD. You will never buy a DVD solely because it has something interesting in the extras. However, if you're standing in a shop holding a copy of "The Big Lebowski" in one hand and a 2-disc copy of "Seven" in the other, it might be the factor that determines which you buy. Hopefully this will mean film makers really trying to do something interesting with the format. Instead of borrowing a promotional documentary of the film they might make their own. Instead of putting stills on the DVD they might put more obscure featuettes about the film's subject matter on. Hopefully we are approaching the point when films are made with the DVD in mind. Films like "Crouching Tiger.." covered their production costs from DVD sales alone and the format is expanding at an unexpectedly high rate. With this we should see more DVDs that don't follow the conventional route and this can only be a good thing. You might have noticed that static menu screens are almost non-existent now; well hopefully filler material will have ben eradicated by this time next year.
My awards for the best extras this year go to Blow for the documentaries it contained on the effects and history of Cocaine, even if the film itself descended into sentimentalism. Shrek's DVD-rom feature gets a mention for most innovative feature. And the other awards? Suggest your own..
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Game of Death has brilliant features.
A Jeet Kune Do Seminar with Dan Inosanto.
"This woman has never done martial arts in her life before. Now, if you'd just try and get this knife of me..."
She starts all this martial arts crap. Heh heh. That was more than amusing. :-D
But then there were loads of really good documentaries. Ok, so some of them did have clips from Lee's films but you can never get bored of a man having his snapped back in a really amusing way! :-D
And 40 minutes of footage put together using his original script notes. Fantastic! Great effects on the big guy's eyes.
A Jeet Kune Do Seminar with Dan Inosanto.
"This woman has never done martial arts in her life before. Now, if you'd just try and get this knife of me..."
She starts all this martial arts crap. Heh heh. That was more than amusing. :-D
But then there were loads of really good documentaries. Ok, so some of them did have clips from Lee's films but you can never get bored of a man having his snapped back in a really amusing way! :-D
And 40 minutes of footage put together using his original script notes. Fantastic! Great effects on the big guy's eyes.
I see what you mean misterhappy and I totally agree. Most DVD's are packed with extras I don't even bother looking at, like little clips from the film i have already seen but enhanced very slighty in some way or another.
I think as more DVD's are realeased though we will see more extras which will be more original. Small doscumentrys into the making of the film etc are intresting and really show the work behind the movie, not what happened in it or about the actors but the people that made the film.
Here's hoping we get some cool extras in the future :-)
miserhappy, I really want to do a review of NEO's 'Thriller' But, I know you were in the process, are you still? Because I would really like to give my view on it too hehe
I think as more DVD's are realeased though we will see more extras which will be more original. Small doscumentrys into the making of the film etc are intresting and really show the work behind the movie, not what happened in it or about the actors but the people that made the film.
Here's hoping we get some cool extras in the future :-)
miserhappy, I really want to do a review of NEO's 'Thriller' But, I know you were in the process, are you still? Because I would really like to give my view on it too hehe
Does it ever annoy you when 98% of the interesting features on DVD's are taken up with clips from the film that you have already, or are about to watch. Okay, so maybe it's useful when the direct is explaining how he did a particular thing. What gets me though is the making of "documentaries". You get 7 minutes most of which is taken up by entirely needless clips.
Why do film makers feel the need to pack a DVD with pointless extras. I can name hundreds of DVD's with no interesting extras at all, all because they have been padded out to seem more than they really are. I would rather have a DVD with one well-thought-out feature than a 2 disc extravaganza with nothing even remotely good on it.
So what have we seen this year that's been innovative. For starters some of the re-releases are being given commentaries, which is great. Directors also seem to be more used to commenting on their films for the DVD market. It's now quite rare to see a DVD where the sole source of comment from the director is a two minute interview clip. Now we get the full-blown commentary. These range from the fascinating to the humorous. I'm waiting to see a Coen Brothers commentary because each of their films is fiendishly well-made and there's a lot that can be learnt from good directors. The re-release of the Three Colours trilogy saw director Kiewolski give a 15 minute "masterclass", where he disected a scene from each of the films. These revealed how much the director has to consider, which just cannot be portrayed through a commentary. Shrek was another landmark in DVD innovation. The games may have been poor but they did show some character. The most original feature this year was probably the audio-dubbing DVD-rom feature that came with Shrek. You got to record your own version of a Shrek scene, which is more fun than it sounds...
Shrek also showed the current trend to stick interesting feturettes on DVD's. Instead of a stuffy documentary, Shrek's creators went behind the scenes of the internationalisation of their film. It's fascinating to see how different countries associate different voices with cartoon films where subtitling is not really an option. Another great DVD was "The Nightmare Before Christmas" where a brilliant documentary with no padding was included together with Tim Burton's first two films. Now this is the type of stuff I want to see on DVD's.
The year has also seen many disappointments. The Coen's have yet to release a substantial DVD (first-time round), though the 2-disc release of "O Brother" might suggest that they are embracing the format at long last. I'm looking forward to "The Man Who Wasn't There" on DVD with lots of meaty extras. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year, for me, was X-men. Sure it had pretty menus but overall it was a messy job with very little of interest. Equally Traffic provided very little of interest in comparison to Blow whose extras were informative and interesting.
Extras will never carry more weight than the film on a DVD. You will never buy a DVD solely because it has something interesting in the extras. However, if you're standing in a shop holding a copy of "The Big Lebowski" in one hand and a 2-disc copy of "Seven" in the other, it might be the factor that determines which you buy. Hopefully this will mean film makers really trying to do something interesting with the format. Instead of borrowing a promotional documentary of the film they might make their own. Instead of putting stills on the DVD they might put more obscure featuettes about the film's subject matter on. Hopefully we are approaching the point when films are made with the DVD in mind. Films like "Crouching Tiger.." covered their production costs from DVD sales alone and the format is expanding at an unexpectedly high rate. With this we should see more DVDs that don't follow the conventional route and this can only be a good thing. You might have noticed that static menu screens are almost non-existent now; well hopefully filler material will have ben eradicated by this time next year.
My awards for the best extras this year go to Blow for the documentaries it contained on the effects and history of Cocaine, even if the film itself descended into sentimentalism. Shrek's DVD-rom feature gets a mention for most innovative feature. And the other awards? Suggest your own..
Why do film makers feel the need to pack a DVD with pointless extras. I can name hundreds of DVD's with no interesting extras at all, all because they have been padded out to seem more than they really are. I would rather have a DVD with one well-thought-out feature than a 2 disc extravaganza with nothing even remotely good on it.
So what have we seen this year that's been innovative. For starters some of the re-releases are being given commentaries, which is great. Directors also seem to be more used to commenting on their films for the DVD market. It's now quite rare to see a DVD where the sole source of comment from the director is a two minute interview clip. Now we get the full-blown commentary. These range from the fascinating to the humorous. I'm waiting to see a Coen Brothers commentary because each of their films is fiendishly well-made and there's a lot that can be learnt from good directors. The re-release of the Three Colours trilogy saw director Kiewolski give a 15 minute "masterclass", where he disected a scene from each of the films. These revealed how much the director has to consider, which just cannot be portrayed through a commentary. Shrek was another landmark in DVD innovation. The games may have been poor but they did show some character. The most original feature this year was probably the audio-dubbing DVD-rom feature that came with Shrek. You got to record your own version of a Shrek scene, which is more fun than it sounds...
Shrek also showed the current trend to stick interesting feturettes on DVD's. Instead of a stuffy documentary, Shrek's creators went behind the scenes of the internationalisation of their film. It's fascinating to see how different countries associate different voices with cartoon films where subtitling is not really an option. Another great DVD was "The Nightmare Before Christmas" where a brilliant documentary with no padding was included together with Tim Burton's first two films. Now this is the type of stuff I want to see on DVD's.
The year has also seen many disappointments. The Coen's have yet to release a substantial DVD (first-time round), though the 2-disc release of "O Brother" might suggest that they are embracing the format at long last. I'm looking forward to "The Man Who Wasn't There" on DVD with lots of meaty extras. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year, for me, was X-men. Sure it had pretty menus but overall it was a messy job with very little of interest. Equally Traffic provided very little of interest in comparison to Blow whose extras were informative and interesting.
Extras will never carry more weight than the film on a DVD. You will never buy a DVD solely because it has something interesting in the extras. However, if you're standing in a shop holding a copy of "The Big Lebowski" in one hand and a 2-disc copy of "Seven" in the other, it might be the factor that determines which you buy. Hopefully this will mean film makers really trying to do something interesting with the format. Instead of borrowing a promotional documentary of the film they might make their own. Instead of putting stills on the DVD they might put more obscure featuettes about the film's subject matter on. Hopefully we are approaching the point when films are made with the DVD in mind. Films like "Crouching Tiger.." covered their production costs from DVD sales alone and the format is expanding at an unexpectedly high rate. With this we should see more DVDs that don't follow the conventional route and this can only be a good thing. You might have noticed that static menu screens are almost non-existent now; well hopefully filler material will have ben eradicated by this time next year.
My awards for the best extras this year go to Blow for the documentaries it contained on the effects and history of Cocaine, even if the film itself descended into sentimentalism. Shrek's DVD-rom feature gets a mention for most innovative feature. And the other awards? Suggest your own..
Page: