Sulphur on 31/3/2009 at 20:22
You know, it's odd. Like most folks, I love watching movies. Love the art and craft of 'em in most every aspect, love the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and tears that goes into making 'em.
And like lots of folks, I've racked up a rather nicely sized collection of DVDs over the years. So anyhow, over the weekend when I was sorting through my collection, I realised something: I've never actually gone through the bonus/special features on any of the movies I own. (Except for maybe Requiem for a Dream and 2001: A Space Odyssey.)
It's odd. I've got these tons of supplementary discs with bonus featurettes/making of's/behind the scenes/commentaries, basically fuckloads of insight into the art of making a movie, and I've completely ignored them all at an almost subconscious level even though, in theory, I should like it.
guess it's because in practice, if i had watched every single featurette to a movie in one stretch, i can't help but feel i'd probably have bored myself to death.
So anyway, I got to wondering: what do you fine people do with the special features on your discs? Ignore 'em or plow right into 'em?
demagogue on 31/3/2009 at 20:32
I love them, the actually insightful ones anyway. Some of them just give pretty banal interviews and maybe a few behind the scenes looks, and it doesn't do much for me. But sometimes they really explain things going on in a deeper way.
My favorites are the video commentaries for really classic movies ... when it plays the whole movie and the director, or sometimes a very good commentator if the director has died, explains things about the scene while you're watching it, how they set it up, why he made this or that choice in the lighting or blocking or camera angle or lens or actor instructions or editing, and maybe influences (previous films using that technique that inspired him, or homages, or sometimes the film innovates a technique and they'll explain how it was influential for a lot of later films). When you watch that for a really great director like Kurosawa, it really helps you understand what made them great and why they were so influential at the time, scene by scene.
Al_B on 31/3/2009 at 20:36
Biggest problem I have with them is that most of the time the care, love and effort has gone into the movie (or TV episodes) themselves. Most of the DVD extras tend to be the trailers, clips and other dross that has been created for various cable channels to show in 5 minute snippets between programs and would be called adverts if the word featurette hadn't been invented.
Not all are as bad as that and occasionally commentry is worth listening to but a lot of the time it ends up being the director reminding himself what the film was about.
RavynousHunter on 31/3/2009 at 20:44
Only sometimes, like the Original Audio track from Kung Pow or the commentary on Invader Zim. Most of the time, though, I really don't care, I just want to watch the movie.
However, I do watch DVDs with the subtitles (English) on for those hard-to-understand lines or idiotic whisperfests that go on in movies like Lord of the Rings.
june gloom on 31/3/2009 at 20:54
I used to, when we first got a DVD player and the concept was new to me. Now I don't give a shit.
Well, okay I'll watch the commentary for This Is Spinal Tap but that's it really.
Wormrat on 31/3/2009 at 21:28
I'll sit through them if it's a movie I really like, but otherwise I end up wasting too much time separating the wheat from the chaff. Often I'll select "The Making Of..." or "Behind the Scenes..." hoping for some on-set footage and get nothing but one of those 20-minute commercials with hype quotes and talking heads.
Commentaries are dicey as well. I don't really care for pleasant chit-chat between cast members; some insight into the scenes I'm watching would be nice, please.
demagogue on 31/3/2009 at 21:36
Quote Posted by demagogue
My favorites are the video commentaries for really classic movies ...
I should have been more explicit here. The commentaries for the Criterion Collection DVDs have all been very good IMO, and a few other "classic" movies that are part of similar kinds of arrangements. I always enjoy watching those, and I know when I get a new one I can trust they'll be good. But if it were a random commercial movie I probably wouldn't bother; I wouldn't know what I was getting into ... unless I just really liked the movie.
Angel Dust on 31/3/2009 at 21:41
It really depends. I'm not really into the behind the scenes special effects stuff anymore and a lot of the interviews they put on there are just fluff.
However if it's a commentary by someone like Scorsese, I'm all over it.
Nicker on 31/3/2009 at 21:43
It very much depends on the type of movie. I usually find that the deleted scenes were deleted for good reason and rarely watch them now, although if it's a good film it's interesting to understand the winnowing process.
However deleted material in documentaries is often very rewarding and enlightening, since this material is generally excluded due to time constraints or because it disrupted the narrative line of the doc. It can add great depth and breadth to the subject for those keen to learn more.
Making of's can be fun, mostly to see the gargantuan excesses involved in making movies.
Yell Piranha on 31/3/2009 at 21:49
Considering how much of a sucker I am for the 2 disc special edition I rarely watch the extras. Like you say, most of the time they are rubbish. My particular pet hate is alternative endings where the odd line or filter has been changed. I want a dramatically different finish a la Army of Darkness.
That said I thoroughly recommend almost all the extras on the extended LOTR DVDs.
