Is bonus/extra material accompanying a film really *that* important?

JediFonger · 05-16-2006, 01:38 PM

notice i have already revealed how i felt about it in the way i asked the question. i try to get the best possible quality a/v copy of the film and everything else is secondary. so why is the extra stuff so important to people? i mean not many watch that material more than once. can ya'll honestly say you watch the behind the scenes stuff for LOTR more than once? i got sick of it the FIRST 36 hours i spent on the entire trilogies' extra stuff. i don't think i wanna' get sucked back into that. i mean, the film is the meat. i try to carve out the fat, doesn't mean i don't enjoy it from time to tmie.

my fav. extra is still star wars ep1's "The Beginning". the emotions behind that are awesome.

Chris Moreau · 05-16-2006, 02:38 PM

Being the (probably over the top) film buff that I am, I LOVE the extras. I look forward to the day when we start seeing them in HD along with the feature.

Of course, I agree that we do buy these things for the feature film, but when there is a lot of good supplementary material, I'm just that much happier.

JediFonger · 05-16-2006, 03:04 PM

but do you watch the bonus OVER and OVER and OVER again like the movies themselves? of the small collection off DVDs i have. i haven't watched any of the bonus more than once except for "The Beginning".

i consider it all to be fluff. i'm also a film buff, but i believe in the power of magic that happens with not knowing every n00k+cranny of how the film is made. it's the one curse of people who already work as filmmaker (i'm not one, but hope to become one in the future).

i rent most of the bonus stuff off of netflix, not one of them have encouraged me to purchase the full thing. it's always the film as a priority.

Chris Moreau · 05-16-2006, 03:10 PM

With somewhere over 400 titles in my collection, there are really only a handful where I've watched the main feature over and over. Sadly, there are many that I've only watched the one time after purchase. (Most often, films get second -- or more -- viewings because friends come over and want to watch them. Now THAT'S the pleasure of owning a copy instead of renting!)

But, you're right, I rarely watch the supplements more than once; however, if they're well done, I enjoy them immensely that one time!

Garrett Lundy · 05-16-2006, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YiFeng

i consider it all to be fluff. i'm also a film buff, but i believe in the power of magic that happens with not knowing every n00k+cranny of how the film is made.

In my own opinion I believe that the vast majority of DVD "additional material" is incredibly fluffy and has little to no benefit for any potential filmmakers. Cast & crew blathering on & on about which person was "great to work with" or how so and so hurt which rib when they slipped on a wet noodle is not my idea of insightful commentary (are people even allowed to say bad things about anyone or anything?).

Then there's production features, but since Hollywood abandoned the practical effect in favor of the cheaper computer generated effect, whats the point anymore? (Jurassic Park, "heres a guy drawing a dinosaur on a computer". Starship Troopers, 'heres a guy drawing a bug on a computer". Spider-Man, "Heres a guy drawing Spiderman on a computer".King Kong, "Heres a guy drawing an ape on a computer", etc etc etc).

Then there are trailers. Personally I don't watch them, but they provide some history. Alternate languages (why?), and ever so rarely: The deleted scenes.

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JediFonger · 05-16-2006, 03:47 PM

chris, then why not just rent? =). i only buy DVD's that watch over and over again. for example top gun, LOTR, star wars. easy candidates. even if i don't sit down and watch the entire thing, just goto the scenes i like =). every now and then i goto the wormhold scene in contact for the surrounds =). that's one of the bennies of owning the disc to playback the movie. but bonus? count me out.

garrett, have you seen The Beginning on episode i =). it's probably more entertaining than the film itself!!! =).

Mark Zimmer · 05-16-2006, 04:18 PM

I'm pretty tired of CGI featurettes, being pretty much seen-one-seen-em-all, unless they're really trying to do something very different (LOTR, Sky Captain). There's a lot of crap masquerading as "extras," but some of the stuff is really good. One thing I wish we'd see more of is the marketing aspect of these movies, though I bet that's something that the studios would just as soon that we remain in the dark about. But you get some of that with trailers, and oddball things like Image's Gene Autry Collection that regularly features some fascinating 1930s and 40s presskiit materials, memoranda from production, and the like that really give you a serious and pretty much unfiltered look behind the scenes.

I have, I must admit, listened to the director commentaries on LOTR more than once.

Carlo Medina · 05-16-2006, 04:24 PM

For me, the extras I get the most from are the ones that could be considered "film school in a box" type of stuff. Things like:

Director/Actor/Historian commentary
Behind the scenes information when it is not just fluff
Actual analysis of shots/scenes (i.e. an expert breaks down composition, dialogue, pacing, framing, etc.)
Things of historical importance (i.e. struggles/compromises to get film made)

But above all, great A/V quality is a must. That for me will always be #1. Then the non-EPK stuff, supplements like what Criterion might create. The last thing I need is Brad telling me how tough it was to shoot a love scene with Angelina, or how the director just loved working with so-n-so.

Marc Colella · 05-16-2006, 08:33 PM

I always watch the supplements after watching the movie, but it's very rare that I re-watch them. I find it a better use of my time to just watch a movie (especially one I have never seen before)? There are just too many films from countries all over the world that I want to watch, I can't bring myself (most times) to watching trivial bonus features more than once.

This is why I prefer that the supplements on HD discs be kept in SD. I would rather use the space more wisely for presentation of the film (video and audio). If they're going to put the supplements in HD, then throw them on a second disc. Most bonus materials aren't that great visually anyways, so it would offer little benefit in my opinion.