The Era of "You Want Extras Ya Gotta Pay For 'Em" Is In Full Swing (1 Viewer)

[paul_austin]

ya know thats very true...with my LD's I always listened to the commentaries I always made the time....maybe I made more time to make...no kids etc) But now it has to be pretty major to get me to listen to a commentaries

 

[WillG]

I still think that the now standard practice of the two tiered release for recent films is insulting. You're being asked to pay a premium for extras that are now mostly produced "on set" It seems like a SE of older film would fit that mold better since the special features have to be newly produced instead of getting a few sound bites from Will Smith between takes.

Take "The Dark Knight" for example. This is a film that was pretty much second only to "Titanic" in box office haul, yet there is still a premium release with extras of very dubious quality, and not much having anything to do with the production of the film at all. The real sucker punch is that there is absolutely going to be a huge double dip next holiday season. But yet they couldn't even throw the consumer a bone here and just give us a single release with those extras now. Contrast this for example with "The Fly", I bought a set at Costco of "The Fly" and "The Fly 2" both two disc releases, filled to the brim with superb features that detailed everything anyone would want to know about the films (In fact, the doc. for "The Fly" was so packed they actually had to cut out like 45 minutes of it and presented it on the side). Total price, for both films, mind you, about $19

Although I do think that a good SE does still come around every once and a while. Say what you will about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I was really eager to get into the making of material on that film. Although that does bring up another interesting point. Alot of contemporary films special features get bland in terms of effects because it's mostly done with computers now. Back in the day, it was truly interesting to see the "movie magic" that was behind the stuff that showed up on screen. Now it's just layers of pre-vis leading up to the final shot and actors in front of green screens.

 

[Yee-Ming]

One common thread here seems to be that extras on new(er) movies aren't great. What they lack I guess is perspective: time between release and the featurette in question, where truly great movies are recognised as such, and the influences they had on other movies. You can't get that if the DVD/BD is released just six months after the cinema release, and therefore the DVD was already in production. Hence with new movies, you get lots of EPK-type fluff.

In contrast, with troubled movies like Blade Runner or Alien 3, the difficulty in making those movies adds to the 'weight' of the making-of documentary -- but such frank discussion can only take place after time has healed some (or most) of the wounds and parties are able to speak frankly about what happened (and even in the case of Alien 3, not so much). Again, you won't get that on a new movie.

At an extreme, assuming a studio gets it right first time for the main feature (stellar transfer to DVD/BD), would consumers buy, say, a standalone extras-only disc relating to that title five years later? Hardly, so the studio has to 'double-dip', even if disc 1 is a reprint of the same one already done previously. Assuming of course that the new extras are worthy of release in the first place -- what gets silly is when some light fluff is cobbled together and advertised as being some really great new material. Even more egregious is the deliberate holding back of material already available: this happened with the likes of I, Robot and Dodgeball, where non-US releases were SEs from day one, whereas in the US the extra material was withheld and later added to double-dip SEs. (Which is why for once I bought an R3 version instead of the usually-superior R1.)

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I think SD's should be devoid of all extras from this point on. If people want any bonus features, make 'em buy the Blu-ray (which would be loaded).

 

[Simon Howson]

Doing that would kill the industry. Extra features on bonus discs increases profit margins, which keeps the industry afloat.

People aren't going to buy a new player just to get extra features on a $30 Blu-ray.

 

[David_B_K]

Yes, that would work. Make the existing product that people already like so crappy they are forced to upgrade to a more expensive one. Great business move.

 

[rich_d]

I don't find it insulting as much as just the reality of cash. I'm not a big extras guy but there are some things that interest me. For example, I love film scores and the making of film scores. Now, do I expect ever to see a new dvd showing the studio orchestra recording a full 'take' of a song? Nope. I'll only get a 15 - 20 second snippet. The DVD producer isn't going to give more than that because if a full song was on the DVD, the whole studio orchestra would be owed residuals for the performance. Same thing happens in CD sales. Bond fans cry about not getting the James Bond theme on the film score album release even though it was in the movie. Not going to happen as they don't want to pay composer Monty Norman residuals on the CD sales. Not happy with getting snippets from an actor between takes on the set? Putting him down for an exclusive and detailed interview (or commentary) comes at a significant cost and thus risk for the DVD producer.

My strategy is pretty simple these days:

1. First-Run DVD releases. Netflix them ... unless I really know that I or someone in the house wants something for multiple viewings, I'll get the bare bones edition as a loss-leader on the first week of release (or pre-order if it's not offered as a loss-leader). If someone wants the extras, I Netflix the extras disc. A recent example of that happening is Wall-E, with The Story of Pixar definitely worth watching as well as the featurette Notes on a Score.

2. Catalogue Titles. Netflix them. If it's something I really want to have (such as the film, Ace In The Hole) after renting, I'll wait for a significant sale. If it's a title I'm really been licking my chops for (such as the recent Dr. Syn release) Costco or Amazon pre-order it.

Often the reality is that if I Netflix it, I'm good for a while. Allowing me to wait a few years and get it on the cheap.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I remember the days when I bought 5-7 PER WEEK! Oh, how times have changed. This year, I bought around 30 DVDs. I bought an all-region (ABC, 1-6) Blu-Ray player recently and have a few titles, but things are moving so slow on the BD front that it hardly compares to my blitz out years of 1999-2001 (I was born 1980) when I went from VHS to DVD! I don't have time to watch most extras now and listen to 2-hour commentaries, so it is galling to have to pay over $15 for a 5 inch disc. But here in the UK, there have been crazy sales recently, online and in brick stores. Big chains are closing down after decades of business. It's insane.

 

[Frank@N]

Despite being a BIG movie fan, I own none of the versions of "I Am Legend".

This is directly due to the extras situation being totally messed up in this case.

The two-disc release wastes the entire 2nd disc on a version with an alternate ending, that's completely goofy.

As a result, the other extras had to be downloaded via the internet!

I don't watch DVDs on my computer and I don't have a fast internet connection, so that's useless to me.

Now a super high-priced ultimate version is being offered with the extras on disc, I assume.

I can't imagine why a disposable Will Smith vehicle was selected for such nonsense, maybe to see just how stupid we are in terms of what we'll pay for...


EDIT: I also didn't "upgrade" to the 3-disc 'Close Encounters' because they took the existing 'Making of' from the 2-disc release and spread it over ALL 3 discs!

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

Remember that every new film that comes out is going to be in somebody's Top 10 of All Time list. Those people will want to know all that they can about that movie. Just because you prefer hearing about set construction and model work to seeing CGI deconstructions does not mean that movies using the latter should get short shrift in the extras department.

Some recent movies have received stellar special editions. Kingdom of Heaven and Spider-Man 2 come to mind. Also, keep in mind that any DVD could be someone's first. You may be a very educated film lover because of all the great DVD extras you've watched, but the DVD producer cannot assume that the knowledge base of each customer is that extensive.

 

[Corey3rd]

You do understand that the movie industry thrives off this policy. After seeing a movie, you can't come back the next week with your ripped ticket stub and get a free second screening. They demand you pay to see it a second time. They summer box office depends on people coming back to pay for another ticket. It's only natural that the movie industry figures out a way to lure you into buying a second ticket. The want you to upgrade.

 

[Alan Tully]

The thing is; if they stop making money, then they're going to stop releasing stuff. I don't mind two tier releases, after all I don't have to buy the second lot.

 

[Bonedwarf]

What a pathetic attitude. Not to mention extremely insulting. Yes, let's punish film fans on a limited income, after all they're only poor scum, right? Did you undergo years of training to be an elitist jerk? Or did it come naturally?

 

[Brian Borst]

I hate it when the marketing people for the Benelux decide we don't need the 2-disc, because the film didn't do as good as they expected. So, we only get the single disc version. I don't mind paying more for extras but at least give me the choice.
I must also say that I haven't been impressed much by the latest Special Editions I bought. Zodiac was great, but I was missing something (which turned out to be right, there's a lot of bonus material missing because of disc space issues), There Will Be Blood is already mentioned, and Sweeney Todd was a bit lackluster to me as well. These are great movies, only the SEs left me cold (well, except for Zodiac, then).

 

[Steve Christou]

What a nasty thing to say. I'd put you on Ignore if I was into all that Ignore crap.

I may get into blu-ray next year, no rush, and I enjoy the extras on my dvds. I've bought movies I wouldn't have otherwise spent a penny on but the extras were just so damn tempting. Isolated scores were my favourite extra in the early days of dvd being a soundtrack collector. I love a good commentary and here in the UK we usually get them subtitled which I sometimes prefer.

I have noticed a cut down in extras, here in the UK at least, but being mutliregional I just order the region 1 edition. The film Wanted was a recent example, 2 discs with plenty of extras on R1, one disc and a short featurette on R2. Stardust had a making of and deleted scenes but no commentary on R1, here we had a commentary and no other extras. I opted for the commentary.

 

[rich_d]

Yep, isolated music scores are a thing of the past after some lawsuits and labor settlements. Too bad. Now, we seem to get isolated music and sound effects (at least on some of the Hitchcock titles) where DVD producers pretend that the consumer wants sound effects mixed in with the score. Sure. I've noticed that that's taken off in CD soundtrack sales ... putting effects in with the music.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Yes, otherwise they wouldn't bother with it.

The two disc version becomes the most expensive to create, since you have to design two discs worth of content and packaging. A fullscreen disc takes a little more work than a regular widescreen disc if only because they have to crop/pan&scan the film as an additional step. (But most of the time the studio is contractually obligated make a full screen version anyway...not a full screen DVD but just a full screen transfer of the film to be used in secondary markets like TV broadcasts and airline showings, etc., so it's work they were going to have to do anyway, no reason not to put it out on DVD and try to make a little extra money off of it.) But the one-disc widescreen version made from the two-disc special edition is easy and cheap. Most of the time, it is actually the same Disc 1, but with a different label on the disc... that's easy enough. Sometimes, the two disc version might include a special feature or two on disc 1, while the single disc version omits those special features... it's still a relatively simple matter of using the same transfer/encoding and omitting the bonus features.

They wouldn't put the effort into it for a film they didn't think was going to sell anything, but for a big release like "The Dark Knight", it's a no-brainer. Before they started doing two-tiered releases I wondered if enough people would buy the lower-priced versions to justify creating a market for them... and obviously they have. I almost always buy the two-disc edition when presented with the choice... they're usually only a couple dollars more (at least at the time I make my purchase), and I figure that it's usually worth it for me to spend an extra couple bucks for some special features I might watch later than to not spend the money and not have that option later on.

 

[Frank@N]

DVD fans have surely seen the highs and lows with regards to extras.

Remember when loaded 2-disc releases like 'The Aviator' were the only version and on-sale day one?

Then studios started holding back extras for higher-priced, non-sale products like the 2-disc 'Master and Commander'.

Now extras are being held back from the DVD market completely and being sold only on HD formats, as in the new 'Dark Knight'.

I'm not buying "The Dark Knight" 2-disc just for crippled PQ, low bitrate SQ (even by DVD standards) and leftover drab extras.

Might be time to hang it up and just watch my racks of already purchased movies...

 

[Alan Tully]

I would imagine the vast majority couldn't give a monkeys about an isolated music track. Fox still seems to be doing it on some catalogue titles. They did it on "The Garden Of Evil" & "The Sand Pebbles" & I'm hoping they do it on the Sp. Ed. of "The Robe".

 

[Joe Karlosi]

It will probably happen. It happened with CD, where vinyl was rather quickly eased out even though people already liked their records and already owned a massive record library. It also happened with standard DVD replacing VHS.