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HTF SURVEY: What else would you like to see done with DVD? (1 Viewer)

Yumbo

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 13, 1999
Messages
2,227
Real Name
Chris Caine
um,
a CSA on HOW P&S ain't doing the viewer a service.:D
hey, I just woke up okay...15 discs coming in the mail this morning...loong day ahead!
drat, is ONE LAST SCORE (from Fox) friggin' full screen!?
thar's 4 Fs in there!:b
 

Frank Sadler

Agent
Joined
May 30, 2002
Messages
49
UNCUT/Deleted Scenes being put back in the movie is a must.
I would like to see the director/actors when they are recording a commentary. This needs to be done more.
 

Skoobooz

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 8, 2001
Messages
195
Real Name
Jay
Although I'm not sure you want us to disagree with one another, I have to say that I would be strongly opposed to having deleted scenes be reincorporated into the movie. This is, in theory, the exact same thing as the current Movie Mask controversy. In that situation, people are looking at the movie and judging for themselves what should or should not be seen, and then changing it for the masses (ie: a lot of Mormons). In putting deleted scenes back in, you are, in essence, doing a very similar thing: asking someone to change the movie to fit your desires. Obviously, one situation involves censoring and the other involves putting more in to a film, but the basic idea of asking someone to change their work to suit you is not a good precedent. Also, have you people seen most deleted scenes? Yes, some are funny. Yes, some are interesting. But for the most part, they were cut for a reason! Either because they add nothing to the film, or because the performances or set design or costumes or anything wasn't up to snuff, or because they were not funny or interesting or at all necessary. I'm all for putting deleted scenes on a disc, especially with some notes or commentary stating why the scene was cut. I would also suggest putting in "bumpers," or little bits of the previous scene before the deleted scene and the following scene after the deleted scene to show where in the film the scene was to be. Put it in context, basically, without altering the film itself. For example, when the Indiana Jones Trilogy finally does come to DVD, I want to see it as it was originally seen in theaters. I don't want some pointless scene thrown back in just because it's sitting around. Just becaue something is deleted doesn't mean that it's precious and should be returned to its "rightful" place.
 

Tom Rags

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 4, 2001
Messages
577
What if you could play an optional "Intro" to the movie in the style of old movies that includes:

- A newsreel of "current" events from when the movie came out (date specific; i.e. news on the 2000 election for a movie that came out in November 2000).

- An animated short, five minute short film, "3 stooges," or any other entertaining short.

- A commercial for a product that is/was popular when the film came out.

Even for "new" movies, this would be an interesting way to preserve the timeframe and setting and make it even more of a movie experience.

--Tom
 

Jeff Kleist

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 4, 1999
Messages
11,266
Marc, you can already get that in Dogma and Goonies to name a few.

Gag reels, every time. They're great fun, and they should be written into contracts at the start so no one's agent can say boo later causing them to be pulled.

Old TV shows with the ORIGINAL commercials just for fun

When you have a movie that's a total classic for being bad. Why not hire some people like Best Brains to come in and make fun of it MST3K style?

Documentary with the craft services people on the set (Mr. Pachino likes Tuna on white with exactly 2 teaspoons of mayo. More or less and he KNOWS) could be hilarious

How about a documentary that's done with questions submitted via your web site by the public? Pick 20 or so and have them answered on the DVD! Better yet, place a call to the person and have them on the phone to the director/writer so you get some interaction?.
 

Tyler DJW

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
169
Real Name
Tyler
I'd like to see a couple idea some together like explaining the graffiti in Akira and pointing out editing mistakes, both of which were mentioned earlier. I'd like to see these things pointed out in a VH1 Pop-up-Video kind of way.
I love reading through the list of goofs and trivia on the Internet Movie Database. This would be a great way to enjoy the details of a film that go easily overlooked by having them brought to our attention during the film.
Monsters Inc came closest to this with a supplement for (I forget what they called it exactly) inside-jokes. You could even point out intentional product-placement shots so we can see who paid for the film (besides the consumer).
Thanks for taking out input! :)
 

Stu Rosen

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 27, 1999
Messages
305
How about packaging separate films together that share a theme? This has been done occasionally - such as packaging Music of the Heart with the documentary that inspired it, or Meet Joe Black with its original, Death Takes a Holiday. You could combine that with a critic's commentary that compares and contrasts, that sort of thing.

Or, how about a true "film class" DVD -- not just a commentary that's "as good as" film school, but an attempt to use a studio's films to demonstrate film school basics (i.e., deep focus, styles of filmmaking, etc.). Will never be done - it'd be a rights nightmare, but I'd be excited by a critic's roundtable discussing film noir, or the New Wave, or some other genre or style.
 

Brenton

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
1,169
I'd like to see multi-angle options for certain scenes that happen to be heavy on the effects. For instance, Angle 1 can be the completed movie scene (which will, by default, play with the movie), Angle 2 can be raw computer animation (not yet tweaked for textures, lighting, etc.), Angle 3 can be the original bluescreen footage, Angle 4 can be animatics, Angle 5 can be storyboards, and Angle 6 can be script fragments (angle six is not necessary, but it's an idea).
When I first heard that Star Wars Episode I was going to have multi-angle storyboard/animatic sequences, I thought it sounded great, but was disappointed when I found out that angle 2 and 3 cannot be accessed during the movie, but only as a special seperate option on disc two.
Another idea, this one isn't exactly "innovative", but I don't like it when there are multiple commentaries and each one has only one or two or three people. They should A) edit the commentaries together, or B) Just record everyone together. (The Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring will be an exception because there are so darn many participants.)
 

Tim Fleming

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 2, 2000
Messages
118
Wants:

Rather than time consuming navigation of multiple set-up screens, why not devise a system of drop down menus that allow the user to check their requirements - simple navigation using the up/down/left/right and select buttons on the remote.

I would also like to see "Star" profiles that comprise film snippets of their performance combined with an autobiographical commentary. This would be far more viewer friendly than the common photo accompanied by screeds of text.

regards, Tim...
 

Terry Hickey

Second Unit
Joined
Feb 21, 2001
Messages
446
Real Name
Terry Hickey
I would like to see more "text commentaries" than audio ones. Also, would like to see the DVS option (like on "Terminator 2") on some "blockbusters" so that my visually impaired friends could get enjoyment out of the film, besides just hearing it. As for new innovations, I can't think of anything at the moment.
 

Keith Paynter

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
1,837
Something that has been touted as a feature but has been used very little is the Angle function (the, ahem, adult film industry being the exception).

I would propose that someone take the initiative to design an supplement interface that would allow you to take raw footage shot at different angles for a key scene (closeups, reaction shots, wide shots, reversals, etc.), create your own editing suite and do your own cut and paste work to design a clip your own way - fast cuts, long takes, etc. - let the viewer design their own edit of the scene (an extreme example would be a designed sequence composed entirely of reaction shots). The Die Hard reissue did this to some extent with mixing dialogue, foley and music (3 volume levels each, 9 possible audio mixes to choose from), but the educational potential of teaching someone to be an editor would be quite good. I imagine a lot of space would be required for something like this, given the potential number of combinations.
 

Brenton

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
1,169
Something that would be a big help is a widescreen explanation mini-documentary on EVERY movie. I think that the studios would find an increase in widescreen sales, as opposed to pan-&-scan.
 

Jeff Kleist

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 4, 1999
Messages
11,266
Keith, you can do that on Die Hard 5-Star :)
Marc, the reason why it's not used more often is because it's a TOTAL space hog. basically requiring your to store the movie twice for every bit you want with visual commentary
 

Michael Allred

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 13, 2000
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1,720
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MI
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Michael
If you can't get someone lined up for an audio commentary track then I'd definitely go for the text trivia tracks, similar to the recent "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown" DVD's.

I also agree with the documentaries. Ditch the promo, puff pieces. We don't need to be sold on the movie, we've already bought/rented it. Really give us a true "making of", especially in regards to catalog films. I really enjoyed the doc on John Carpenter's "The Thing". So many aspects of the film were covered, even simple things on how they created the opening title sequence.

*Some* effort should be made into making deleted scenes a bit more watchable. I've seen some DVD's where the cut scenes looked like 2nd generation bootleg VHS tapes.

and of course, a video presentation on widescreen and why it's better, how much information you lose on so called "full screen" versions. Refer to the special edition of "Die Hard".
 

george kaplan

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2001
Messages
13,063
I used to upgrade automatically, but I've become much more selective about doing so. Only two things get me to do so now - improved picture or more picture (director's cut or additional deleted scenes).

As far as innovation, I'll second others ideas. Give us branching options to incorporate deleted scenes if we want, or to SKIP scenes. I manually skip the ballet in Singin' in the Rain, but I'd love it if I could have the dvd do it automatically.
 

Sam_K

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
62
I like to see the incorporation of Sound Track with complete music/songs in a separate DVD... if they can add some kind of video to the music to make it music-video-like, even better.

I usually like some songs or music in a movie, but too lazy to go buy the sound track CD. By incorporating the sound track in the Special Edition, the studio can get additional revenue by "forcing" us to buy the sound track cd, and us consumers can buy the CD sound track that is part of the DVD movie package.
 

Scott W.

Second Unit
Joined
May 20, 1999
Messages
322
I agree with Chris and Frank 100%. I'd love to see deleted scenes re-inserted back into a movie... with Foley done, yes or no. A movie that comes into mind is Alien. I'd love to see the movie play with the cocooned Dallas scene intact.

Scott
 

Aaron Garman

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 23, 2001
Messages
382
Hello all. Some things I'd like to see on DVD:

1. Pop in the disc, and the feature starts with the best soundtrack selected (5.1 that is). This is something I miss from the laserdisc days.

2. I think it'd be cool to document the scoring process for films from start to finish. I'd love to see what say Howard Shore or John Williams does in preparation for the score of a movie, as well as the actual recording of it.

3. Bring back Dolby Digital trailers!

4. Like some have said, it'd be neat to have a section on how the DVD went from film to video and what is involved in doing this process. Perhaps even a section in this on how pan and scan is actually done and what compromises it gives the audience who chooses to purchase it.

5. I liked on the Criterion Laserdisc of Halloween there was a segment from Siskel and Ebert. The new Pulp Fiction had this as well, and I found it totally fascinating. Just seeing Siskel instead of Roeper again is a nice relief!

Overall, I like special features, but the main thing for me is presentation. However, add some stuff like this and I may change my mind. Oh, did I mention I want the Dolby Digital trailers back?! I see DTS and THX all the time, why not Dolby. Heck, maybe they can make custom ones for each particular film. Imagine that?

AJ Garman
 

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