Joel Vardy
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Oct 20, 1998
- Messages
- 573
vhf.org has been around longer than DVD's yet the technology today doesn't exist to view this material properly w/out broadband capabilities. Since many of the survivors do not possess this technology they are limited in viewing their own contributions and those of their co-survivors in an inappropriate medium. DVD technology provides the opportunity to bring some of this to the public in a common medium that allows for a more sophisticated interactive experience than CD-ROM. I'm sure that the armies of professionals that have contributed their time and energy to this over the last few years (see the specifics on the vhf website) would like to see some of this material in a collection viewable by the public at large. The connection to 'Shindler's List' is that the project was partially funded by the film's proceeds and will therefore have some opportunity for incorporation into a DVD of the film.
There have been no specifics on what will be on the DVD, when it comes out, but it is reasonable to assume that the film will be accompanied by additional material from the vhf project or other archives. The tie back to the film is just an opportunity to expose some subset of the material in a more commercially viable format so that it gets viewed by the largest audience possible. Though much documentary evidence already exists there probably aren't a lot of people who either have seen it or are interested in the dry documentary style. It is, after all, difficult to watch for most...
Those survivors, who I know saw Schindler (the movie), observed that the story was a bit 'sugarcoated' for mass consumption. In this case reality is some order of magnitude more horrible than can be reasonably put on a commercial piece of work. That is precisely why I admire Spielberg's efforts since he knew how to incorporate some of the horror without going over the edge of what people can accept. It is unfortunately the case that some of the more graphic documentary evidence is so strong that some have called it a 'hoax' since no one would tolerate what was shown. That is precisely why I'm eagerly awaiting this hitting DVD when there are potentially 10's of millions of households worldwide that could avail themselves of this material, in a commercially viable new format, with potential for both the movie and interactive history to be exploited.
That it's taken this long (5 years since the birth of the format) is not objectionable. That there still is no clear date certain, this year or next, is a concern. If the studios clearly say that more work is needed for a target date sometime in '03, that's fine. If they simply go mute after having announced it for awhile I'd like to know why. I fully understand that it's perhaps no great loss for many who are content with the flurry of action entertainment that this format allows and will be patiently taking a wait and see attitude, hoping that the delays are justified to get out the quality product that they assume is behind the silence. I for one would like some more specifics sooner rather than later. Sounds like I might be in the minority but that has never bothered me...
Joel
There have been no specifics on what will be on the DVD, when it comes out, but it is reasonable to assume that the film will be accompanied by additional material from the vhf project or other archives. The tie back to the film is just an opportunity to expose some subset of the material in a more commercially viable format so that it gets viewed by the largest audience possible. Though much documentary evidence already exists there probably aren't a lot of people who either have seen it or are interested in the dry documentary style. It is, after all, difficult to watch for most...
Those survivors, who I know saw Schindler (the movie), observed that the story was a bit 'sugarcoated' for mass consumption. In this case reality is some order of magnitude more horrible than can be reasonably put on a commercial piece of work. That is precisely why I admire Spielberg's efforts since he knew how to incorporate some of the horror without going over the edge of what people can accept. It is unfortunately the case that some of the more graphic documentary evidence is so strong that some have called it a 'hoax' since no one would tolerate what was shown. That is precisely why I'm eagerly awaiting this hitting DVD when there are potentially 10's of millions of households worldwide that could avail themselves of this material, in a commercially viable new format, with potential for both the movie and interactive history to be exploited.
That it's taken this long (5 years since the birth of the format) is not objectionable. That there still is no clear date certain, this year or next, is a concern. If the studios clearly say that more work is needed for a target date sometime in '03, that's fine. If they simply go mute after having announced it for awhile I'd like to know why. I fully understand that it's perhaps no great loss for many who are content with the flurry of action entertainment that this format allows and will be patiently taking a wait and see attitude, hoping that the delays are justified to get out the quality product that they assume is behind the silence. I for one would like some more specifics sooner rather than later. Sounds like I might be in the minority but that has never bothered me...
Joel
