GONE ARE THE DAYS
I guess the good old days of DVD extra features really telling us anything about the movie aside from entertainment fluff are truly over. What I really mean is that DVD's no longer seem to care about post production. Extra features have fallen strictly in the domain of actors, directors and all things involving principal photography. From there we go straight to the premiere.
If there is any movie that should be all about post production, it is 300, the recent blockbuster based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. The movie is shot almost entirely green screen or blue screen with minimal physical sets. The movie is full of incredible CGI, special effects and digital stunt work, creatures and armies. Yet the DVD, even though it is a two disc set full of extras, has almost nothing whatsover about post production.
The extra features on 300 talk at length about the comic book by Frank Miller and the great visual style. Principal photography is covered at length. There are even some great exerpts on fight training that Gerard Butler and the actors went through. In all, though, I think there was maybe one or two shots mentioning how they scaled the emperor Xerxes into a giant, and nothing more on post production. Nothing on editing, sound, not even a simple blurb on how they laid the sky in the background.
I first noticed this major decline in DVD quality in general when The Hulk was released. For the first time, I witnessed a DVD that forced the viewer to watch a ton of trailers at the beginning, with no way to skip them. In all the "entertainment Tonight" style extra features, there was maybe 2 seconds about texturing The Hulk, nothing on rigging, muscles or integration into the scene, just fluff. DVD's have only gotten worse since.
One of the most disappointing DVD's I have viewed in recent months was Superman Returns. There are literally hours and hours of extra features on the second disc, and none of it covers post production. Nothing about scanning actor Brandon Routh to make a digital double. Nothing about the digital flying effects or the saving of the plane. There was only a super quick segment on bringing back Marlon Brando, and even that was superficial.
In fairness to the creators of such projects, I am sure that DVD has gained such mass market appeal that detailed visual effects material would be unwelcome by the mass of consumers and the studios are aware of this. But this makes me far less interested in the format in general and more apt to consider the ease of iTunes or another such service to get movies. Why drive to the store, or order online, and rip through layers of shrink wrap and peel through impossible security stickers to get little more than a movie anyway? This makes me even less likely to consider Blue Ray or HD-DVD. For me, the extras gave DVD its value. Now that similar visual quality for the movie is only a download away, why waste money on worthless extras I no longer care about?
If there is any movie that should be all about post production, it is 300, the recent blockbuster based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. The movie is shot almost entirely green screen or blue screen with minimal physical sets. The movie is full of incredible CGI, special effects and digital stunt work, creatures and armies. Yet the DVD, even though it is a two disc set full of extras, has almost nothing whatsover about post production.
The extra features on 300 talk at length about the comic book by Frank Miller and the great visual style. Principal photography is covered at length. There are even some great exerpts on fight training that Gerard Butler and the actors went through. In all, though, I think there was maybe one or two shots mentioning how they scaled the emperor Xerxes into a giant, and nothing more on post production. Nothing on editing, sound, not even a simple blurb on how they laid the sky in the background.
I first noticed this major decline in DVD quality in general when The Hulk was released. For the first time, I witnessed a DVD that forced the viewer to watch a ton of trailers at the beginning, with no way to skip them. In all the "entertainment Tonight" style extra features, there was maybe 2 seconds about texturing The Hulk, nothing on rigging, muscles or integration into the scene, just fluff. DVD's have only gotten worse since.
One of the most disappointing DVD's I have viewed in recent months was Superman Returns. There are literally hours and hours of extra features on the second disc, and none of it covers post production. Nothing about scanning actor Brandon Routh to make a digital double. Nothing about the digital flying effects or the saving of the plane. There was only a super quick segment on bringing back Marlon Brando, and even that was superficial.
In fairness to the creators of such projects, I am sure that DVD has gained such mass market appeal that detailed visual effects material would be unwelcome by the mass of consumers and the studios are aware of this. But this makes me far less interested in the format in general and more apt to consider the ease of iTunes or another such service to get movies. Why drive to the store, or order online, and rip through layers of shrink wrap and peel through impossible security stickers to get little more than a movie anyway? This makes me even less likely to consider Blue Ray or HD-DVD. For me, the extras gave DVD its value. Now that similar visual quality for the movie is only a download away, why waste money on worthless extras I no longer care about?
7 Comments:
That's disappointing to hear - you would think if any DVD would've had a buttoload of features relating to graphics/post-production, it would be "300".
(though now I'm glad that I choose not to buy the 2-disc release) :D
Recently, I was blown away by the extras on the 2-disc release of the Korean monster-movie "The Host" (great film, btw) - they went over nearly EVERY detail in the creation of the Monster and visual effects of the movie, as well as traditional extras like cast and crew interviews/featurettes, director commentary, etc.
This made me think an odd thought: how many 'average' consumers are actually going to be interested in these types of features, especially in a foreign film of all things?
I think it all comes down to WHO the target audience/consumers are and how much they willing to spend on that film. "Joe Schmoe", Average Consumer, isn't going to give a crap about extra features on graphics, post-production, director's commentary, etc. - he just wants the film at the cheapest price he can afford.
Another thing that I think affects of quality of features/extras (and this is something I just thought of recently after watching one of your Course videos, Terrence) is the entire "1-disc release or 2-disc release" choice that consumers seem to have nowadays: if you gave fewer choices on how your film is viewed/purchased, you would 'limit' the viewer into purchasing the type of release that they specifically want (like giving a choice between a "film-only" digital download or a "2-disc, Special Edition" DVD).
TW it’s not just with DVD’s across the full spectrum of media the behind the scenes shows have dwindled or have been cancelled, from HBO, to The Discovery channel the behind the scenes shows are fading away.
HBO’s “First Look” started out at 45min now its 15min with very little on post production
this change in direction can be either 1 of 4 things.
1. It’s a money issue.
2. The industry thinks people are no longer interested in the extras features.
3. This is a move to force people to abandon DVD and move to Blu-Ray.
4. A combination of all.
I myself find all aspects of film making interesting especially post production, sure there are set ways of doing things which all movies adhere to but it’s those who don’t adhere to the norm which I look for.
As for what’s happening with DVD extras I can say there are a few movies that I own which I enjoy the extras features more than the movie it’s self, and I’m surprised that there isn’t a Cable channel called “Behind the Scene’s” which shows nothing but deleted scenes and the making of all kind of movies.
Hummmmm! Who can I go to about pitching that idea to?
I think they don't bother with production details because the percentage of interested people is too low to justify it. I love technical details, too, but we have to face the fact that we are in the minority. People don't watch technical documentaries for the same reason they hit eject or leave the theater when the credits start to roll: the primary purpose of movies is entertainment, and that's the limit of most people's interest.
This uninterest is compounded by the fact that technical details have become less interesting over time. At one point in movie history, they actually had to dangle Indiana Jones over a cliff or walk a gyroscope-mounted camera through a redwood forest or build a three-story dinosaur to get an effect. Today, if you ask "How did they do that?" the answer is always the same: "computers". The word alone is enough to make eyes glaze over. Joe Public is barely interested in the actors' wire stunts -- you can bet he doesn't care about what program was used to animate the creatures or how many layers were needed to composite the shot.
We can be thankful, though, that DVDs have raised the expectations of the public. With VHS, you only got the movie and some commercials. Now, the companies have figured out that the public will pay more for slightly more content. Generally, we end up with whatever documentaries were put together for promotion and whatever commentary track the creators donate (I suspect a lot of commentary is unpaid). In other words, we get what can be added cheaply. So I guess the way to get more technical features is to encourage effects companies to document and release details about their shots, offering them to the movie company for free. ...So, yeah, it doesn't look too likely.
But the fact that movie creators are passionate and want to spread that passion (and are sometimes willing to work for free) means that we have some hope of seeing content on DVDs that may interest both them and us, the technophiles.
Well this is interesting to hear. Any number of possible answers come to mind, including that post people, being the least unionized of the professions, are being left off the DVD extras for that reason... don't want "those" people getting too visible. Get back in your cave!
Regarding "300", I know for certain there was no shortage of material available to do a post/FX extra featurette; we had to throw exactly that together for the L.A. SIGGRAPH meeting last June; that was a great meeting, where the Screaming Death Monkey guys and a rep from Scanline showed us how they did the water and smashing boats in the storm scene, as well as digital arrows, blood, wounds etc.
It sucks that they got short shrift, as the story of "300"'s post FX is as cool as the film itself.
Jim May, studier of astrological phenomenon!
As far as 300's post production goes, there was a 300themovie.com website but I think the content is no longer available online. Because it takes you straight to 300thedvd.com There was some written post-production information which is better than nothing.
The Blade II double-disc has some really good post-production stuff with Stan Winston team.
^d knighton, there is a cable show on television that shows the actual DVD. Sorry, I forgot the name . . . (Hey, some one else is from Brooklyn!!)
Blade II is a great example of the way I wish DVD's still were made. That stuff was very in depth and there many things I truly would have never known had I not seen it. Especially the ultra realistic silicon Whistler that they made for the opening sequence.
Even better, for me, was that they went into great detail on the making of the digital stunt doubles and how they used them. I suspect there will always be the occasional uber-edition DVD's that still have that kind of stuff, but if I ever buy them, I will wait until I read reviews or know for certain the level of detail of the extras. Otherwise I am done with the format, save perhaps, something appearing in the $4 bargain bin.
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