A Conversation for DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
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Peer Review: A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Started conversation Sep 26, 2004
Entry: DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons - A1028666
Author: Nonentity - U225438
An examination of 'Bonus Features' offered on DVDs.
Following your advice, I have re-worked this entry using GuideML and have hopefully toned down anything that may be construed as 'opinion'.
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Dan - SteppaSide Posted Sep 26, 2004
Great choice of topic! You might want to mention hidden extras or dvd easter eggs (A577514). I agree that alot of special features are shallow. So many blockbuster special effect movies use 'making of' documentrys as big commercials, going on about how amazing the film is. where as lotr/alien etc documentrys are far more entertaining.
Dan
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
sunny Posted Sep 28, 2004
:-D
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Smij - Formerly Jimster Posted Sep 28, 2004
Very encouraging start, this. I think you'll find DVD stood for Video first, but it was later marketed as 'versatile' to avoid confusion with video discs, and to spell out its intended multi-media capabilities.
Something to mention here is the EPK - the Electronic Press Kit that is usually sent to journalists to promote whichever film or TV show the disc is for. Some of the worst extras simply regurgitate this as their sole extra (some even have the cheek to split the EPK up to make it look like the extras are much more bountiful than the half-hour source video might suggest).
Y'know, DVDs can be made to hold up to eight hours of content by using the flipside of the disc. Many early DVDs used this feature, until the marketing bods discovered that actually people preferred the idea of two single-sided discs to one double-sided discs, for two reasons:
- because of the negative press regarding 'flippers' - discs where instead of making them multi-layered, they just cut the film in half and bunged the remainder on the flipside
- because they feel that two discs is value for money, even if the content can fit on one disc.
But the prime reason for doing double-disc sets is because it's much quicker and easier to have two chains of discs running at the pressing plant at the same time than it is to run one chain, flip it and press the second side. As the cost of pressing the disc is more expensive in terms of time than it is in materials, that's why we get double disc sets that could feasibly be single double-sided discs.
One final thought before I go home for the night. Commentaries are often the most expensive part of disc production, as they have to pay the cast the going rate for audio work, whereas a lot of the other extras use footage that already exists. The downside is that sometimes you get a commentary where the participants are too busy watching the film to speak about it, often because it's actually the first time they've seen it since they finished work on it. Some DVDs cheat this by getting related interviews and slpicing them together to form a commentary, which removes the problems of dead air, but also removes the immediacy of their reactions.
I do hope you continue working on this entry - it looks to be a good'un!
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Posted Sep 28, 2004
Jimster,
Thanks so much for your reply. I'll try and incorporate as much as I can. The reason I was so certain that 'Video' came after 'Versatile' is that the very first disc I bought in '98 had the latter within the copyright blurb at the start, whereas it wasn't until a couple of years later that I first saw the former — in the Argos catalogue, if memory serves!
I'll certainly try and get the EPK aspect in there. As for commentaries, I've just remembered a quote from a sulky Jack Nicholson during the end credits of 'As Good As It Gets':
James Brooks (to JN): 'Do you have DVD yet? It's great, man'
JN: 'What's great about it? We're sitting here being remunerated for what is ultimately the cancer of film'
I reckon I can definitely add some more about commentaries, now you mention it.
Not sure about the flipper thing. Wouldn't that be a little off-subject? My piece is more about the content, rather than the method of delivery. However, it was good of you to take the time to suggest it.
Cheers
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Posted Sep 29, 2004
Jimster,
I have now done a fairly extensive re-edit, incorporating some of your suggestions re. the EPK and commentaries.
Thanks.
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Elentari Posted Sep 30, 2004
This looks really good but I have a couple of comments:
I'm not sure you need the "Pros and Cons" in the title.
RE. the video/veratile thing, I think now at least they are properly called DVD Videos. Don't ask me why.
Perhaps a comment about the huge mount of material included on the LOTR extended editions - I believe tey're generally thought to be phenomenal (I certainly think so) as there is so much high-quality material.
Also, how about a mention of the new Star Wars discs, which I think have new shots and stuff added in?
All very minor and unimportant, feel free to completely ignore all that. Great entry, though, which should definately get into the edited guide.
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Smij - Formerly Jimster Posted Sep 30, 2004
I used to be DVD product manager for PlayStation.com, and I was a feature writer for What DVD, so that's why this entry caught my eye.
This is even better than it was when I last looked at it. There are a few House Style things to look at - replace the 'smart' quotes with single plain quotes, drop the tag and don't use Bold - but aside from that it's looking great.
On the documentary side, would it be possible to include the difference between documenatries for modern films - where they often have the extras made in parallel with the film itself - and old films, where they have to rely on archive footage. Some of the best of those last type are down to a man called Laurent Bouzereaux, a brilliant man who was responsible for the features on Taxi Driver and many of the remastered Alfred Hitchcock films.
I was thinking about how to approach the Easter Egg issue. There are two main reasons for having Easter Eggs on discs.
One is for marketing purposes - if you announce, a month or so after a title's release, that there is hidden content on it, it increases the likelihood that the specialist DVD and movie magazines will still be talking about it after its initial release window. In short, it gets them free advertising.
The second reason is a treat for the fan-base. Some Easter Eggs are of material that is only of interest to a small, hardcore few. It might confuse or alienate your casual buyer to find some obscure footage on a disc that only has meaning to the serious fan - for example, a gag reel on The X-Men where a bloke in a Spider-Man costume runs into shot and the crew fall about laughing (another example is that some DVDs of TV shows have the time-clock that was used to queue the episode up for transmission, and while there is a small group of people who love to see the preservation of that kind of thing, for most people it's really worthless). So they hide the material away safe in the knowledge that the kind of person who will go looking for the stuff is the kind of person who'll also most appreciate it.
Another extra that's becoming more common is production subtitles. Whereas usually the subtitles are there to cater for the hard of hearing, you can also get subtitles that provide information on the movie or programme, like a text commentary. So as a scene rolls it might point out that the actor on the left had previous been in films X, Y and Z, and that the actor on the left was most famous for starring in some TV show. It's a less intrusive way of providing the kind of info you'd hope to hear in an audio commentary as it allows you to watch the film without someone talking over it.
You might also get photo galleries, which are often dumping grounds for production or promotional stills that were sent out to the media to promote the film or show. But sometimes you get interesting behind-the-scens shots, or images of the different posters used around the world to promote the film.
That'll do from me for now
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Posted Sep 30, 2004
Thanks. Your comments are in no way minor and unimportant!
I first tackled this subject last year, hence the slightly out-of-date references to titles.
I will do a bit more tinkering. The 'Pros and Cons' bit in the title was suggested the first time I submitted it to Peer Review, in April '03. (It was originally called 'DVD Extras: Are They Worth It?'.)
I like the current title, as I think the 'Cons' bit could also be taken as a pun on those DVDs that promise much but deliver little.
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Posted Sep 30, 2004
Jimster,
Thanks greatly for your professional viewpoint (as well as tips on the 'house style').
I have now gone back and hopefully made the definitive article, complete with footnotes. I have removed the & tags, along with the smart quotes and have given some of your items honourable mentions.
As I pointed out in the piece, there is now a huge range of different extra features on DVDs — the Collectorz.com cataloguing software that I use enables you to customise the list to your heart's content, and mine now numbers over fifty separate types of bonus content.
That's why I mainly concentrated on the docs & coms. I have seen a few polls on websites for 'most desirable extra', and those two win hands down every time. When I started this, I never intended the list to become exhaustive, as some of the features (e.g. biographies and photo galleries) are self-explanatory.
Anyway, I am very grateful for your input!
Cheers
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
tom Posted Oct 8, 2004
looking good. hope this gets included. you might want to mention the shaund of the dead dvd, which has some cracking extras, and great commentry. as an example of bad dvd releases, you could mention withnail and i. great film but crap dvd. the only extras are a commentary and a photo gallery. there isn't even subtitles for the hard of hearing.
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Posted Oct 8, 2004
Thanks.
I'd been thinking of examples of 'nice film, shame about the extras', or 'bare-bones' releases that are crying out for a special edition DVD. I'm just trying to find an appropriate place to list one or two of them.
Cheers
A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
Nonentity Posted Oct 8, 2004
Tom,
Have now incorporated your suggestion into the penultimate paragraph, including a couple more featureless classics.
Thanks again.
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Peer Review: A1028666 - DVD Extras: The Pros and Cons
- 1: Nonentity (Sep 26, 2004)
- 2: Dan - SteppaSide (Sep 26, 2004)
- 3: Nonentity (Sep 27, 2004)
- 4: Nonentity (Sep 27, 2004)
- 5: sunny (Sep 28, 2004)
- 6: Nonentity (Sep 28, 2004)
- 7: Smij - Formerly Jimster (Sep 28, 2004)
- 8: Nonentity (Sep 28, 2004)
- 9: Nonentity (Sep 29, 2004)
- 10: Elentari (Sep 30, 2004)
- 11: Smij - Formerly Jimster (Sep 30, 2004)
- 12: Nonentity (Sep 30, 2004)
- 13: Nonentity (Sep 30, 2004)
- 14: tom (Oct 8, 2004)
- 15: Nonentity (Oct 8, 2004)
- 16: Nonentity (Oct 8, 2004)
- 17: Elentari (Oct 10, 2004)
- 18: Nonentity (Oct 10, 2004)
- 19: h2g2 auto-messages (Nov 16, 2004)
- 20: Milos (Nov 18, 2004)
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