Help out an Essayist... what would you put on YOUR "DVD Special Edition" disc?

[Chromy]

Ok, I got this email on the 25th, and at first I thought "I'll send this guy my opinion and leave it at that", but then this line got and held my attention over the holiday

In regards to posting on www.hometheaterforum, I already did and only got 4 replies.

I think that we can do better than that Here is his request

If not too much trouble,I'd be extremely grateful if you can weigh in on a query I have,that should be regarded as very easy. For a school essay I'm undertaking on the history and technology of dvd,I have to seek out (via the net) feedback from advanced dvd software enthusiasts,like those who read your site,the most creative and wittiest feedback (be it serious / humorous) on this question :

If you could create the ultimate DVD Special Edition,what added value features would you include. It can separately deal with both topics (or a combination of both) - what movie/s you'd want released on DVD with a list of desired ‘Ultimate’ special edition features. Doesn't matter if what's nominated has already had it's 'ultimate' special edition dvd released - you may think it sucked,or if what's suggested involves future technology 10 - 40 years away.

The only main requirement is that contributions can only be a couple short sentences,rather than a couple paragraphs. If you know of any dvd sites,where the topic of people's 'ultimate dream' dvd has already been / regularly is seriously and / or humorously discussed or have any friends (also highly advanced dvd aficionados) who don't mind weighing in,please let me know.

Replying to this thread is a requirement for the membership of this forum jk


Chromy

[manigrasso]

I think most replies would be something along the lines of:

The Star Wars Trilogy

Original cut and director's cut via seamless branching

Original sound presentation, 5.1 and dts

Commentary by Lucas, as well as other BTW people like Lawrence Kasdan, and on-camera talent

Synchronized storyboard gallery

Documentary

Isolated music score

Isolated sound effects score (it'd be great to have those for your answering machine!)

Gallery of sketches

A section devoted to all the trailers & commercials for every release and rerelease.

Stills of movie posters, lobby cards

Commercials for SW-related products, like the Kenner action figures

That's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure others will pick up my slack.

All of the above can also be used for the Indiana Jones trilogy, with of course some commentary by Spielberg as well.

[deepfry]

In general, I'd like to see more material that relates to the subject material of the movie (where possible) such as the historical information on U-571 or the documentary on the gladiatorial games on Gladiator.

I would also list everything mentioned above as well.

[chlngr1970]

manigrasso,

Don't forget George Lucas personally coming over and setting up your THX approved HT, for the "best" possible presentation

j




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~Rather than question the wisdom, question your own lack of understanding!~
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[tomdkat]

Everything mentioned so far sounds excellent (especially the visit from Mr. Lucas himself). The only thing I would change is the dts audio to dts-es (Gladiator really blew me away).

Outside of that, it sounds great! Would it be too much to ask Mr. Lucas to bring some chips and cokes with him? :-)

Peace....

[tomdkat]

Or better yet, how about the ENTIRE Star Wars saga from start to finish as ONE LONG movie? I heard about a box set of "The Godfather" on laserdisc where all three movies were "merged" together to form a 10 hour version of the movie(s).

You can read a little about this Godfather box here: http://home.hawaii.rr.com/art4sale/box_sets.htm

Scroll to the bottom of the page.

Peace.....

In terms of Ultimate Special Edition Content, I would really like to see more commentary tracks like those found on Fight Club and Se7en. Having an entire track devoted to a single facet of a movie (the story, the sound, the picture, the movie etc.) provides a wealth of information that a single director commentary could never supply.

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Jeff
"I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people, actually it's more of a guideline than a rule."
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[Chromy]

On more of a abstract level, I would like to see more of the unfiltered-ish content that we saw on laserdisc. Special edition content that just throws everything that they had at the viewer.

While the SE content wasn't usually as well organized or edited, if you had the patience to watch through it all there were some great gems to be had.

Chromy

[Chest Rockwell]

A friend of mine had a great idea for special editions of Mystery Science Theter 3000. They should use the on-screen video commentary feature like on Ghostbusters and Muppets from space - so that you can watch the original movie both with and without Joel and the Bots commenting.

Greatest features everybody digs, I think include:

Commentary (with video commentary via subtitles)

Deleted scenes - bonus if there's the option to have them put back in the movie via seamless branching. This almost worked on the X-men dsic.

Substantive behind-the-scenes documentaries. I don't meant the 5 minute fluff "featurettes" on a lot of discs. I mean the full length documentaries on the Magnolia, 12 Monkeys, and Dusk til Dawn discs.

In-depth special effects vignettes (Fight Club, The Cell).

The pathetic, yet entertaining sequel included *as a feature* (The Fly, The Arrival)

Unrated directors cuts are always a plus.

Newly remastered soundtracks *with the original soundtracks also included*. This is a mark they hit with the Wizard of Oz, but missed with Jaws. Multiple soundtracks are one of the best parts of DVD.

ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN, OAR!

And please, for the love of GOD, let's not forget interactive menus and chapter stops! What features!

[manigrasso]

Chest,
Just so you know, there are only 2 episodes of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on DVD (The Brain That Wouldn't Die & Eegah!), but they both include the original uncut movies, without the MST3K treatment, as well. In fact, I think one of the reasons Rhino hasn't released more episodes sooner is the attempt to include the uncut movies as well. It's not a seamless branching kind of thing, where you can switch from the mst3k version to the standard version via the commentary track, but it is there. In fact, on Eegah!, since they had to delete a few scenes to fit their tv time slot, when you watch the MST3K version, a little Crow symbol pops up and you can jump to the deleted scenes, ala X-Men and X-FIles

[mahavishnu]

I'd like to see this rumoured final cut of Coppola's extended version of Apocalpyse Now. Having now seen the 4hr30 rough cut - it's a whole different film, superior in many ways. But this rough cut needs to be honed. There is some pretty rough footage in there, the sound is VERY temp and occassionally the original cut works better (for instance, the introduction to the de-briefing sequence, which in the rough cut consists of one single rather undynamic take). The voice-over should stay absent, though. Then as extras - well the big 'extra' would be a 2.35:1 ratio, anamorphic of course... (Tell Vitorio Storrato where to stick his 'universal ratio'). 6.1 DD and DTS. Seperate commentary tracks from Coppola and Mersh. The film itself should be spread over two discs. Then, chuck in the 'Hearts of Darkness' documentary on a third disc plus another new doco comparing and discussing the differences in the two versions more closely. Yeah, that'd be about right. And a $24.99 retail price!!

[Disco Stu]

Apart from what has been previously mentioned, I'd like to add the features that were included on the "Timecode" disc (which for some reason, hasn't been reviewed anywhere). I haven't gotten a chance to go through all of it, but besides the requisite audio commentary, director Mike Figgis put an entirely seperate take of the movie on the disc, which means a whole other version of the film, as it was all filmed in one take, with four cameras recording the action and Figgis breaking the screen up into four sections, so we can see each version. He also recorded a commentary for that version. But the penultimate extra seems to be (and I haven't completely confirmed this yet) that the DVD viewer is allowed to decide which portion of the screen he/she would like to listen to. Because there are four simultaneous things going, Figgis had to pick which sounds he wanted to feature. If we had sound from all four places, it would make an already disorienting experience, completely confusing. But this allows the viewer to choose which story he wants to hear, when he wants to hear it. I don't think this is how this feature works completely, I get the feeling you are given the choice when you can pick a seperate audio track (in order to use this option you have to choose it through the menu, you can't change audio on the fly on this disc, even though this is a Columbia disc and not a Universal disc), much like "The Matrix" white rabbit feature or the "Mallrats" video commentary option. Still, an extra feature where you could go to alternate audio (like that very weird 6th audio track on the "Alien" disc) whenever you felt like it would be terrific.

Some of my other favorite features appears on the "Men In Black" 2-disc limited edition. I like the 5 seperate angles where you can see each part of a complicated special effects scene as it is built, from the storyboards to the final version. The morphing character drawings are also really cool, but by far the best feature is the scene editing workshop, and if they allowed you to edit anything other than straightforward dialogue scenes, it would be even better. This is something that other studios should take full advantage off.

I would also like to second Cyberjeff's note on the commentaries that detail each production element, I think they are very informative.

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We are a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude.

[Disco Stu]

Originally posted by Disco Stu:
But the penultimate extra seems to be (and I haven't completely confirmed this yet) that the DVD viewer is allowed to decide which portion of the screen he/she would like to listen to. Because there are four simultaneous things going, Figgis had to pick which sounds he wanted to feature. If we had sound from all four places, it would make an already disorienting experience, completely confusing. But this allows the viewer to choose which story he wants to hear, when he wants to hear it. I don't think this is how this feature works completely, I get the feeling you are given the choice when you can pick a seperate audio track (in order to use this option you have to choose it through the menu, you can't change audio on the fly on this disc, even though this is a Columbia disc and not a Universal disc), much like "The Matrix" white rabbit feature or the "Mallrats" video commentary option. Still, an extra feature where you could go to alternate audio (like that very weird 6th audio track on the "Alien" disc) whenever you felt like it would be terrific.

Actually I was wrong. You can, in fact choose any section to listen to whenever you feel like it, by simply using your arrow buttons. So, in a way, it's like making your own choices on how'd you'd like to see the movie.

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We are a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude.