Movies, DVD and That

- extras! extras! -

In the Guardian Guide (12th December 1998), Ben Mitchell wrote an upbeat and positive article praising the virtues of DVD. Or some of the virtues, anyway - picture and sound quality, plus convenience, were the three he chose. One that Ben managed to be turned into a vice, however, was discs' extras. "Who really bothers with them?", he asked. Good novelty value, sure - sells the technology, yes. But in day to day use, not a lot of point.

In many cases he's right. Trailers are a nice enough, yet inconsequential, very much icing on the digital cake if you will (although some are considerably better than the movies themselves - to wit, The Fifth Element). Another example he cites is also fair game - alternate angles. Really... what's the point? The oft quoted example of switching between cameras at a sports match or concert is plain daft - unless you can see 5 pictures at once to choose between, it is pointless. Even then it's pointless, since that's what they pay Vision Mixers and Editors for. Porn aside, maybe there a are one or two specialist uses - seeing special effects transitions in various stages of development at the flick of a switch could be a nice touch.

Other DVD features can be a tad crass - witness my back page article in issue one of Total DVD magazine for a cheap satirical swipe. But fact remains that despite the silliness, there are many other features that are too good to ignore, and make DVD into the wonderful thing that it is.

Let's start with the humble production note. Initially I was less than thrilled by these seeming B-grade extras, but their value came home to me on my first ever DVD rental from Blockbuster video (ah... what a day... sniff). Addicted to Love was a movie I always half wanted to see, and now I had the chance to look at properly at a halfway decent price. As it turned out, I quite liked it, and was keen to know a little more about how the movie originated. I was especially interested to find how the involvement of director Griffin Dunne came about, previously known to me as the off-beat star of American Werewolf in London and After Hours.

Well hey, the notes told me. Watch the film, then read how they made it. Lovely. I love films, and want to further understand the art of storytelling. I gobble up background on the frequently bizarre and tortuous process a story goes through from script to screen. The well-written and interesting notes for Addicted to Love filled in most of the stuff I ordinarily couldn't be bothered to trawl through dozens of back issues of Empire to find out. As an overnight rental on a whim, the notes added something to the whole movie. The film looked and sounded great, most important, but it became something more than just another semi-forgettable film once a few more details had been filled in.

Then there's serious extras. Ben Mitchell especially criticizes film makers' commentaries, of which there are no less than three on Contact alone. Who wants to watch the movie THREE MORE TIMES, just to hear someone rambling away over it, he argues?

Well - for the reasons given above - me, actually, and for one more reason also. Cards on the table here, I am another of the UK's ten million up and coming screenwriters, so I have a professional interest in it all. But, come on! If anyone had Jodie in the room sitting next to them on the sofa, they'd... well, I suppose they wouldn't just be wanting to talk movies all night. But if they managed to behave themselves, wouldn't it be great to hear what she thought about it all, even if it was all a bit luvvie at times?

I normally don't sit down rigidly to watch the whole thing all over again in one go - I'm not that sad (although the As Good as it Gets commentary is often hugely entertaining in its own right). But a good commentary can make for great "radio". When you're cooking or doing the dishes, stick one on - it works surprisingly well. Then, when your interest is piqued, you can take a pique at what they're talking about.

"Baldrick, I fear my sides have split..."

That way, I got through all of (alright, most of) all three Contact commentaries. And contrary to popular belief, they can contain interesting stuff...

Contact is a good example, actually. Although many have criticized the film, I thought it pretty damn good despite its flaws, and admired the imagination and sound scientific theory which graced it. And I am interested in finding out more about those flaws as well as the good bits too. Every mistake in a film has been laboured over by maybe hundreds of people - it's interesting to know what they were thinking. For example (and plot points for Contact are revealed here), I had no idea that the intention of the the film maker's was to leave an ambiguity about whether Foster's journey ever actually took place. I don't think they succeeded, but it's a revelation to discover that that's what they thought they had done, and I only found that out by listening to the commentary.

And of course, there's far more to DVD extras besides commentaries. Documentaries are an obvious welcome bonus, but another great aspect to DVD is the overall theme. A soundtrack, animated menus, trivia quizzes and so on really make for a fun all round experience. When some friends came round to watch The Wedding Singer and The Frighteners one evening, we spent so long mucking about with the trivia quiz, karaoke and what have you on the first disc that we ran out of time to see both...

With all our talk of bitrates and legs up modifications, DVD video is, first and foremost, for people who love movies. I guess Ben Mitchell doesn't, since he claims that you watch one when you "can't be arsed to do anything else". Try telling that to Quentin Tarantino. I'm sticking to my review policy - a great transfer alone gets three out of five. 'Cos if you genuinely do love films, a good disc with good extras will make you love 'em all the more

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