Special Features Discussion

[Eusthenopteron]

What do people generally think of special features?

Are you a featurette/documentary fan; must there always be a 'The Making of etc'? Do you thinks releases should always feature deleted scenes or out-takes? What about trailers, commentaries, picture-in-picture, games etc?

How important are special features in your purchases? How do they rate compared to the transfer quality of the film itself or the release packaging?

What about examples of special features from specific releases that really stand out as impressive or as particularly dire?

[PaniqL]

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[thenexus6]

I only ever buy the versions of films that come with making of / behind the scenes featurettes.

[Rizor]

I would rather a Blu-ray come packed with strong extras, but to be honest I don't really have the time to watch many these days.

The extras I really appreciate are commentaries, informative documentaries/featurettes, and deleted scenes when available.

The one must-include extra for me is the trailer, but they're often neglected by many studios (Sony, Universal, Disney). Warners includes SD trailers if their old DVD versions included them. Paramount, MGM, and usually Fox include them for catalog releases, sometimes in HD. Fox is kinda hit or miss. Many studios (Warners, sometimes Paramount) won't include trailers for new releases.

Just realized this is in the wrong forum!

[legendarymatt92]

Special features play an important part in the purchase for me; I love watching them, especially extensive "making of" documentaries, and listening to the film-maker commentaries.

To be honest, I feel a bit let-down if I buy a release and it has no, or very minimal, features on the disc.

[Twisted-Alien]

When dvd first came out I was a HUGE special features fan. I watched everything they'd put on a disc and listened to every commentary I could find. I find a lot of that stuff fascinating.

Special features are a big deciding factor when I buy a blu ray. If there's a version that has more special features, I'll buy it. That doesn't mean I won't buy a movie if it doesn't though. I bought Outbreak on blu ray and it was bare bones, but I love the movie so much, and it was a steal, that I got it anyways. Heck, I bought the Invader Zim collector's house mostly for the bonus features disc it came with, although the house was pretty cool.

Although it's hard to buy that way anymore. When dvd first came out everything and the kitchen sink was thrown into an initial release, now they're more clever and will string out special features for newer releases and special editions.

Another thing I don't care for is when there is something missing that obviously should have been included. For Cloverfield, they should have included that famous trailer that started all kinds of buzz about the movie.

I'd say my top special features are commentaries, deleted scenes, and documentaries. Bloopers are good too.

Hands down one of the coolest special features I've seen was the Back to the Future the Ride que and ride footage included in the blu ray release.

[fgomike]

Commentaries are good. Fincher's are always interesting, Abrams's are funny, and Mann's are good if you like the art of filmmaking.

[Eusthenopteron]

Special features aren't so important to me. The film itself is always the top priority. That being said if there are no special features at all I find that a bit disappointing.

I do like documentaries but I find them annoying when studios break them up into lots of little micro documentaries on different aspects of the production, there tends to be a lot of repetition with these too. I prefer fewer but longer documentaries and when studios try something a little different. e.g. I did like the documentaries that came with the recent Indy Boxset.

Commentaries I can find very hit or miss. I remember one of the older commentaries Ridley Scott did for Alien that I thought was very good, one of the best I've heard. However recently I listened to commentaries on Star Trek: First Contact and Insurrection and Jonathan Frakes managed to impart almost nothing - very poor.

When Disney first released The Lion King on DVD they added a doc about how the film was recorded in different languages and they efforts they went to in this area. That was very interesting.

Trailers I 'm not so bothered about.

[BJKH]

I am always disappointed when I buy movies that have a making of feature that is only around 10 minutes long. I love when there is a really long making of, it helps me justify the price of a new release.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by BJKH

I am always disappointed when I buy movies that have a making of feature that is only around 10 minutes long. I love when there is a really long making of, it helps me justify the price of a new release.

I can't understand why any Blu-ray, or DVD, release comes without any special features at all now -- why wouldn't the studio at least put something on there, even if there was no behind the scenes footage shot on set?

It's not like we're at the beginning of a new home media format where we don't understand completely the possibilities, or that studios need to rush releases out as fast as possible, so it just comes down (very clearly) to money.

[Duffy12]

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I was big on them during my DVD days, but the only BD ones that I view anymore are mostly the Criterion ones.

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[Twisted-Alien]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

It's not like we're at the beginning of a new home media format where we don't understand completely the possibilities, or that studios need to rush releases out as fast as possible, so it just comes down (very clearly) to money.

Especially since even early dvds were packed with special features.

[hsox05]

I used to be huge on special features during my DVD days too. Now I very rarely watch them unless its a movie I absolutely adore. Generally, I actually prefer to buy the bare bones releases because the chances of me watching the features are pretty slim, and I can get it for cheaper

[animefan77]

Special Features is a MUST for me to buy. If it doesn't have special features then I will just watch it on netflix or other streaming sites. I will NOT buy those.(well unless I can get it for like $3 or less, which is possible with buying it used)

I love all kinds of special features. The more the better.(don't care about kid's games though - but why not, more the merrier ) And I LOVE trailers. It's really disappointing that lot of studios are not putting it on the blu-ray anymore Those are fun to watch after I watch a movie to see how it was marketed. You can really see the difference in marketing over the years. The blu-ray just seems "incomplete" without it

I especially love historic documentaries and biographies. I love those behind the scenes details more than how the movie was made.
My favorite is actually not available on blu-ray = "From Hell" DVD had the documentary about the real case of Jack the Ripper that was actually more interesting than the movie. (I still have that DVD )
I'm looking forward to "Argo" with historic documentaries.

Commentary can be really good, but there are lot of boring ones out there.
My favorite is the one on the "Seven Samurai" and "Dark City"
Everybody have to hear these.

Importance ranking on my purchase.
1. Movie itself
2. Picture/Audio quality
3. Extras
4. Price
5. Packaging (well, this will not effect if I will buy the movie or not, but it will determine if I will pay more to get digibook or other packaging) Slipcase is not a factor at all, but I do like them if I get it.

[Aerodude73]

I'd rather have More special features, than just a few (trailers, making of fluff, etc.). I'll normally wait to get the Special Editions or ones that come with an extra disc of bonus content (like Target's upcoming ARGO release). Sometimes I watch the features right after the movie, sometimes not or I wait to see them another time. Director Commentary tracks are usually or can be, pretty informative on the movie, & this site helps to see which Directors commentaries are worth a listen or not. Same for others involved in the film (Actors, Writers, Production team, Visual Effects, Producers, etc.). The more the merrier

One film (not yet on Blu') that has a Great Directors' Commentary Track is THE LAST CASTLE with Robert Redford, James Gandolfiini, & Mark Ruffalo. Rod Lurie ("The Contender") Directed it & his commentary track is Fantastic! (I own it on DVD).

EXTRAS:

*Deleted Scenes with commentary by: Rod Lurie

*HBO Special: Inside the Castle Walls

*Commentary By Rod Lurie

*Theatrical Trailer

*Production Notes

*Cast and Filmaker Bios

[Snikt]

I LOVE special features on Blu-rays and DVDs. They're extremely important to me when purchasing movies.

Obviously, if I love the movie enough, I'll buy it no matter what. But the bonus features are just that...a nice bonus .

I love all the special features on The X-Men Trilogy, The Alien Anthology, Prometheus, Amazing Spider-Man.

Really it seems FOX and Sony are awesome when it comes to special features.

But I've noticed Universal and Lionsgate can be pretty skimpy on their special features sometimes. There may be a lot of them...but they're all failry short.

The Bourne Legacy has quite a few bonus features. But they're all about 8 minutes long.

I'm more for the ones with 1 hour plus making-of documentaries.

I do wish we'd get more commentaries with the lead actors for the film. I love the commentary on Aliens with Bill Paxton, Michael Bien and the others. It's just very cool to hear from the ensemble cast.

[KingRad]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

I can't understand why any Blu-ray, or DVD, release comes without any special features at all now -- why wouldn't the studio at least put something on there, even if there was no behind the scenes footage shot on set?

It's not like we're at the beginning of a new home media format where we don't understand completely the possibilities, or that studios need to rush releases out as fast as possible, so it just comes down (very clearly) to money.

It's so they can eventually release the "ULTIMATE SPECIAL COLLECTORS PLATINUM 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION," which contains a commentary and five deleted scenes.

[hsox05]

Originally Posted by animefan77

Special Features is a MUST for me to buy. If it doesn't have special features then I will just watch it on netflix or other streaming sites. I will NOT buy those.

Importance ranking on my purchase.
1. Movie itself
2. Picture/Audio quality
3. Extras
4. Price
5. Packaging (well, this will not effect if I will buy the movie or not, but it will determine if I will pay more to get digibook or other packaging) Slipcase is not a factor at all, but I do like them if I get it.

But the picture and audio quality on most streaming isn't even close to that on a bluray?

[animefan77]

Originally Posted by hsox05

But the picture and audio quality on most streaming isn't even close to that on a bluray?

It's getting better. Lot of movies are becoming available to stream in HD(even though most are only in 720p now). I would imagine as the internet speed and technology becomes better, it will be just as good as the blu-ray. Until then, I have a lot of other movies to watch and own until I get whatever I want. So in order for me to buy, it has to have the extras that streaming just doesn't offer(even in low quality)

Even though I did do the ranking, ALL 4 have to be reasonable for me to buy, unless one of them is just too good that it outweighs the others. And movie being priced less than $5 would usually do that for me(as you can see from my collection )

[Blu Myers]

Alien Anthology is the greatest special features package I've ever witnessed. LotR Extended editions would be a distant second.