Are You Neglecting To Watch Extras Because Of the Size of Your Collection?

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

To say nothing of the sheer VOLUME of content to watch. Why dedicate twelve or whatever hours crawling through the voluminous extras on the average Edgar Wright Blu-Ray when you could watch another SIX movies in that time? Back in the days when I "only" owned a handful of DVDs (and deluxe laserdiscs before that), I would take time to watch each and every feature, listen to each commentary, etc. But when I buy a half-dozen Kino titles whenever they have a sale, it's just too much. And that's not even getting into making time to watch new TV shows, read books, listen to music... There's WAY too much content to consume, let alone savor at your leisure.

Might depend where people were in their lives back then. But around that time I was still watching a whole lot of stuff on the premium tv channels as well despite trying to focus on starting a 'collection.' From what I recall, Starz had a pretty solid rotation of newer flicks in those days. But dvd really seemed to be on another level compared to anything I was used to and it was a pretty mesmerizing novelty to see movies so 'clear' and to peek behind the curtain a bit with the bonus features. Not everyone was on board with sites like IMDB back then and I still remember the early days of Wikipedia when a lot of folks found it pretty dodgy.

[GeoffOliver]

Sadly, yes. I love extras, especially commentaries, and there are plenty of extras in my collection that I know I'll enjoy, but I haven't gotten around to watching them yet.

[Keyser Soze.]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I watch all of the extras and listen to all of the commentary tracks on each one of my Blu-rays.

This.

On many of my purchases I'm more interested in watching/listening the the extras over the movie itself.

I usually watch the movie, then listen to commentary tracks. After that I go through the rest of the behind the scenes extras, deleted scenes, bloopers, and trailers left on the discs.

It does take awhile, but it seems well worth it in the end.

[traths]

Usually on older films I like to watch the extras because it's fun hearing the stories about the film on the set and what it was like to work with the actors from that time period.

[kuzronk]

I just watch deleted scenes/bonus films.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Now, if I could rip a commentary track to an iPod or something so I could listen to them while taking a walk, I'd listen to a lot more (especially the more professorial ones that barely acknowledge what's going on in the movie on a scene-by-scene basis).

You can rip the audio tracks off of dvds. They have dvd audio-ripping software online. I used to do it back in the day, and have around 30-40 "classic" commentary tracks (anything John Carpenter, for example) which I will revisit from time to time on my mp3 player. They're especially great for long road trips.

[Wernski]

Not really, because I figure if I’m not interested enough in a movie to watch its bonus features, it’s not a film I need to add to my collection in the first place.

[TheBluRayBandito]

I'm weird. When it comes to older films that are cheap I tend to see if they have a good amount of extras. I passed on a few recently from BBY (Armageddon, Demolition Man, Con Air) because they only had like 1 or no extras at all.

Why is it weird? Well, I RARELY look at extras. It's a habit I'll eventually break.

[malakaheso]

I watch most extras and limit the number of discs I buy for partly this reason.

I don't just want to collect for the sake of collecting.

[DNSK]

I was more into watching the special features in my DVD days. I seldom watch the features now but watching the movies is what’s most important to me. It’s hard enough getting time just to watch my movies too between work, family, everyday life and worst of all being too tired.

[starsteam]

I always try to sit through all of the extras at least once during my first viewing. I generally only skip anything that requires watching the movie in the background (commentaries, picture-in-picture) and large sets of photo galleries (it's quicker to just browse them online).

Most extras I enjoy, so I don't really mind. Behind the scenes stuff is great, interviews are okay. Most music videos are cringy. I love watching trailers.

[happydood]

I used to watch everything the day I picked up a film, but now with two young kids and work and creative pursuits I have to split up the movies themselves! I still love special features but now I have to kind of live with a disc for a few days to get through everything.

[horroru]

I work my way through all the extras in a day or two.
For me if they are quality supplements they increase my appreciation of a film - I love to see how the art was created and the stories behind it.
Any feature created by Laurent Bouzereau or hosted by Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan is a must watch.

[monwobbbo]

totally depends on what the special feature is. if i think it will be really interesting then i'll take the time to watch. things like the Ray Harryhausen documentary that had unreleased footage from unrealized projects are must watches. a lot of the basic making off stuff meh. i'll always watch the trailer for older films as those are always fun. if i really love a movie then i'll watch the extras for the most part. for most movies honestly if it has a 10 min. making off and the trailer then i'm good.

[moviegeek1992]

I'd say it depends on the movie. For instance I have no desire to listen to the commentary on some big Hollywood movie, because at the end of the day it's all self congratulatory and they had massive budgets so they just threw money at everything, but I listened to the commentary for Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, a director who made a movie over a weekend with various bits and bobs. It's far more fascinating. Sometimes I want to buy particular B-movies because of the commentary, to hear what the director has to say, or even their justification for bad ones can make you appreciate the movie more.

[nodeerforamonth]

yes

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

For instance I have no desire to listen to the commentary on some big Hollywood movie, because at the end of the day it's all self congratulatory and they had massive budgets so they just threw money at everything

Sonetimes, they can be a fun listen:

[Show spoiler]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-ahtp0sjA5U

[dewey412]

As much as I love special features, especially commentaries, i've had a real hard time getting to them..The last commentary I listened to was the MST3K track on The Heat...

[tennisball.]

I used to lap up bonus features. Nowadays if its a modern film I'll watch an alternate ending but little else.
Classic films which is my main area of interest I do try and be a bit more thorough however by their very nature the older films don't have many cast or crew left alive to talk about the films so sometimes the interviewees are from much lower in the credits. IIRC I think one disc I saw recently has an interview with the clapper loader.
A good "making of " for an older film will be hard to resist but overall a quick skim is the most I will do.
A shame really. I remember the hours sitting through the T2 Laserdisc or the original Toy Story dvd set. Just couldn't do it now

[Bn43]

I rarely watch or listen to them because life is way too short and I don't have a lot of time to consume all the media I would like. Rewatching the film itself some time later usually feels like a better use of my limited time.