Ask questions to Blu-ray Special Features Producer Jerome

[iceman]

This thread is dedicated to asking questions of industry insider Jerome (Special Features Producer) who has graciously taken the time to participate here. Jerome and all our insiders do this out of their free time and to try to keep us informed to their best abilities, and therefore are to be treated with respect and courtesy.

Before asking a question, please skim at least the last weeks worth of posts in order to make sure that the question hasn't already been asked or answered. Using the search function is also always a good idea. Please conduct your inquiries in a professional manner and avoid asking "chicken little" questions or asking when unannounced titles will come out.

Jerome - Special Features Producer - Track posts

[Saturnas]

Hello Jerome, welcome to the forums!

I really like special features on Blu-ray, specially I love to see how special effects were done and etc. But sometimes there are blu-ray titles which do not have any special features Is it too expensive to studios to make them?

Sometimes in special features I found trailers, and I really enjoy them to watch if they are in multi-channel sound, but some trailers are with DD 2.0 sound... Why is that? I really like to watch trailers when they are included with other special features, but when they are not in multichannel sound, I just can't watch them...

Also I would love to have an option to play movie with the trailers(If they are with multi-channel sound (5.1/7.1)), first watch the trailers and then movie, just like in cinemas...

[Jerome]

Originally Posted by Saturnas

Hello Jerome, welcome to the forums!

I really like special features on Blu-ray, specially I love to see how special effects were done and etc. But sometimes there are blu-ray titles which do not have any special features Is it too expensive to studios to make them?

Some titles have no special features because they are small titles for studios, and producing special features cost some money. So, it always depends of the commercial potential of films on the market. Who wants a 3 discs release of Red Sonja ? Nobody I presume
So there is only a short featurette.

for the Trailers, they are never a priority for the studios, I am afraid, but they are very important to me and most of the dvd producers.

[Penton-Man]

Welcome Jerome.
Good to see you posting.

[Buddy Christ]

Greeting Jerome, nice HT set up you have. What are some of the titles that you have worked on so we can check out your work?!

Very Exciting!!

[captveg]

A hearty welcome.

[Saturnas]

Originally Posted by Jerome

Some titles have no special features because they are small titles for studios, and producing special features cost some money. So, it always depends of the commercial potential of films on the market. Who wants a 3 discs release of Red Sonja ? Nobody I presume
So there is only a short featurette.

for the Trailers, they are never a priority for the studios, I am afraid, but they are very important to me and most of the dvd producers.

Thanks for the answer Jarome. Well I was disappointed about spider-man HD trilogy boxset, because only the 3rd part of spider-man had special features. And I don't think that the first and second parts were small titles and nobody wanted to see how they was made..

Is it very expensive to put multi-channel sound on trailers? The customers would be happy and the studios would be happy because the customers would buy blu-ray's after seeing a cool trailer with multi-channel sound. I may be wrong because I am not sure how this effects others, but when I see a cool trailer with multi-channel sound, then I say okey I need to buy this movie

[Jerome]

Originally Posted by Blu2U

Greeting Jerome, nice HT set up you have. What are some of the titles that you have worked on so we can check out your work?!

Very Exciting!!

I worked mostly on french movies, of course, but also two Miyazaki films released in France.
But my documentary about the trouble Making of Emmanuelle is available on the Lionsgate dvd, and also the UK Blu-Ray disc.

Last year, I made a 55 minute documentary on Polanski's Pirates.
And last january, I made a 20 minutes featurette on the special effects of Total recall for a new Blu-Ray disc announced in Germany, France and UK.

[eldin]

Hi Jerome - Can you tell me a little bit about the cost structure of professional BD authoring and feature development? Specifically, I'm looking for some info on what studios typically spend on the special features (menus, BD-J, BD-Live, etc.)

Thanks!

[Jerome]

you can check the French Blu-ray discs of
Pirates
Cousteau's The Silent World
Ridley Scott's 1492
Fear and leathing in Las Vegas (exclusive interview of Terry Gilliam)

European Blu-Ray discs of
Emmanuelle
Total recall (documentary on the special effects)
Red Sonja
Red Heat
Raw Deal

[DIY_HD]

Jerome,

Every Blu-ray disc has its own unique disc menu. While I am all for innovation and creativity, some of these menus can be frustrating, if not impossible to navigate. Are menus considered part of the special features?

Some menus employ very high technology to enable new capabilities (D-Box and others). These can dramatically increase load times. Can they create an option for a simple menu for those who don't want to use those features?

I am not advocating strict menu operating standards, but some generally agreed upon industry conventions would be nice. Sometimes I can't tell which item is highlighted, let alone find an Easter Egg. I have been working with computers since 1980 and do not consider myself technologically challenged. What can I do to encourage the industry to simplify the menus so that I can actually get to the special features?

Ultimately, the purpose of a menu is to allow the user to select a feature. It may be cool to design a menu in a creative fashion, but when that design impedes the very purpose of the menu, it makes me wonder what the objective is, to navigate, or to impress? Can it do both? Sure, but it should not do so at the expense of functionality.

[Mark Malmstrøm]

special features in 480p ON VERY OLD FILMS or just older film where the original dvd features are included - does it always have to be like that or will film that does not have so much special fettures not be better suited with 720p features.

?????????


I like the fact even if it's not much then it's still a bit HD allthough low HD - but it's certainly better than standard defineition and the player don't have to change back and forth between SD and HD.



And are the Speciel features always a cost for the studieo IF they have something in their archive that was used to promote film?

[teekay101]

Can you do me a personal favour and not shrink or PIP video? For some reason, I feel like I'm losing out on my money a tad.

For example: the Ghostbusters Blu-Ray release had picture-in-picture commentary, which was great and all... but I sort of felt I was missing out because all of the 1080p interviews were shrunk down to fit in the PIP window.

Also, with the Star Wars Complete Saga release, a lot of the special features were shrunk down to have an unnecessary (in my opinion) frame around them where they ended up putting things like lower-third info... and the space to the right was just ignored. So all of the details were shrunk down a tad to, say 900 pixels in height... and it was really bothersome to me. I want to see my special features of the making of the Death Star Mark II in full 1920x1080 gawrsh-darnit!

I know you can't make any promises... but yeah, if you could have any say in anything like this... maybe keep this in mind?

Thanks for reading! I'm jealous of your job by the way

I cannot, other persons may help you

[Jerome]

I never done PIP commentary.
I prefer old fashioned documentaries and interviews, in HD of course

[DGates01]

I have a question. Why can't the special features volume be the same level as the movie? They always seem to be either noticeably lower of higher in volume than the feature.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Hi Jerome,

Thank you for participating. It just goes to show what a fantastic community we have here at Blu-ray.com!

My question: Do you know if studios have considered using the BD-Live capabilities of the format to allow downloadable access to foreign language subtitles? My girlfriend is Japanese and is learning English. She still has trouble with quick English audio and Canada/USA releases rarely ever have any Japanese subtitles.

Thanks again for your dedication to our hobbies.

[DGates01]

These 'Insider' threads are ghost towns. Did all these so-called experts get laid off?

Hi all I am new here plz guide me how I go ahead??

[FrontierDK]

Hi there :-)

I'm a newbie into this, wanting to know a lot more. But...

There's only been written 2 books about bluray, and one of them doesn't even cover HDMV - and the other is very sparse. The publicly available documents from the blu-ray association is no better than the manual you'll find in the glove compartment of an old car - it will tell you that there's a radio and the max. tire pressure...and then it stops there.

My question...
Where does one go for in-depth knowledge about blu-ray? From reading the forums, it seems that some people are very sharp about authoring, but a source of their knowledge is never revealed...