I find it interesting that with the increasing availability of space with the invention of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, that distributors find more and more ways to fill that new space. For some reason it bothers me usually when there’s an insane amount of additional features–not because I find this unnecessary, but they (1) are usually more in quantity and quality and (2) give me high expectations for EVERY DVDs to have adequate bonus features.
For example, your average action movie may have 5-minutes interviews with the actors, behind-the-scenes footage showing how special effects were done (Don’t you want to know how Davy Jones’ tentacle beard was made? If not, you will now), and if you’re lucky, a director’s commentary. With so much room to cram extra ‘goodies’ with, I feel like many DVDs go overboard and give viewers only small clips of interesting material to make buying the DVD more worth while.
And thus is born the expectation of ALL DVDs to be the same way. But when I rented the Brokeback Mountain DVD, there was no director’s commentary–which INFURIATED me. But had such a thing never been used on DVDs, I wouldn’t have cared.
Where do these NEEDS come from? Never after watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End did I think, “I wish I knew how they animated Davy Jones’ beard.” But like on many DVDs today, on Pirate’s DVD there’s an extended section on how special effects were made, which usually are fairly interesting. The Watchmen DVD apparently has a lot of extras including bio clips on the fictional characters, a short, fictional documentary about part of the movie’s universe, and I even think an animated feature based on part of the graphic novel. The same has extended to television shows.
Did distributors purposely create this need, or was it born from the desires of avid DVD collectors?
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