Another factor in the death of special features was simply the cost of making them. I worked at many shops that spent months producing editing and finishing special feature material and you wouldn't believe the price tag on some of that stuff. So once streaming started to become the prominent purchase point and disc sales started to sag, well, the studios didn't think twice about slitting the throat of special features. Which is too bad, because it's just another way that movies, watching and owning them, have become *less special* in our lives.
The RedLetterMedia guys described it best. The making of the Phantom Menace documentary was simple straight forward and unpolished footage. It didn’t have a narrative or ulterior motives behind the editing it was just showing us what happened. It was a very immersive fly on the wall experience. You see the struggles and conflicts not only with the production but they had with each other at times. Contrast that with any supplemental material disney puts out pertaining to the sequels, especially The Last Jedi where everything is presented as magical and perfect. It feels super phony and very clearly isn’t how it went down behind the scenes at all
Spent my afternoon home, off work ill yesterday watching the extras and director/producer/scriptwriter commentary for RoboCop yesterday. A very pleasant 3 hours of listening to well informed experts talking to me about interesting stuff. Long live the extras.
Raimi's Spider-Man movies had special features that were absolutely stacked. Still peak in my opinion, down to the actual VH1 and HBO specials about the first movie, and massive docs about the special effects of 2 and 3
Counter point: Smaller companies like Criterion or Arrow Video release absolutely splendid special features for their releases. It’s more so that major companies nowadays just don’t care so when they give their films to smaller labels, there is something of quality to come out of that.
I haven't dived into it yet, but the Bruce Lee set from Arrow seems super comprehensive - even including a 4 hour ish documentary on what Game of Death was meant to be like. You can absolutely still get great special features nowadays, it just sometimes isn't from new movies.
No one can doubt your passion for the topics you cover. Each one feels so genuine and cherished. Not shouting to the void, but offering it something that means a lot to you. They mean a lot to me too
The 2010's have felt like such a watered down era of cinema compared to what was coming out in the previous decade. Feels more television has surpassed film in the 2010's and now.
Yep that’s what happened heck even DVD which only became mainstream 25 years ago has gone completely downhill in terms of relevance movies these days feel like there just here to exist that’s all it’s here to fill the algorithm with something.
The new Dune had some great special features. Could really feel the passion and dedication to doing justice to the book in a cinematic way from everyone involved.
A lot of behind the scenes and extra stuff is relegated to TH-cam for promotion for the movie, the special features on dvds felt like they were really for the fans of the movie
Great vid man. Star Wars ep 1 had GREAT special features. I bought the Apple TV device cuz it’s the only place I can buy digital w/ special features anymore but ur right, it def feels different.
@@JohnnytheBlue you made a mistake with your mention of Lord of the rings Return of the King , you said the final shot for that , film was 2004 ? but the film was released in 2003 to cinemas
After Jackson had won the Oscars for Return, he still had pickups to film for the Extended Edition, leading to him commenting that he was still filming something for which he already had an academy award
Man what an excellent video...as always! ngl, I teared up a little bit when I saw our thumbnail up there - extremely kind of you to put us up alongside some true greats. It still amazes me that this channel hasn't seen more growth, but I know the time is coming. You write so well, in such a relatable and charming voice, and your visuals are always so great. Keep it up. You never know what might connect.
That means a lot coming from y'all. Your stuff is truly top notch. Stoked for the growth you've gotten this year & equally convinced there's much more to come!
It is also important to understand that for a lot of people, those documentaries were great to learn about filmmaking, inspiring a lot of young talent to go into the business.
I really liked the star wars prequel features that were just George wandering around and talking to the animators and scultors too. One thing that disney plus did that felt like a candid old feature though was the "into the unknown" frozen documentary series. There's almost a whole episode dedicated to the fact that they knew elsa and her songs didn't really fit into the story, and they couldn't put them in properly until about a month or two before the movie was in theaters. I just liked seeing disney be so straight forward for once.
I hope that if to ever release a collected physical edition of your content, you include a behind the scenes doc about the making of this Great vid per usual
The making the amazing documentary from the Spider-Man 2 dvd made me want to be a film maker. Im sad that nothing like that is on dvds/blu rays anymore
I probably wouldn't be so passionate about film, art, and the process of making said film and art if it wasn't for Jim Henson and the special features and behind the scenes documentaries for his movies and shows. He wouldn't just talk about the experience on set, he would basically reveal how EVERYTHING was done and how EVERYTHING was made, and even to this day I'm able to spot how most special and practical effects are done just by looking at them in large part to Jim Henson in those documentaries giving me those building blocks, but also actively encouraging the audience to think critically about how those effects are done and experiment to see what works and what doesn't, and even showing how some effects could be done at home with basic items from around the house. The extras on the DVDs I had for The Muppet Show and Muppet movies, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street has quite literally made me a better artist and gave me the appreciation for so many mediums of art I have today. I genuinely don't know what kind of person I would be if I didn't have that, or how much less of an appreciation I would have for those creative processes if those special features didn't exist.
That's really moving. The way special features educated (and also peeled back the curtain on the real human beings who made these movies) made filmmaking & art feel so much more attainable.
This is beautiful, man. It's always a joy to experience all the personality you inject into these videos; these are interesting topics discussed by a passionate person. Like you (and I'm sure many others), I love hearing well-informed people speaking passionately about subjects they love, and I think your channel is a wonderful source of BOTH of those things. Keep it up, man!
I think a lot of it also has to do with the collapse of the home video market since that was sort of the monetary sweet spot for BTS material. Stuff like this is in a very specific place in terms of it’s customer value, where it’s not desired enough for people to purchase it as an independent product, but it does add value and incentive to another product you’re already trying to sell and if you’re already working with DVDs (which at the time held an unprecedented amount of storage space) you might as well throw something on there to fill the space. That specific little bubble of being just in-demand enough to justify existence isn’t really there anymore with streaming.
I just found your channel earlier today and after binging all of your videos in one afternoon (tbh I wish I was more patient lol) and you've immediately become one of the most well spoken and witty creators on the platform. Your passion for the topics you cover is infectious and all your points are always quick and clear, the fact that youre videos barely pass 10 minutes is baffling because I feel like you cover more ground than some videos cover in an hour. I can't wait to see what you have in the works and I hope to get my friends watching you as well.
Thankyou for congratulating me on my incredible wit. I worked really hard on it. (This video is fucking great dude 😃) The comparison between the LotR cast talking shit and having fun compared the the super corporate and boring Ant-Man 3 one was a really great pull!
Incredible video! Loved your point about how everything is almost vetted by a PR in the age of social media. I wonder if there will ever be something like Ben Affleck’s commentary of Armageddon, although now that I’m thinking about it a lot of the GoT cast was pretty candid about some of the choices in season 8.
Thank you! And that's a good point about the GoT cast. My memory tells me a lot of the more candid comments came from non-HBO interviews after the fact, but I could be wrong. At least we did get some honesty though
Dude you reached into my mind and created an essay on a topic I was thinking about. We no longer get “Ben Affleck clowning Michael Bay” level type commentary like in Armageddon. I miss those 😂
2:23 Look at the expression on Kathleen "The Future Is Female" Kennedy's face. Like she's thinking, "Keep rambling on old man. I'm going to turn Star Wars into something you never could have conceived in your limited CIS man viewpoint." And she DID! 🤣 Nicely done Mr. Marks.
One of my first DVDs was for Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. And although the movie was incredibly unserious, it had so many good special features. Not the same kind as LotR, but so much on the making of this incredibly specific kind of film. I loved it. (Also, you just got a new subscriber)
Peter Jackson is also a big reason for this, the bts for King Kong 2005 was also super entertaining to watch, even though the movie itself isnt as big of a production as Lotr.
the may sound random and totally gives away my age, but I was hooked on the behind the scenes featurette of the Garfield Movie. Every actor was acting to a shiny ball on a stick and it was awesome.
one of my fondest dvd memories was of the two disc edition revenge of the sith dvd. the second disc had a playable demo of star wars battlefront 2 for xbox, a full map from the game. magic ! just the feeling of being more excited than you've ever been in your life just cos you found out your star wars dvd turns into a video game when you put it in your xbox ♡
Another amazing video, man! Loved the Bo references (Eighth Grade, All Eyes on Me), and I was just talking to my sister about how I used to watch the LOTR special features for HOURS…they were so fascinating and you could definitely see the passion of everyone involved. Thanks for bringing up this topic!
It's really such a shame. I've devoured all bonuses for the extended editions of the lord of the rings, hobbit, king kong and the peter jackson, fran walsh and philippa boyens commentaries and I will likely return to them a lot to learn about filmmaking craft, both what to do, what mistakes to avoid, etc. Seeing their struggles, their success, the amount of creativity required to give life to worlds like theses, etc is amazing. It doesn't break the magic of the films, it just makes it all the more magical.
Something you must take into account is that putting aside how they are implemented, the tools used to make films nowadays are utterly perfect. One example that special features nowadays could not possibly spin any comedy/narrative out of is how in 1979's Alien, the final step in bringing the Nostromo to life was working with forklift drivers based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. If modern day crews for home media supplements kept forcing something like that out of the actual crew then it would be another VFX breakdown out of thousands.
Your videos are great, man! Genuinely one of the few channels that every time I see a new video from, I'll click on it immediately because I know it's gonna be good.
Another point is most special features nowadays is saved for the Blu Ray not the DVD. I would love to see some behind the scenes of Tenet for example but I can't because I only have a DVD player
Certainly the big budget studio releases present a paucity of extra material with the term “featurette” now a more than acceptable term for a 2-3 minute EPK featuring a few overly congratulatory remarks by whoever the cameraman could get to sit down for long enough but, as I’m sure others have commented, the smaller boutique labels are releasing some incredible boxsets and exhaustive special editions packed with fascinating retrospectives, new commentaries and insightful analyses alongside beautifully curated booklets and behind the scene paraphernalia. The likes of Arrow, Second Sight, Indicator, Eureka, Criterion, Severin and Vinegar Syndrome are, more often than not, the only physical media I bother with these days, in part because most modern blockbusters leave me cold and my passion often lies more in classic and cult films from the 20th Century than a lot of the more modern overhyped and forgettable trash we see nowadays.
This is why I still love picking up old dvds or blu rays. Features like behind the scenes, commentary and blooper reels are still amazing 20 years later.
It's a really interesting comparison; a lot of the interviews in the LotR special features are clearly just 2 guys and a camera; compared to the Marvel ones where there's multiple angles of everyone, and there's graphics that tell you "x descibes their co-star", because god forbid they just have someone asking questions and someone answering them.
I collect boutique Blu-Ray discs like Criterion and Arrow so I don’t have this problem. They still put extensive special features on their discs. If you’re still only buying studio releases, you’re missing out.
I stopped watching new movies sometime in the 2000s. It’s really sad that there’s just nothing modern that appeals to me, but at least I have my old favorites and I’ve discovered many old films that I missed when they first came out.
Good points. I almost forgot about special features. Feels like a thing of my childhood. I still watch BTS footage, but it's not like an actual documentary.
I think the main problem there is nothing Interesting left. Back in the days. Omg they made syntetic blood and flooded a real hotel room. Actually twice bc somebody broke tha camera, lol. Nowadays. They had markers on their face, they acted in front of green screen, and an army of indian slave, turned that into a movie with 3d triangles...
The decline of practical effects also has a huge role in it - when the answer to "how did they make that?" is just "CGI" for everything, it's just less interesting.
Special features were the best in the golden age of DVD and Blu-Ray. If you are a cinephile back in the day before all the youtube movie channels, these SF were so valuable, just looking for any nugget of knowledge to help you with becoming a filmmaker.
Honestly I think a lot of the best special features have been made during the last few years, but they're all for old movies or shows. People involved with the production speak much more candicly abut the production when there are many years seperating them for it. Another thing I enjoy abut these is they often but a lot of focus on putting the film or show in hitorical conext, their impact an infulene on the industry abd the world and what impact and influence the industry and the world as it was back then had on the movue/show. They're less so pr pices like special features for new thing and more so retrospectives. So you're feeling frustarted with specisl features these days, I encurage you to check these out, they're pretty much the only sort of speceal features I dother with anymore, but they're often well worth a watch.
You still get excellent and honest special features like that, but they're on "boutique" blu ray labels like Shout or Arrow, or on legacy media like the classic Doctor Who boxes. It's just the mainstream blockbusters that had all the edges sanded off.
I absolutely loved the special features of The Lord of the Rings and watched them as much as I watched the movie s. I loved learning how things were done, especially how they trained the horses.
I also think the lack of special features and trying to cover up any and all production difficulties has been a major contributor to the growing backlash against celebrities we saw in the general publics' apathy toward the WGA strike, and even the rise of Illumanti/"Elite" type conspiracy theories, so in a way Hollywood is actually shooting themselves in the foot and not thinking long-term.
As you say, because most big blockbusters today feel corporate, bland, uninspired, which results in the movies looking mediocre , Martin Scorsese was right that these movies seemed to be made by intelligence artificial), so these fueatures have nothing special, because in the end they are forgettable films, with a few exceptions (Oppenheimer's behind-the-scenes really motivated me to see and value the film more). In fact, I would say that the special features made me appreciate the art of cinema better and love my favorite movies more, I remember watching a lot of Star Wars featurettes, the ones from the prequels made me love them more than I already did, that's why I never hated them or thought that they were bad (for example, when the podracing models had to be filmed, there was a sand storm that ended up destroying part of the location and the set), not to forget the "director commentary audio" which are now available on YT, a missing art now. Also the dvs even many dvds used to have the trailers of the movies.
LOTR and the Star Wars prequels were anomalies. Most Hollywood special features were puff pieces from day one. To get true stories of the production, you have to wait over 20 years when no one cares about hurting anyone's feelings anymore, or a low budget production that doesn't care about appeasing to a mass audience (which there are still many great special features being made from).
I love special features, but I already have all of my favorite movies on DVD and it's rare that I enjoy a newer movie enough to buy it physical. The LOTR special features should be watched by anyone even remotely a fan of the movies, and The Hobbit trilogy special features are better than the movies themselves and make it worth owning them.
I loved the Start Wars original trilogy commentary you could listen to while watching the movies. You know the best part? It wasn't unscripted or unrehearsed. It was clearly tightly scripted - they put in the effort to be interesting and informative. Compared to the boring meandering "unscripted/unrehearsed" of Chasing Liberty or anything, ever. And they dare to advertise "unscripted/unrehearsed" as if it's a good thing when really, it just means they put no effort into it. Or money.
i hate promotional matierial for movies/tv diguised as behind the scenes, it so boring. that's what pretty much all the disney star wars marvel stuff is, its just all the cast and crew saying how amazing it was to work on the particular project. that's why that one feature documentary about rian johnson making last jedi was actually brilliant, as it came across as very honest. rian johnsons concerns about the process, mark hamill slagging off the rian johnsons take. it was great, but a total one off. disney are so concerned with upholding the brand.
Movies suck now. Trailers suck now. Special features suck now. Oh and movie scores and soundtracks suck now. Meh. I still have 100 years of film to catch up on, so I’m not missing out on anything.
“Movies suck now” Think of some new big hits recently, Barbie? Oppenheimer? Even a lot of the new popular films to come out recently have been really good.
I spent untold hours as a child watching special features and now I will put that time into watching your videos sir.
Another factor in the death of special features was simply the cost of making them. I worked at many shops that spent months producing editing and finishing special feature material and you wouldn't believe the price tag on some of that stuff. So once streaming started to become the prominent purchase point and disc sales started to sag, well, the studios didn't think twice about slitting the throat of special features. Which is too bad, because it's just another way that movies, watching and owning them, have become *less special* in our lives.
Spectacles, thank you for recommending this channel! This is world class!
The RedLetterMedia guys described it best. The making of the Phantom Menace documentary was simple straight forward and unpolished footage. It didn’t have a narrative or ulterior motives behind the editing it was just showing us what happened. It was a very immersive fly on the wall experience. You see the struggles and conflicts not only with the production but they had with each other at times.
Contrast that with any supplemental material disney puts out pertaining to the sequels, especially The Last Jedi where everything is presented as magical and perfect. It feels super phony and very clearly isn’t how it went down behind the scenes at all
I could retitle this video "modern special features are the most disappointing thing since my son"
Spent my afternoon home, off work ill yesterday watching the extras and director/producer/scriptwriter commentary for RoboCop yesterday. A very pleasant 3 hours of listening to well informed experts talking to me about interesting stuff.
Long live the extras.
Raimi's Spider-Man movies had special features that were absolutely stacked. Still peak in my opinion, down to the actual VH1 and HBO specials about the first movie, and massive docs about the special effects of 2 and 3
Counter point: Smaller companies like Criterion or Arrow Video release absolutely splendid special features for their releases. It’s more so that major companies nowadays just don’t care so when they give their films to smaller labels, there is something of quality to come out of that.
That's a good point. I need more Criterion in my life
I haven't dived into it yet, but the Bruce Lee set from Arrow seems super comprehensive - even including a 4 hour ish documentary on what Game of Death was meant to be like. You can absolutely still get great special features nowadays, it just sometimes isn't from new movies.
Great Video and absolutely amazing editting for a channel this size.
Star Wars and Lord of the Rings on DVD have some of the best special features. I remember spending so much time devouring all the BTS material lol
No one can doubt your passion for the topics you cover. Each one feels so genuine and cherished. Not shouting to the void, but offering it something that means a lot to you.
They mean a lot to me too
Can't tell ya how much that means. Thank you!
I remember a period where special features were locked to the Bluray release
Mark on an absolute content tear over here
The 2010's have felt like such a watered down era of cinema compared to what was coming out in the previous decade.
Feels more television has surpassed film in the 2010's and now.
Yep that’s what happened heck even DVD which only became mainstream 25 years ago has gone completely downhill in terms of relevance movies these days feel like there just here to exist that’s all it’s here to fill the algorithm with something.
The new Dune had some great special features. Could really feel the passion and dedication to doing justice to the book in a cinematic way from everyone involved.
A lot of behind the scenes and extra stuff is relegated to TH-cam for promotion for the movie, the special features on dvds felt like they were really for the fans of the movie
Great vid man. Star Wars ep 1 had GREAT special features. I bought the Apple TV device cuz it’s the only place I can buy digital w/ special features anymore but ur right, it def feels different.
Thank you! Makes me wanna dive back into the phantom menace (a sentence I never thought I would write).
@@JohnnytheBlue you made a mistake with your mention of Lord of the rings Return of the King , you said the final shot for that , film was 2004 ? but the film was released in 2003 to cinemas
After Jackson had won the Oscars for Return, he still had pickups to film for the Extended Edition, leading to him commenting that he was still filming something for which he already had an academy award
Man what an excellent video...as always! ngl, I teared up a little bit when I saw our thumbnail up there - extremely kind of you to put us up alongside some true greats.
It still amazes me that this channel hasn't seen more growth, but I know the time is coming. You write so well, in such a relatable and charming voice, and your visuals are always so great. Keep it up. You never know what might connect.
That means a lot coming from y'all. Your stuff is truly top notch. Stoked for the growth you've gotten this year & equally convinced there's much more to come!
It is also important to understand that for a lot of people, those documentaries were great to learn about filmmaking, inspiring a lot of young talent to go into the business.
I really liked the star wars prequel features that were just George wandering around and talking to the animators and scultors too. One thing that disney plus did that felt like a candid old feature though was the "into the unknown" frozen documentary series. There's almost a whole episode dedicated to the fact that they knew elsa and her songs didn't really fit into the story, and they couldn't put them in properly until about a month or two before the movie was in theaters. I just liked seeing disney be so straight forward for once.
That sounds like a cool throwback. Will check it out!
I hope that if to ever release a collected physical edition of your content, you include a behind the scenes doc about the making of this
Great vid per usual
The making the amazing documentary from the Spider-Man 2 dvd made me want to be a film maker. Im sad that nothing like that is on dvds/blu rays anymore
I probably wouldn't be so passionate about film, art, and the process of making said film and art if it wasn't for Jim Henson and the special features and behind the scenes documentaries for his movies and shows. He wouldn't just talk about the experience on set, he would basically reveal how EVERYTHING was done and how EVERYTHING was made, and even to this day I'm able to spot how most special and practical effects are done just by looking at them in large part to Jim Henson in those documentaries giving me those building blocks, but also actively encouraging the audience to think critically about how those effects are done and experiment to see what works and what doesn't, and even showing how some effects could be done at home with basic items from around the house. The extras on the DVDs I had for The Muppet Show and Muppet movies, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street has quite literally made me a better artist and gave me the appreciation for so many mediums of art I have today. I genuinely don't know what kind of person I would be if I didn't have that, or how much less of an appreciation I would have for those creative processes if those special features didn't exist.
That's really moving. The way special features educated (and also peeled back the curtain on the real human beings who made these movies) made filmmaking & art feel so much more attainable.
This is beautiful, man. It's always a joy to experience all the personality you inject into these videos; these are interesting topics discussed by a passionate person. Like you (and I'm sure many others), I love hearing well-informed people speaking passionately about subjects they love, and I think your channel is a wonderful source of BOTH of those things. Keep it up, man!
I think a lot of it also has to do with the collapse of the home video market since that was sort of the monetary sweet spot for BTS material. Stuff like this is in a very specific place in terms of it’s customer value, where it’s not desired enough for people to purchase it as an independent product, but it does add value and incentive to another product you’re already trying to sell and if you’re already working with DVDs (which at the time held an unprecedented amount of storage space) you might as well throw something on there to fill the space. That specific little bubble of being just in-demand enough to justify existence isn’t really there anymore with streaming.
That Put Your Hands Up piano cover rocks
I just found your channel earlier today and after binging all of your videos in one afternoon (tbh I wish I was more patient lol) and you've immediately become one of the most well spoken and witty creators on the platform. Your passion for the topics you cover is infectious and all your points are always quick and clear, the fact that youre videos barely pass 10 minutes is baffling because I feel like you cover more ground than some videos cover in an hour.
I can't wait to see what you have in the works and I hope to get my friends watching you as well.
Wow that really means a lot. Thank you!
Thankyou for congratulating me on my incredible wit. I worked really hard on it. (This video is fucking great dude 😃) The comparison between the LotR cast talking shit and having fun compared the the super corporate and boring Ant-Man 3 one was a really great pull!
This is my new favourite channel. Actually insightful, funny... and using Bo Burnham music. Pristine!
Incredible video!
Loved your point about how everything is almost vetted by a PR in the age of social media. I wonder if there will ever be something like Ben Affleck’s commentary of Armageddon, although now that I’m thinking about it a lot of the GoT cast was pretty candid about some of the choices in season 8.
Thank you! And that's a good point about the GoT cast. My memory tells me a lot of the more candid comments came from non-HBO interviews after the fact, but I could be wrong. At least we did get some honesty though
Dude you reached into my mind and created an essay on a topic I was thinking about. We no longer get “Ben Affleck clowning Michael Bay” level type commentary like in Armageddon. I miss those 😂
I love special features, and the lack on most modern platforms is really noticeable
Great video
Brilliant stuff
2:23 Look at the expression on Kathleen "The Future Is Female" Kennedy's face. Like she's thinking, "Keep rambling on old man. I'm going to turn Star Wars into something you never could have conceived in your limited CIS man viewpoint." And she DID! 🤣
Nicely done Mr. Marks.
One of my first DVDs was for Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. And although the movie was incredibly unserious, it had so many good special features. Not the same kind as LotR, but so much on the making of this incredibly specific kind of film. I loved it. (Also, you just got a new subscriber)
Thank you! And yeah, it was always cool to discover even small-ish movies having extensive special features.
Peter Jackson is also a big reason for this, the bts for King Kong 2005 was also super entertaining to watch, even though the movie itself isnt as big of a production as Lotr.
the may sound random and totally gives away my age, but I was hooked on the behind the scenes featurette of the Garfield Movie. Every actor was acting to a shiny ball on a stick and it was awesome.
one of my fondest dvd memories was of the two disc edition revenge of the sith dvd. the second disc had a playable demo of star wars battlefront 2 for xbox, a full map from the game.
magic ! just the feeling of being more excited than you've ever been in your life just cos you found out your star wars dvd turns into a video game when you put it in your xbox ♡
great video, you read my mind! glad this came up on my algorithm
The special feature i want more than anything is a whole shaky cam recording of the mamma mia wrap party
The special features now can feel like ads or a corporate HR video.
Another amazing video, man! Loved the Bo references (Eighth Grade, All Eyes on Me), and I was just talking to my sister about how I used to watch the LOTR special features for HOURS…they were so fascinating and you could definitely see the passion of everyone involved. Thanks for bringing up this topic!
Thanks Jessica! And same here. It's crazy that I've probably sunk more hours into the LOTR special features than the giant movies themselves
Me too
It's really such a shame. I've devoured all bonuses for the extended editions of the lord of the rings, hobbit, king kong and the peter jackson, fran walsh and philippa boyens commentaries and I will likely return to them a lot to learn about filmmaking craft, both what to do, what mistakes to avoid, etc. Seeing their struggles, their success, the amount of creativity required to give life to worlds like theses, etc is amazing. It doesn't break the magic of the films, it just makes it all the more magical.
Something you must take into account is that putting aside how they are implemented, the tools used to make films nowadays are utterly perfect. One example that special features nowadays could not possibly spin any comedy/narrative out of is how in 1979's Alien, the final step in bringing the Nostromo to life was working with forklift drivers based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. If modern day crews for home media supplements kept forcing something like that out of the actual crew then it would be another VFX breakdown out of thousands.
A special feature about special features. Subscribed.
Everytime i hear "i have to start the script pretty soon" i laugh
Damn just seeing this. I gotta watch every disc in extended trilogy again.
Love the Bo Burnham piano cover in the background!
Your videos are great, man! Genuinely one of the few channels that every time I see a new video from, I'll click on it immediately because I know it's gonna be good.
That means a ton. Thank you!
Netflix wants to get rid of special features when it's trying to kill off the DVD
Another point is most special features nowadays is saved for the Blu Ray not the DVD.
I would love to see some behind the scenes of Tenet for example but I can't because I only have a DVD player
They don’t even put effort into dvd menus anymore. The amount of times I’ve gotten a blu-ray dvd and the menu is just a still image is uncountable
Certainly the big budget studio releases present a paucity of extra material with the term “featurette” now a more than acceptable term for a 2-3 minute EPK featuring a few overly congratulatory remarks by whoever the cameraman could get to sit down for long enough but, as I’m sure others have commented, the smaller boutique labels are releasing some incredible boxsets and exhaustive special editions packed with fascinating retrospectives, new commentaries and insightful analyses alongside beautifully curated booklets and behind the scene paraphernalia. The likes of Arrow, Second Sight, Indicator, Eureka, Criterion, Severin and Vinegar Syndrome are, more often than not, the only physical media I bother with these days, in part because most modern blockbusters leave me cold and my passion often lies more in classic and cult films from the 20th Century than a lot of the more modern overhyped and forgettable trash we see nowadays.
Before I start, I really hope this doesn’t completely ignore the existence of the Criterion Collection
This is why I still love picking up old dvds or blu rays.
Features like behind the scenes, commentary and blooper reels are still amazing 20 years later.
I loved the Star Wars documentary Empire of Dreams
its all on youtube. just one search of an interview, behind the scenes etc its there
Special fatures , easter egg , bts, commentary all the good thing
It's a really interesting comparison; a lot of the interviews in the LotR special features are clearly just 2 guys and a camera; compared to the Marvel ones where there's multiple angles of everyone, and there's graphics that tell you "x descibes their co-star", because god forbid they just have someone asking questions and someone answering them.
I collect boutique Blu-Ray discs like Criterion and Arrow so I don’t have this problem. They still put extensive special features on their discs. If you’re still only buying studio releases, you’re missing out.
Great video and editing!
Back with another banger.
I appreciate the subtle Bo Burnham appreciation in this video.
I stopped watching new movies sometime in the 2000s. It’s really sad that there’s just nothing modern that appeals to me, but at least I have my old favorites and I’ve discovered many old films that I missed when they first came out.
Good points. I almost forgot about special features.
Feels like a thing of my childhood.
I still watch BTS footage, but it's not like an actual documentary.
The bts for the Lotr were just as entertaining as the movies.
we miss you king
Haha just seeing this. I’ll have the next one (longest vid yet) ready in a couple weeks. Thanks as always for sticking around
I think the main problem there is nothing Interesting left.
Back in the days. Omg they made syntetic blood and flooded a real hotel room. Actually twice bc somebody broke tha camera, lol.
Nowadays. They had markers on their face, they acted in front of green screen, and an army of indian slave, turned that into a movie with 3d triangles...
The decline of practical effects also has a huge role in it - when the answer to "how did they make that?" is just "CGI" for everything, it's just less interesting.
Special Features are still around for something like the Criterion Collection but that's about it.
Special features were the best in the golden age of DVD and Blu-Ray. If you are a cinephile back in the day before all the youtube movie channels, these SF were so valuable, just looking for any nugget of knowledge to help you with becoming a filmmaker.
Good vid! Subbed
I just started this video and I think... I'm guessing... that behind the scenes/special features used to be genuine. Not manufactured.
Loved this!
Special features go hard and your videos go way harder
Honestly I think a lot of the best special features have been made during the last few years, but they're all for old movies or shows.
People involved with the production speak much more candicly abut the production when there are many years seperating them for it. Another thing I enjoy abut these is they often but a lot of focus on putting the film or show in hitorical conext, their impact an infulene on the industry abd the world and what impact and influence the industry and the world as it was back then had on the movue/show.
They're less so pr pices like special features for new thing and more so retrospectives.
So you're feeling frustarted with specisl features these days, I encurage you to check these out, they're pretty much the only sort of speceal features I dother with anymore, but they're often well worth a watch.
You still get excellent and honest special features like that, but they're on "boutique" blu ray labels like Shout or Arrow, or on legacy media like the classic Doctor Who boxes. It's just the mainstream blockbusters that had all the edges sanded off.
We are now living in a culture of blandness. The more dull and uninspired is in, interesting is dated and obsolete.
This is so important!
01:38; you mean Michael Pellerin.
P.O.T.A. 2001 wasn't great but its behind the scenes was great.
I absolutely loved the special features of The Lord of the Rings and watched them as much as I watched the movie s. I loved learning how things were done, especially how they trained the horses.
I also think the lack of special features and trying to cover up any and all production difficulties has been a major contributor to the growing backlash against celebrities we saw in the general publics' apathy toward the WGA strike, and even the rise of Illumanti/"Elite" type conspiracy theories, so in a way Hollywood is actually shooting themselves in the foot and not thinking long-term.
First I’ve heard of special features not being any good.
I’ve watched the LOTR Behind the Scenes a stupid amount of times
As you say, because most big blockbusters today feel corporate, bland, uninspired, which results in the movies looking mediocre , Martin Scorsese was right that these movies seemed to be made by intelligence artificial), so these fueatures have nothing special, because in the end they are forgettable films, with a few exceptions (Oppenheimer's behind-the-scenes really motivated me to see and value the film more).
In fact, I would say that the special features made me appreciate the art of cinema better and love my favorite movies more, I remember watching a lot of Star Wars featurettes, the ones from the prequels made me love them more than I already did, that's why I never hated them or thought that they were bad (for example, when the podracing models had to be filmed, there was a sand storm that ended up destroying part of the location and the set), not to forget the "director commentary audio" which are now available on YT, a missing art now. Also the dvs even many dvds used to have the trailers of the movies.
Well said.
LOTR and the Star Wars prequels were anomalies. Most Hollywood special features were puff pieces from day one. To get true stories of the production, you have to wait over 20 years when no one cares about hurting anyone's feelings anymore, or a low budget production that doesn't care about appeasing to a mass audience (which there are still many great special features being made from).
I love special features, but I already have all of my favorite movies on DVD and it's rare that I enjoy a newer movie enough to buy it physical. The LOTR special features should be watched by anyone even remotely a fan of the movies, and The Hobbit trilogy special features are better than the movies themselves and make it worth owning them.
i enhoyed the special features for Across the Spider-Verse
They don't make 'em like they used to.
I loved the Start Wars original trilogy commentary you could listen to while watching the movies. You know the best part? It wasn't unscripted or unrehearsed. It was clearly tightly scripted - they put in the effort to be interesting and informative. Compared to the boring meandering "unscripted/unrehearsed" of Chasing Liberty or anything, ever. And they dare to advertise "unscripted/unrehearsed" as if it's a good thing when really, it just means they put no effort into it. Or money.
Have you watched the power of the dog behind the scenes? not super informative, but beautiful.
I haven't. Will add to the list!
Not you using the Slaughterhouse cypher beat
SUBSCRIBED!!!
i hate promotional matierial for movies/tv diguised as behind the scenes, it so boring. that's what pretty much all the disney star wars marvel stuff is, its just all the cast and crew saying how amazing it was to work on the particular project. that's why that one feature documentary about rian johnson making last jedi was actually brilliant, as it came across as very honest. rian johnsons concerns about the process, mark hamill slagging off the rian johnsons take. it was great, but a total one off. disney are so concerned with upholding the brand.
literally made a joke about this earlier. truppy
Movies suck now.
Trailers suck now.
Special features suck now.
Oh and movie scores and soundtracks suck now.
Meh. I still have 100 years of film to catch up on, so I’m not missing out on anything.
“Movies suck now” Think of some new big hits recently, Barbie? Oppenheimer? Even a lot of the new popular films to come out recently have been really good.
The Lord Of The Rings Extended Editions have the best Bonus Features and rule above all of them. That or The Simpsons DVDs. 📀
Damn, this phenomenon feels like another consequences of late capitalism.
Because actors running around in front of green screens doesnt make for interesting bts footage.
True!
Star wars was made by a weirdo, Mara Jade wasn't, now get out of this room! And get me more Twi'leks