DVDs- Pros and Cons
As I wait patiently 'til tomorrow and the release of the extended DVD of "The Two Towers" it seemed a good day to talk about the future of DVDs, specifically as influenced by Peter Jackson's DVDs.
The invention of the movie DVD was a very cool thing. An average DVD is a treasure trove of goodies never imagined or expected ten years ago. Behind-the-scene documentaries, cast and crew commentaries, trailers, music videos, and, perhaps coolest of all, scenes that had been deleted from the original film, make DVDs must-have items. The DVD made us all amateur film experts, showing us the man behind the curtain in an unprecedented way. Whether such a bombardment of behind-the-scenes material might slightly detract from the magic of the movies for many except film students is a question to leave for another day. Still, it's a tad disconcerting that John and I often pick up a DVD these days and comment "There's -only- the movie on here?" as if this is a liability.
When I first saw "Fellowship of The Ring" in 2001 I went to see it taking pride that I was a "revisionist" rather than a "purist". Despite being steeped in twenty years of Tolkien lore I knew that a book and a movie are different mediums and I could not expect one to be the same as the other. I was willing to accept that Peter Jackson would have to take liberties with Tolkien's "Lord of The Rings" to make a successful movie. Leaving the theatre there was only one movie sequence that bothered me, that didn't seem in keeping with the themes of LOTR and that was the scenes in Lothlorien. I was uneasy with the one-sided characterization of Galadriel, highly disappointed that there were no scenes between Galadriel and Gimli which I thought were important to the rest of the story.
When the extended "Fellowship" DVD was released the following November I was delighted to see those Lothlorien scenes had been transformed. The forty extra minutes Peter Jackson had added back into his movie clearly made for stronger character and story. And I believed Jackson when he said this was the movie he wanted to release in the theatres, but being untried he was under the constraints of New-Line to deliver a movie less than three hours long. The extended FOTR DVD was a better movie than the one in the theatre and it was a treat to have that improved movie on DVD.
Still, it added a strange new dimension when we went to the theatre to see "The Two Towers" a month later. We already knew that we weren't seeing the finished version of the movie- that Jackson's complete vision would only be released to us on the extended DVD the following November (tomorrow). It made it hard to pass judgement on the movie as a whole as one keeps holding out that any weaknesses in the movie might be improved by the extra 40 minutes of footage added into the DVD. Will extra exposition and characterization balance out the battle scenes better? Will Jackson's vision of Faramir finally be justified in the promised flashbacks? Very odd that we will only begin to explore those questions eleven months after the movie has been released.
The rumours of the relationship between "The Return of The King" theatrical release and DVD are even more tangled. (don't worry, I won't put any spoilers here) Word has it that Peter Jackson is deliberately leaving important scenes out of his theatrical release, mollifying actors and fans by promising to return the scenes into the DVD next November. It seems we're starting to cross the line as to what the purpose of a DVD should be. Certainly Jackson has the power now to control what scenes do and do not end up in the theatrical cuts of his LOTR movies and deliberately moving pivotal scenes from the theatre to DVD seems artificial. I'm also feeling for the actors removed from the theatrical release who can't take ownership for the movie's debut or Oscar nominations, etc., despite knowing their scenes will eventually return to the DVD. Makes you start to wonder why -bother- going to see movies in the theatre when even in the director's mind the DVD is the truer cut. (yes, I'll be lined up for ROTK, anyway)
It makes one hope that Jackson's attitude toward scenes in his movies and scenes in his DVDs don't become the wave of the future as I think it could really water down the movie experience. Recently John commented that the deleted scenes in the latest Harry Potter DVD should have been added back into the DVD cut of the movie a la Peter Jackson, and though it was tempting to agree, as some of the deleted scenes were very good, one has to wonder where this phenomenon will end and if movies will ever be truly finished.
Having said all this I can't wait to see the extended "Two Towers" tomorrow. Rumour has it the extended scenes, just like the "Fellowship" DVD, add character and nuance back into the story, add humour, add music and certainly none of that can be bad. Peter Jackson is an excellent director and his "Lord of The Rings" trilogy is an astonishing accomplishment.
But I find the implications for future movies make me feel torn.
Question: Any thoughts on all this? Are you fine with directors re-cutting their movies on DVD, sometimes multiple times? (like George Lucas' re-edited Star Wars movies) Are you OK with seeing movies you know may be very different by the time they are on DVD? Are you OK with directors editing their theatrical movies with extended DVDs in mind?
The invention of the movie DVD was a very cool thing. An average DVD is a treasure trove of goodies never imagined or expected ten years ago. Behind-the-scene documentaries, cast and crew commentaries, trailers, music videos, and, perhaps coolest of all, scenes that had been deleted from the original film, make DVDs must-have items. The DVD made us all amateur film experts, showing us the man behind the curtain in an unprecedented way. Whether such a bombardment of behind-the-scenes material might slightly detract from the magic of the movies for many except film students is a question to leave for another day. Still, it's a tad disconcerting that John and I often pick up a DVD these days and comment "There's -only- the movie on here?" as if this is a liability.
When I first saw "Fellowship of The Ring" in 2001 I went to see it taking pride that I was a "revisionist" rather than a "purist". Despite being steeped in twenty years of Tolkien lore I knew that a book and a movie are different mediums and I could not expect one to be the same as the other. I was willing to accept that Peter Jackson would have to take liberties with Tolkien's "Lord of The Rings" to make a successful movie. Leaving the theatre there was only one movie sequence that bothered me, that didn't seem in keeping with the themes of LOTR and that was the scenes in Lothlorien. I was uneasy with the one-sided characterization of Galadriel, highly disappointed that there were no scenes between Galadriel and Gimli which I thought were important to the rest of the story.
When the extended "Fellowship" DVD was released the following November I was delighted to see those Lothlorien scenes had been transformed. The forty extra minutes Peter Jackson had added back into his movie clearly made for stronger character and story. And I believed Jackson when he said this was the movie he wanted to release in the theatres, but being untried he was under the constraints of New-Line to deliver a movie less than three hours long. The extended FOTR DVD was a better movie than the one in the theatre and it was a treat to have that improved movie on DVD.
Still, it added a strange new dimension when we went to the theatre to see "The Two Towers" a month later. We already knew that we weren't seeing the finished version of the movie- that Jackson's complete vision would only be released to us on the extended DVD the following November (tomorrow). It made it hard to pass judgement on the movie as a whole as one keeps holding out that any weaknesses in the movie might be improved by the extra 40 minutes of footage added into the DVD. Will extra exposition and characterization balance out the battle scenes better? Will Jackson's vision of Faramir finally be justified in the promised flashbacks? Very odd that we will only begin to explore those questions eleven months after the movie has been released.
The rumours of the relationship between "The Return of The King" theatrical release and DVD are even more tangled. (don't worry, I won't put any spoilers here) Word has it that Peter Jackson is deliberately leaving important scenes out of his theatrical release, mollifying actors and fans by promising to return the scenes into the DVD next November. It seems we're starting to cross the line as to what the purpose of a DVD should be. Certainly Jackson has the power now to control what scenes do and do not end up in the theatrical cuts of his LOTR movies and deliberately moving pivotal scenes from the theatre to DVD seems artificial. I'm also feeling for the actors removed from the theatrical release who can't take ownership for the movie's debut or Oscar nominations, etc., despite knowing their scenes will eventually return to the DVD. Makes you start to wonder why -bother- going to see movies in the theatre when even in the director's mind the DVD is the truer cut. (yes, I'll be lined up for ROTK, anyway)
It makes one hope that Jackson's attitude toward scenes in his movies and scenes in his DVDs don't become the wave of the future as I think it could really water down the movie experience. Recently John commented that the deleted scenes in the latest Harry Potter DVD should have been added back into the DVD cut of the movie a la Peter Jackson, and though it was tempting to agree, as some of the deleted scenes were very good, one has to wonder where this phenomenon will end and if movies will ever be truly finished.
Having said all this I can't wait to see the extended "Two Towers" tomorrow. Rumour has it the extended scenes, just like the "Fellowship" DVD, add character and nuance back into the story, add humour, add music and certainly none of that can be bad. Peter Jackson is an excellent director and his "Lord of The Rings" trilogy is an astonishing accomplishment.
But I find the implications for future movies make me feel torn.
Question: Any thoughts on all this? Are you fine with directors re-cutting their movies on DVD, sometimes multiple times? (like George Lucas' re-edited Star Wars movies) Are you OK with seeing movies you know may be very different by the time they are on DVD? Are you OK with directors editing their theatrical movies with extended DVDs in mind?