MicroCinema Scene

What a world we live in today. Originating with the laserdisc, supplemental material riding shotgun with movies became standard when DVD’s made their way into virtually every home. Filmmakers benefit greatly from such special features, especially astute observers. Not a lot of us can afford film school, but you can make a curriculum from your own DVD collection and from discs available at public libraries for free. A lot can be learned from DVDs in the form of commentary tracks, documentaries, as well as the obvious: just viewing the movie for its own value. If there are commentary tracks and extras, they usually contain a lot of valuable information regarding how something was done. While some may get bogged down in tech speak, not every DVD has scarily meticulous FX people speaking at length on how they created a ten second sequence.

Commentary tracks have some of the best lessons available, although some can be rather hit or miss. Rob Reiner and Cameron Crowe commentaries are almost exclusively about performance, but say nothing about camera. Others are all about camera tricks, but leave out anything about directing actors. And yes, unfortunately, there’s an all new category of commentary tracks for people like Tim Burton who don’t talk for 20 minutes at a time and teach us nothing. As an assistant to building your own “curriculum,” I offer up a few of my favorite DVD Commentary tracks for moviemakers.

COMMENTARY TRACKS:

ROAD TO PERDITION

Director Sam Mendes understands the perfect balance between actors’ performances and directing the camera. A lot of commentaries are too skewed toward one or the other. Not the case here. This isn’t even one of my favorite movies, but it’s by far my number one commentary track.

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN

Director and uncredited writer Nicholas Meyer speaks about the essence of storytelling from the perspective of a formerly young up-and-coming director looking back after years of experience.



TRUE ROMANCE

Quentin Tarantino writer’s commentary track tells the great story of how the kid from a video store worked several angles to become the “Quentin” that we know as a pop culture icon. More sedate than usual, and at his most endearing, Tarantino’s storytelling is at its best with this commentary. Also, the explanation as to why he composes his stories in non-linear fashion is priceless.



THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie discuss the beginnings of the story and again, the balance between story and acting. As a bonus, learn about how the great cinematography was achieved.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (criterion collection edition)

Director Jonathan Demme, and actors Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins offer many insights into the actors’ process while Demme also relays several director anecdotes. Additional trivia makes for an interesting examination of a landmark film. Not available on the “special edition” disc widely available.

SLACKER (criterion collection DVD)

The “crew” commentary with Rick Linklater and Lee Daniel has many cost-saving tips as well as many other seeds that can grow in the minds of new moviemakers.



CHASING AMY (criterion collection DVD/Laserdisc)

Although it’s the usual comedy and antics of a large group of buddies, in between the jibes mocking Ben Affleck’s movie Phantoms, there are some insights into the creative process of Kevin Smith. Admittedly they are few, but these nuggets of info are worth weathering the banter.

LORD OF THE RINGS (all 3 movies from the 4 disc special edition DVD sets)

All four commentaries on all three movies allow many great ideas and information on filmmaking in general. That’s over 40 hours of viewing/listening right there.

FIREFLY: THE COMPLETE TV SERIES (Disc four)

The last episode commentary by Joss Whedon. By his own admission, creator, writer, director and producer Whedon does a somewhat less trivial commentary and tries to describe the origin of the concepts behind the ideas for an episode of phenomenal television. Getting philosophical and still maintaining his wit and humor, Whedon’s revelations and gratitude to everyone around him make this commentary special.

EL MARIACHI (all DVD version, originated on Laserdisc)

When the opening words of the commentary tell you it’s more like “how to make a movie for $7,000 or less”, how bad can it be? It has a lot of great information delivered as you watch the inexpensive action movie.

THE BMW FILMS SERIES: THE HIRE

The DVD has all eight films made for the web, plus their commentary tracks. Hearing insights from directors John Frankenheimer, War Kong Wai, Ang Lee, Tony Scott, Joe Carnahan, Guy Ritchie, and more make this a riveting and educational tool on telling stories in the short form. Not many will have $1 million per 6 minute short, but the style and motives are priceless if you can learn to adapt the knowledge to match your budget.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP (criterion version DVD and Laserdisc long out of print)

The commentary track by the three lead actors (Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest) is very, very different than the one on the commonly available “Special Edition DVD”. On the Special Edition, they do a commentary as the characters. On the hard to find Criterion version, they do a commentary as actors, writers, and filmmakers. It really boggled my mind to learn they never set foot out of Los Angeles County to make the movie. The power of suggestion of putting a title that says “Atlanta, Georgia” whilst showing a hotel can really effect perception in viewers’ minds.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

RUSHMORE (criterion collection DVD)

Wes Anderson tals about his second movie and offers some great cinematic advice.

GOOD WILL HUNTING

Sit with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Gus Van Zandt as they carry on about the experience working on this Academy Award winning “indie” film.

GLADIATOR

Ridley Scott offers up many an informational nugget about making an epic film.

MADE

The “action commentary” by Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsley (aka Ralphy from A Christmas Story) where they use the same technology from football games to literally point out things on screen is great. Made was an indie film shot in New York, featuring a lot of Soprano’s cameos but also showcases some cool indie film techniques.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN/BLAZING SADDLES

The commentary track from Mel Brooks lets loose some comedy genius and methods of old from a guy who’s been funnier longer than most indie filmmaker’s grandparents have been fornicating.

SEVEN SAMURAI (Criterion Collection DVD)

The commentary has the distinction of being done by a film critic as opposed to a filmmaker. One of the cinema’s greatest films ever made teaches a lot about the genius of Kurosawa from a unique, outsiders perspective.

DVD EXTRAS

Documentaries and extras can offer up a lot of fluff, but sometimes some of the best reality of the film businessi spresented as well. Here are some of the most educational I’ve found.

EL MARIACHI DVD (all editions)

TEN-MINUTE FILM SCHOOL from Robert Rodriguez is one of the most common denominators between new filmmakers in this, amusingly enough, 13-minute DVD extra. After you’ve made several DV movies, and done 200 hours of editing, you can start to understand how genius Robert’s shooting and editorial style was and what he’s really demonstrating.

JAWS (25th Anniversary DVD - Actually the 20th anniversary Laserdisc set transferred to DVD)

The documentary “On Location” features one segment where Steven Spielberg describes how he wanted to do the Kinter boys death scene on the beach. He wanted to do it in one shot, and it wasn’t possible with 180 degrees. Spielberg’s solution is genius and any moviemaker willbe able to see how he was a master filmmaker at age 29.

THE ENGLISH PATIENT (Miramax Collector’s Edition)

MASTER CLASSES EDITING with Anthony Minghella. A lot of DVD’s have deleted scenes, but rarely are they accompanied with such a great explanation as to why and how they get left on the cutting room floor. Sadly, the great Walter Murch, academy award winning editor of The English Patient, was not included in this session.

PULP FICTION (Miramax Collector’s Edition & Criterion laserdisc)

There’s a great extra with Quentin Tarantino on the Charlie Rose show. At the zenith of the his era, his history, perspectives, and ideals are relayed passionately through Quentin’s own unfiltered words .

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (Miramax Collector’s Edition)

There are two extras worthy of note; the entire feature film documentary “FULL TILT BOOGIE” on the extra disc, and one snippet from the “Hollywood Goes to Hell” featurette where Quentin’s mom describes his beginnings, and Robert Rodriguez’s family recounts his own early years.

CLERKS X: TENTH ANNIVERSARY

The “SNOWBALL EFFECT” documentary is a fine example, and an exhilarating story, about how an average person like us gets catapulted to stardom and a career in film. It’s a great manual on the selling of an independent film.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (original DVD release)

In the documentary “Into the Breach”, Spielberg’s father recounts, along with additional stories from the man himself, several tales (including priceless clips) of Spielberg’s first super 8 and 16mm forays into war movies. Lesson Learned? At age 13, Spielberg was a better director and more innovative filmmaker than 99% of the DV camcorder jockeys out there. Some people just have filmmaking in their blood and can be Mozart at birth; others have to work at it.

DIE HARD (2 disc edition)

On disc two there is a great supplemental on editing two scenes from the raw footage and also a cool three-minute clip on “to letterbox or not to letterbox” which should be required viewing for anyone who needs to convince the idiots who think they get “less” picture with the black bars.

AMERICAN MOVIE

The movie itself needs to be viewed by anyone who thinks his or her idea for a movie is so good it needs to be made. Mark Borchardt is a tragic hero. This is the guy we’re all terrified to be. Lesson Learned? Whether we want to admit it or not, every filmmaker of any genre could very easily be perceived as wacked as him, but not many of us are as passionate.

THE GODFATHER COLLECTION (disc four, the BONUS MATERIAL)

The HBO documentary “A Look Inside the Godfather Family” is in some ways the antithesis of American Movie. It’s the same type of story, except this one focuses on a successful filmmaker with vision and talent to spare. I don’t think too many people will doubt Francis Ford Coppola’s passion. Unlike Mark Borchardt though, it’s pretty clear Coppola can get his vision on a movie screen, exceeding expectations (whenever he doesn’t cast Sofia Coppola in a leading role.) Also, the value of rehearsals and quality of script differ from Mark Borchardt. Lessons learned? Rehearsals and passion and teamwork and emotion and Al Pacino combined can make a good movie or two. Seriously, it’s about someone’s passion and vision utilized in a collaborative environment and how that can synergize a masterpiece. Tack on the business end of things and it’s too rich to be passed up. For most filmmakers, we want to land somewhere in between Francis Ford Coppola and Mark Borchard.

WALT DISNEY’S FANTASIA (uncut version from boxed set DVD)

The documentary and the commentary track, pieced together from archived radio and television interviews, demonstrate a lot of the creativity and innovative thoughts behind one of the 20th Century’s greatest cinematic genius. Long before it got raped by Michael Eisner for a few bucks at a theme park, Disney conceived and executed so many radical ideas that it staggers the mind.

THE SHINING (from Kubrick Collection)

The documentary, a collection of on set material captured by Vivian Kubrick, shows a very real, not pretty at all look at Stanley Kubrick and his really evil directorial style. For those who hail Kubrick as a genius, it’s smart to see what he could be like on set. Lesson Learned? I think you can get a good movie without resorting to this kind of anger and violence. In many ways this is great to see because unless your last name is “Kubrick”, you will probably never get to treat people like this and ever make a movie again.

STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOME MENACE

On the topic of deleted scenes, the documentary preceding the deleted scenes section features Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola, and Phillip Kaufman explaining how and why scenes get deleted. The most priceless story is of how Walter Murch excised a moment from film Julia and the director saying that the scene being cut was the very scene that got him to do the project to begin with. Lesson Learned? Say what you like about the movie, all of the documentaries and behind the scenes on this DVD draw a pretty clear blueprint on how to tackle an epic in the new world of CGI, blue/green screen, and special effects.

THX1138 (Two disc version)

On the second disc, the “Legacy of Filmmakers” doc on the early foundations of American Zoetrope is relevant to filmmaking not only for its historical significance, but also because it warns one of being as frivolous with money and opportunities as Francis Ford Coppola was and compares that approach to the frugal nature of George Lucas. Then watch the original short film Electric Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, and take notice of how many respectable qualities there are in the work.

HIDDEN FORTRESS (Criterion edition DVD)

George Lucas’s interview on the disc illustrates the attitudes of ALL the 1970’s filmmaking rebels as well as the influence Akira Kurosawa had on them.

BRAM STOKER’s DRACULA (special edition laserdisc)

The featurette showcases the lengthy rehearsal process. Everyone was there, from Anthony Hopkins to Keanu to Gary Oldman, and everyone worked long before cameras rolled. Again, the vision of the cast and crew living at the Coppola house and having dinner together makes me seek that sense of surrogate family (IE: teamwork.) It’s a way to make the work feel less like work and more like fun. Lesson learned? Rehearsals are important as is bonding between cast and crew.

LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS (Special Edition)

On disc four of this impressive set, the recounting of many stories regarding how much fun it was to shoot the movie made this seem like an ultimate love fest, fill with respect and antics. Lesson learned? Have fun! Create an environment where people want to be there by allowing participation in the creative process, and also retain respect for every aspect of making a film.

SUPERMAN (special edition)

One word… “Verisimilitude”. Watch the documentary on the disc and you’ll understand. I refuse to say more.



ALIEN QUADRILOGY (as well as original the Laserdisc sets)

The interview with Ridley Scott on why he deleted the “cocoon” scene in the original Alien, and James Cameron’s idea to make an army of Aliens by re-using the same alien suits make this another great catch for people making tough choices for reasons of “pacing” and making do with what they’ve got.

1941 (collector’s edition DVD and laserdisc set)



The documentary features a very extensive history of the writing of the screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and their involvement with John Milius. Lesson learned? Being a USC film school grad used to be quite an “in” to Hollywood via alumni. Read between the lines - When you get famous, never forget to help someone out who needs it. Francis Ford Coppola took in John Milius who took in Robert Zemeckis who took in Peter Jackson.

Some of the movies listed are big budget Hollywood movies, so learn to adapt information provided to your own style and budget. A lot of the information is creative in nature, but some is business related and can benefit savvy filmmakers. Admittedly, many of these movies are my favorites (hence you’ll see a lot of similar names throughout. If your favorite movies have extras or commentary tracks, listen and learn. Take something from the creation of the movies you love. Knowing a bit about how a movie was made gets you closer to figuring out how to make your own visions come to life. Adapt and overcome any obstacle.

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