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dvd hints and tips
Apr. 6th, 2006 05:13 pmLorna's quick and easy hints to dvd producers for a happy viewer.
1. Please put a play all button on your tv dvds, don't make me bounce up and down menu systems to get to the next episode
2. Please put a chapter divider at the end of the title so that I can skip them when i'm watching the 14th episode. The more chapter dividers, the better.
3. Don't make me bounce around menus to find the episodes with commentaries - put a special features menu with links to all the commentaries.
4. Make your commentaries interesting! While not a hard and fast rule a good combo is a double act of cast and crew - the actors tend to bring the enthusiasm and charisma and the crew (writer, director etc) tend to bring the knowledge.
5. Commentaries should have people talking! "Let's just watch this scene", "I haven't seen this in ages" - not interesting for the viewer!
6. I like to be able to put subtitles for the episode on underneath the commentary track, not many of them let you do that.
7. "Interactive menus and scene selection" are not special features - they're a fundamental property of dvd! Also 'biographies' and 'web links' not exactly fascinating.
8. Why oh why must you strip special features off of R1 releases for R2 releases? The lack of special features is actually stopping me from buying many of these dvds.
9. Your special features should be special and interesting. I'd rather have no features than boring ones, they just suck the life out of shows.
10. The fold out dvd boxes are really annoying when trying to open boxes standing in front of the tv, use the book format, much more efficient.
11. Cursed Anti-Piracy messages! What is the point?! Particularly on every bloody dvd of a tv box set.
12. Cryptic menu systems with cute little icons? Ugh. I don't want to have to hunt for the bloody menu button!
Dvds that get it right:
The Shield S1 and 2 - amazing collections of commentaries and features which have input from just about everyone from the series creater who oversees all the commentaries down to the craft services! Absolutely superb.
Stargate Atlantis S1 - lots of hilarious and informative commentaries (often more entertaining than the episode), loads of special featues a real sense that the cast and crew love their jobs.
Firefly - Again a cast and crew that love their jobs and pack a lot of info into the dvds.
Buffy/Angel - Joss Whedon commentaries are always superb - a great mixture of anecdote, information and character. Usually a good collection of features as well, particularly season overviews tracking arcs and inspirations.
Dvds that get it wrong:
Sopranos S1 - an hour and a half of interview with the series creator, the most boring thing ever. Tacky featurette on the series and a complete lack of spirit.
West Wing - the R1 dvds have commentaries and features, the R2 dvds are almost completely vanilla. This is why I stopped buying them.
CSI - most of the commentaries come down to writers/directors explaining the plot (not exactly complicated), going over boring details and lengthy silences. Makes the show seem extremely cold and churned out.
1. Please put a play all button on your tv dvds, don't make me bounce up and down menu systems to get to the next episode
2. Please put a chapter divider at the end of the title so that I can skip them when i'm watching the 14th episode. The more chapter dividers, the better.
3. Don't make me bounce around menus to find the episodes with commentaries - put a special features menu with links to all the commentaries.
4. Make your commentaries interesting! While not a hard and fast rule a good combo is a double act of cast and crew - the actors tend to bring the enthusiasm and charisma and the crew (writer, director etc) tend to bring the knowledge.
5. Commentaries should have people talking! "Let's just watch this scene", "I haven't seen this in ages" - not interesting for the viewer!
6. I like to be able to put subtitles for the episode on underneath the commentary track, not many of them let you do that.
7. "Interactive menus and scene selection" are not special features - they're a fundamental property of dvd! Also 'biographies' and 'web links' not exactly fascinating.
8. Why oh why must you strip special features off of R1 releases for R2 releases? The lack of special features is actually stopping me from buying many of these dvds.
9. Your special features should be special and interesting. I'd rather have no features than boring ones, they just suck the life out of shows.
10. The fold out dvd boxes are really annoying when trying to open boxes standing in front of the tv, use the book format, much more efficient.
11. Cursed Anti-Piracy messages! What is the point?! Particularly on every bloody dvd of a tv box set.
12. Cryptic menu systems with cute little icons? Ugh. I don't want to have to hunt for the bloody menu button!
Dvds that get it right:
The Shield S1 and 2 - amazing collections of commentaries and features which have input from just about everyone from the series creater who oversees all the commentaries down to the craft services! Absolutely superb.
Stargate Atlantis S1 - lots of hilarious and informative commentaries (often more entertaining than the episode), loads of special featues a real sense that the cast and crew love their jobs.
Firefly - Again a cast and crew that love their jobs and pack a lot of info into the dvds.
Buffy/Angel - Joss Whedon commentaries are always superb - a great mixture of anecdote, information and character. Usually a good collection of features as well, particularly season overviews tracking arcs and inspirations.
Dvds that get it wrong:
Sopranos S1 - an hour and a half of interview with the series creator, the most boring thing ever. Tacky featurette on the series and a complete lack of spirit.
West Wing - the R1 dvds have commentaries and features, the R2 dvds are almost completely vanilla. This is why I stopped buying them.
CSI - most of the commentaries come down to writers/directors explaining the plot (not exactly complicated), going over boring details and lengthy silences. Makes the show seem extremely cold and churned out.
