Direct to DVD
Feb. 24th, 2006 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethhad a thought about the new Spike movie being direct to DVD
my DVD player has lots of buttons for different options. Not just the ones as usually get used, for the cast commentary and all the 'extras', but also for a button to change angle and watch a different version of the same scene.
I've never seen it used, but the button is there.
So my thought is, DVD has all these capacities that straight up TV doesn't.
I mean for a start it won't have to stick to the 'teaser 4 acts tag' structure that is designed to get people through the commercial breaks. It won't even have to have any commercial breaks in it at all.
But it also has the capacity to tell a story in different ways. Like, with the choose your own adventure book I was reading the other day, not necessarily in linear ways. There could be bits with menus in between and choosing which bit to watch next. Or there could be one version where you watch the whole thing from Spike POV and another where you all the time watch Spike and another with regular framing and editing. Or lots of things I probably can't think of yet.
And yeah, I know, DVDs have a maximum capacity. But films don't usually reach it, right?
As for extras - I like cast commentary, I like director commentary, I like writer commentary, I especially like Joss commentary because he both brings the funny and makes it informative. I like it when they give actors video cameras or follow people around behind the scenes. Usually people get bored enough to be interestingly silly. I like on the Doctor Who DVDs where it uses subtitles to give interesting background information. Its like a really informative commentary, but you can pause it and read slower.
But all the extras are just frilly bits pasted around a conventionally told story. If the story isn't going to be on TV or cinema or anywhere like that which necessitates particular structures, it can get innovative right in the story itself.
I mean, if we have a version that always follows Spike, we would only ever know what he knows. But we could also have other versions where we follow the bad guy, and then he would sneak up on Spike and we'd be all 'behind you!' because we know he doesn't know yet.
... Okay, the more specific I get the more lame it sounds.
But that was my thought.
my DVD player has lots of buttons for different options. Not just the ones as usually get used, for the cast commentary and all the 'extras', but also for a button to change angle and watch a different version of the same scene.
I've never seen it used, but the button is there.
So my thought is, DVD has all these capacities that straight up TV doesn't.
I mean for a start it won't have to stick to the 'teaser 4 acts tag' structure that is designed to get people through the commercial breaks. It won't even have to have any commercial breaks in it at all.
But it also has the capacity to tell a story in different ways. Like, with the choose your own adventure book I was reading the other day, not necessarily in linear ways. There could be bits with menus in between and choosing which bit to watch next. Or there could be one version where you watch the whole thing from Spike POV and another where you all the time watch Spike and another with regular framing and editing. Or lots of things I probably can't think of yet.
And yeah, I know, DVDs have a maximum capacity. But films don't usually reach it, right?
As for extras - I like cast commentary, I like director commentary, I like writer commentary, I especially like Joss commentary because he both brings the funny and makes it informative. I like it when they give actors video cameras or follow people around behind the scenes. Usually people get bored enough to be interestingly silly. I like on the Doctor Who DVDs where it uses subtitles to give interesting background information. Its like a really informative commentary, but you can pause it and read slower.
But all the extras are just frilly bits pasted around a conventionally told story. If the story isn't going to be on TV or cinema or anywhere like that which necessitates particular structures, it can get innovative right in the story itself.
I mean, if we have a version that always follows Spike, we would only ever know what he knows. But we could also have other versions where we follow the bad guy, and then he would sneak up on Spike and we'd be all 'behind you!' because we know he doesn't know yet.
... Okay, the more specific I get the more lame it sounds.
But that was my thought.