Recommended DVD's...

I've been thinking, lately, about one of the largest learning resources we have availible to us for filmmaking: movies. While this seems obvious, we tend to forget that simply watching a movie, and maybe even taking notes, is a great way to learn about cinematography, sound, story, etc. On a forum dedicated to filmmaking, we see much more 'check the tutorials' then we do 'check out a great example in such-and-such movie'. This is not intended to downplay tutorials and discussion. They are both valuable. I believe, however, that movies themselves can teach aspects of filmmaking that tutorials cannot. Furthermore, with the advent of the DVD, we now have access to additional material which can also serve useful in our quest for knowledge.

On that note, I'd like to start this thread as a repository for movie suggestions. If you have seen something lately that struck you as interesting in a filmmaking sense, list it here for all to see. A few examples:

- The TPM DVD has a significant amount of behind the scenes information, specifically taylored to SW (obviously)

- Last night I rented 'Reign of Fire'. It was interesting to note the use of color to set the mood of various scenes. It was also interesting to see how they set up the backstory to be believable. The DVD also includes a nice featurette on fire and pyrotechnics.

 

I recommend the ID4 (Independence Day) for the second disk stuff, as well as the Audio Commentary by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. Some of the stuff they 'faked' just blows me away.

"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" (aka "Yo, where you at?") has a great feature about the digital color manipulation throughout the movie. That is cool to watch.

And if you ever watch El Mariachi, read the Robert Rodriguez's book "Rebel without a Crew" about how he made and sold that movie.

I'll probably think of more later.

 

The Beach..... Yes..... the Leonardo DiCaprio Movie.... I don't care what people say... hes a great actor... an awful anakin skywalker... but a dam good actor.

The Movie must definitly be on my Top 3 favorite movie list...

You can learn alot about to make your movie by watching this... The style... The mood... the different turning points... and the conflict.

 

Also.... GO to AtomFIlms and watch Lonesome Joe... great movie

 

The Die Hard 5 Star Collection has a good featurette about cinematography. It discusses camera positioning - giving examples - and a "what not to do" type approach to things.
As a previous poster said, El Mariachi and Desperado feature a "Ten Minute Filmschool" which is very informative and a great educational tool.
Armageddon Special Edition also has a great feature on the concept of layers & compositing.
Another few discs to check out include -
Back To The Future Trilogy Boxset,
Matrix,
Robocop Boxset,
Spiderman,
and a great many others that escape my mind at the time of this writing.

All the best,
Pred / Neil

 

American Movie: The Making of Northwestern is a must have, IMO, for any serious filmmaker. This real-life story of struggling filmmaker, Mark Borchardt, is inspiring, entertaining, moving, and hilarious beyond words. Highly recommended!

 

At the moment I'm watching a lot of Spielberg films like AI, minority report, saving private ryan, schindlers list. Not so much for the acting direction but for the cinematography and use of light and colour. I'm a big fan of Janusz Kaminski, the DP on all of these films. He really sets the mood and emotion of the film with each shot. So I would highly recommend watching every aspect of the DVDs to get as much info and inspiration as possible.

 

Mike Jittlov's The Wizard of Speed and Time is a must-see for anyone interested in or planning on making movies, in my opinion...

It's unfortunately not on DVD, but you can still find VHS copies of it occasionally (and if you're lucky, the laserdisc shows up on eBay from time to time, but that rarely goes for less than $150...)

I've got a lot of info on the film up on my website... follow the link the in sig below and click on the icon that looks like this: [image=http://home.usit.net/~f-shysa/WIZARD/wiz16.gif]

 

Go to BMW films.com and pay attention to the cinematography. It's so inspirational. I'm only 14 and i just HAVE to make a car chase scene now, (with me driving).


-M to the AcGyver

 

I have been wading through the 3rd and 4th discs to the LotR: FotR Extended Edition boxed set, and I have to say, some of the stuff they pulled off, and how they did it, is absolutely amazing.

Definately a "must see" to help with fanfilms.

Indy

 

Lets not Forget the Episode II Dvd! =)
It was ironic that my Film class discussed sound design around the launch of the Episode II dvd.. and when i watched the films arent released, they escape documentary (cheezy title i think).. it was quite the inside look at all the work that goes into the soundtrack. Awesome!.. and yeap the previsual's thing was great too, but not sure how much that will matter for us small short filmmakers.

 

The Count de Monte Cristo commentary is very informative.

Actually Fenn, some folks at filmcon ported TWOSAT to DVD, although I have no idea if they're planning on making copies available.

Chris

 

Dude, The Count of Monte Christo is about one of the greatest movies ever made. It is freakin awesome! And yes, the commentaries are good too.