DVD commentary suggestions


Missy

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Currently there are two DVD commentaries in the store: Superman / Batman: Apocalypse and The Room. If all goes to plan, another one will be added this Sunday afternoon. Currently, I also plan to cover two franchises, but I'm staying mum on those for the moment.

All that said, what are some movies you'd like to hear commentaries on?

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I mean, there's obvious stuff like the modern Marvel movies leading into the Avengers, but it'd be cool to mix it up a little here and there too. Scott Pilgrim, The Rocketeer, maybe the Mummy franchise just so you have to deal with some actual blockbuster schlock. Maybe the odd Star Trek movie, bad or good it's nice to hear opinions. Oh and Toy Story 3. I want Mike to cry to make sure he's not one of the machines.

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We'll see if I stick to this, but for the moment the plan is to record a commentary for a news-ish movie (released within the last year on DVD), then an older movie. Alternating like that to make sure the store isn't overloaded with one or the other at any given moment.

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We'll see if I stick to this, but for the moment the plan is to record a commentary for a news-ish movie (released within the last year on DVD), then an older movie. Alternating like that to make sure the store isn't overloaded with one or the other at any given moment.

Have you thought about offering season passes for the commentaries?

Like, instead of paying $1.99 for each commentary, once a month, you could offer them for $17.99 for a 12 month subscription for 12 different commentary tracks. That way, it works out that you know there's a longer term market for the commentaries, and people don't have to feel the need to go through the PayPal option every month, and have a sort of "Thanks for buying this..." discount.

Just an idea, as I know, I prefer paying for things in full when I can, like a magazine subscription, rather than having to deal with getting the thing sorted every month.

My idea for it would be $5 for three months, $9.99 for six months, or $17.99 for a full year subscription, and also the "Pick and please" option of $1.99 per commentary.

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How would y'all feel about commentaries on TV shows? The idea would be that you could buy commentaries for individual episodes, or an entire season of commentaries for a reduced bundle price.

For instance, let's say I did Firefly. I would charge $1.00 per episode, or $12.50 for the entire 14-episode series.

How does something like that sound?

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For me, it would depend on the TV show. If it was something I was deeply interested in, then yeah, I would think about getting an episode to see if it suited me.

$1 is a good price point, as it would be "Here's the first episode. If you like it, you can buy the bundle. If you don't. Thanks for your time, see you next month with..."

And at $1 it isn't enough to make me say "That's a bit steep" again, if it's something I'm interested in, and of course, the shows pre-existing commentary tracks(Which will be a serious factor, The Simpsons and Family Guy have commentary on nearly episode, and if it came down to listening to the writers talking about the creative process firsthand, or a fan saying what could amount to hearsay, I would have to go with the writers on that occasion, personally.)

Finally, I know Firefly is just an example, but I wouldn't pay for a commentary on it, as I'd know, way down the line, BDH would be covering the show, and I could listen to that for free, so it would also involve the "Something not currently covered, yet still enjoyable to cover" factor.

Just some things that came to my mind.

Some shows I'd recommend:

Dexter (As they only do one commentary a series, if that)

Six Feet Under (So much development)

Frasier (Not much commentary on this, and lots of character development)

Breaking Bad (I love this show)

They are all long shows, for shorter features, I'd recommend Twin Peaks, Deadwood, Boss (It just started in America) and the short lived Birds of Prey TV Show (It starts off awful, but it ends up being pretty enjoyable)

Brass Eye would be nice to see covered. Just to see the stuff that Chris Morris stuck in (Like the one scene where he called someone at Channel 4 the C-Word in one 1/100th of a second cut) and the Pedophile special, which was one of the most complained about features on UK television.

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It's a shame that Firefly or Dr Who and Torchwood would tread on toes a bit too much. Unless you weren't planning to cover Torchwood on Bigger on the Inside, in which case commentate away!

You could throw in stuff like the Battlestar Galactica Mini. The show itself is a bit long but the mini'd be interesting.

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It would be fun though to do a show like Arrested Development where there is development to discuss. As for what Tom said about the Battlestar Mini, it might be cool if you did commentaries on select episodes of specific shows where you have specific episodes you want to discuss but don't want to discuss the entire series.

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On an Arrested Development commentary, I think it's best to avoid dialogue-heavy comedies. Action-orientated genre shows and movies tend to be the strongest material for this sort of thing. Go with something too wordy and the commentary is a distraction from following the events on screen rather than an enhancement. Unless it's the creator offering a lot of new info comedy-commentaries tend to gravitate towards "hey wasn't it great when they said that bit that you just missed because I was talking".

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