bonus-materials

I’d heard of Joss Whedon before, but never knew very much about him.  No, I never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, etc.  Yeah, I’m a heathen.  Sue me.

But I did happen to see his film, Serenity, on cable this weekend.  And it happened to be pretty good.  So I blew my massive entertainment budget for the month and bought the DVD.

Bear with me…there really is a point to this, lol! :popcorn:

One of the special features of this disk (and many others) was “Bonus Materials”, including a voice-over commentary by the director, Mr. Joss Whedon.
I’d never bothered with this feature on any other disk.  Frankly, it irritates me to have someone talking and distracting me when I’m deeply involved with a book or film.

But this was really fabulous—because I think I learned a few things, not just about filmmaking, but about WRITING.

The guy knows his stuff.  He explains why a scene was put in a certain place, rather than earlier or later in the story.  He shows the affinity between certain characters as expressed in settings, colors, and symbols.  The use of flashbacks, humor, tragedy.  Momentum.  Archetypes.  Heroism.  And a great deal about cutting and trimming, sacrificing even your favorite parts if it adds to the integrity of the work.

I must admit I was surprised to find how similar filmmaking was to being an author…which was silly, I suppose, since it’s all storytelling.  But it was interesting to hear—and SEE—the lessons from such a talented professional.

So, if you’ve got DVDs of films or directors you love lying around, and they happen to have the director’s voice-over option, give ‘em a listen-to one day.

You might be surprised at what you can learn. :yes: