Naïve Old Fart 9,516 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 In these troubled times of coronavirus, and disintegrating mores, I thought I'd ask about all those "Making Of"s that we all like to watch. Just about every film has extra material, from a plain "this is how we did it", to very, very detailed explorations of all aspects of production. What are your favourites? Which ones do JWfaners recommend, and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,286 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 The Magnolia doc is one of my faves Naïve Old Fart and Corellian2019 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holko 9,525 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Adventures of Tintin. Expected shallow overedited featurettes filled with film clips but put together they are a pretty comprehensive if not very focused feeling docu! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,286 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie about the making of Winter Light is also an amazing documentary. The LOTR, Phantom Menace, and Indiana Jones behind the scenes are obviously crazy entertaining, I think many of us have seen and loved those. Social Network had a cool doc, some memorable footage of Fincher and Sorkin debating during rehearsals. I hear Knives Out has a great one. Disco Stu and TSMefford 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corellian2019 386 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner Fear of the Flesh: The Making of The Fly Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien³ Under Pressure: Making The Abyss Burden of Dreams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,286 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Vivian Kubrick's Shining documentary too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,516 Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Corellian2019 said: Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien³ Under Pressure: Making The Abyss All three of those, are brilliant. I haven't seen the others. I have a nice chuckle, when I hear Sigourney Weaver do her best char lady, on the set of ALIEN³. "Cuppa tea? Keep 'em coming, folks. 1977 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbox129 5 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 5 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said: In these troubled times of coronavirus, and disintegrating mores, I thought I'd ask about all those "Making Of"s that we all like to watch. Just about every film has extra material, from a plain "this is how we did it", to very, very detailed explorations of all aspects of production. What are your favourites? Which ones do JWfaners recommend, and why? Hmmm. Let's see... My favorite making-of behind the scenes stuff would have to be Capturing Avatar (a 98-minute documentary that talks about the making of James Cameron's 2009 3D sci-fi epic blockbuster movie AVATAR)... The Lord of the Rings extended edition DVD appendices, but especially the one 40-minute documentary from the Lord of the Rings The Two Towers extended DVD that talks about bringing the creature Gollum/Smeagol to life on the movie screen... The Beginning, Making the controversial Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace movie documentary... And finally, Hearts of Darkness: A FIlmmaker's Apocalypse as well as the Post Production of Apocalypse Now from 2006, as far as I know. Those are some of the making of documentaries that I happened to watch . But there is also Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy from 2004... As well as a 1983 documentary on making the original Star Wars Trilogy called From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga. And also Peter Jackson's King Kong Production and Post-Production Diaries, as well as Recreating The Eighth Wonder, a documentary on the making of Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of 1933's King Kong (the Peter Jackson remake from 2005 that was notorious in many circles for its three-hour-plus running time length as much as it is for its sheer number of visual effects shots, which, at 2,510 visual effects shots, is pretty huge for any film made at that time, even if some of the effects are notoriously more terrible than others). My honorable mention would have to be Dangerous Days Making Blade Runner from 2007. That's all I know as far as making of documentaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,495 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 "Making of" featurettes on mainstream, physical media aren't usually very exciting. I'm thankful that we have them, but they're usually very quick and superficial. There are exceptions, though. Elfman's isolated commentary on EDWARD SCISSORHANDS is great, as is Scott's on ALIEN (in fact, a lot of the special features on the 9-DVD ALIEN set are above par). But I prefer more in-depth, interpretative features, like the wonderful, essayistic feature on the TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD DVD. Criterion often has this level of quality on their special features as well. Naïve Old Fart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSMefford 1,509 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 You know I haven't watched any very recently, but I do really appreciate the unique way the "Making Of" is presented on the Blu-ray for Peter Jackson's Lovely Bones film. It takes through a pretty detailed breakdown chronologically Day by Day of the shooting schedule. It's pretty neat to get to see it done in that way and there's lots of raw footage. At the very least, it's quite interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 Unlucky Bastard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,006 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 Not a documentary but I'm finally reading this: Very exhaustive! Can't wait for the Aliens one which is coming out in September. I also watched all the extras from this the other day: Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holko 9,525 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 14 minutes ago, crocodile said: Very exhaustive! First I hear of this! I loved his first SW book and here presumably he's not instructed to gloss over the editor ex-wife who saved the movie and such. I'm watching the DVD Making Of of Alien, does the book add a lot to that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,006 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 1 hour ago, Holko said: First I hear of this! I loved his first SW book and here presumably he's not instructed to gloss over the editor ex-wife who saved the movie and such. I'm watching the DVD Making Of of Alien, does the book add a lot to that? Oh yes. There's tons of information not in those documentaries. Karol Holko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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