Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted September 29, 2023 Author Posted September 29, 2023 'Hell or High Water' had some good behind the scenes stuff in the special feature.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted March 20, 2024 Author Posted March 20, 2024 (edited) Watched a couple of oldies, 'Twister' (1996) and 'The Perfect Storm.' (2000) Blu-ray versions both had great commentaries, especially about the special effects. Highly recommended. You can get them from your library if you don't have them in your collection. Sidenote...They are coming out with a redo of 'Twister' called 'Twisters' in 2024. Edited March 20, 2024 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
Eric Eader Posted March 21, 2024 Posted March 21, 2024 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965) Black & White The Criterion Collection Double-Disc Set features a commentary by DP Ozzie Morris that accentuates the "WHY" (rather than "HOW"), for quite a few scenes of the movie. Mr. Morris also photographed in B&W: "Lolita" (original), and "The Hill." (with Sean Connery in a non James Bond role). ("The Hill" is one of my favorite films). Two interviews with author John Le Carre highlight childhood, and college memories of his time before entering the "spy world" with cameos by former East German and Soviet spymasters etc. Also included: really fine pre-production drawings. There is more... check it out. 1
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted March 24, 2024 Author Posted March 24, 2024 Ordered 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' (1965) and 'The Hill' (1965) from the library. 'The Hill' sounds interesting... Set in the Libyan Desert during World War II, British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up "The Hill," a manmade instrument of torture--a tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun, in this military prison drama. I generally can get about 98% of what I want from the intrastate library loan system. Some odd films are hit and miss. Was looking for 'The Unbelievable Truth' but it was a no go.
Premium Member Jeff Bernstein Posted March 29, 2024 Premium Member Posted March 29, 2024 Director Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jan De Bont in conversation together supply a detailed commentary to Basic Instinct (1992). 1
Chris Burke Posted March 30, 2024 Posted March 30, 2024 If you watch "My Best Fiend" by Herzog, you get a lot of behind the scenes information as to why the locals offered to kill Klaus Kinski. In short, only Herzog was opposed to his leading man being offed by local mercenaries. Even then he had to think about it for a bit.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted April 29, 2024 Author Posted April 29, 2024 Criterion's DVD of 'Summer Stock' (1950) special features has a nice short on the history of Cinemascope. Highly recommended.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted May 2, 2024 Author Posted May 2, 2024 On 4/29/2024 at 10:36 AM, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said: Criterion's DVD of 'Summer Stock' (1950) special features has a nice short on the history of Cinemascope. Highly recommended. Made a mistake. Movie with Cinemascope special is not 'Summer Stock' it is 'The Girl Can't Help It.' (1956)
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted September 10, 2024 Author Posted September 10, 2024 The Weather Underground (2003) has a good commentary from the filmmaker. More along the lines of getting a shoestring budget production done. It also had an interesting commentary from 2 of the Weather Underground people, but nothing about filmmaking from them...just what was going on in their heads. 1
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted November 4, 2024 Author Posted November 4, 2024 (edited) 3:10 to Yuma (2007) has some good commentary about behind the scenes production in the special features. Edited November 4, 2024 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 (edited) Pizza, A Love Story has lots of good commentary. But the talk is more around getting a super low budget indie film done. They had a nice section comparing story boards to actual shots. Edited January 14 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. 1
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted January 25 Author Posted January 25 All is Lost had some interesting commentary about how the cinematographer would shoot seamlessly from under water to above water using special lens coatings / wetting agents to shed water from the lens without droplets on the glass.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted February 4 Author Posted February 4 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) A crazy dark comedy by Guy Ritchie. The short extras commentary had lots of info about shooting the film. They really went into detail about all the problems and mistakes they made. Details on shooting a 'no budget' film, talking about storyboards, skip printing, special effects, lighting, etc. Shot in Super 16 enlarged to 35mm.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted February 15 Author Posted February 15 (edited) Vanishing Point (1971) has some interesting commentary by director Richard C. Sarafian. Originally the film was supposed to end in Frisco. The director talks about how the studio cut his shooting days by about 20% and how he had to change the script on the fly while shooting. Frisco was out and film ended up on the road. Also, lots of details about making a super low budget film mainly with available light and a skeleton crew. Edited February 15 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. 1
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 Rush Hour 3 Blu-ray has a great 2nd disc that is one of the best behind the scenes glimpse into movie making I've seen. Muro, Jr. and Ratner lay it all out. Should be required viewing for up-and-coming film students. Pre-production, principal photography, practical's, CG, post...it has it all! Hours and hours of stuff. That Ratner is a genius! Too bad he got caught up in the 'me too' crap. No telling what he would have done.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted February 26 Author Posted February 26 Tropic Thunder has some great bonus material in it. Don't miss the section between Stiller and Downey Jr. I think it is called mag dump or magazine dump. Back then no one cared about Downey Jr. in blackface. They use a whole film magazine going back and forth with their lines. That is where the name mag dump comes from. It is not tech info, but shows the raw material the editor has to deal with and brings you behind the scenes into the actor's craft. I never watched this film when it first came out. It looked stupid to me. But it popped up on a recent search I did at the library. So, I decided to give it a go. It is free so what the heck. I'm on the border of 2 states and between the 2 library systems I can get pretty much whatever I want for free. And one library system lets you get things interlibrary loan. Loads of tech commentary as well.
Premium Member Jeff Bernstein Posted February 26 Premium Member Posted February 26 The Thin Red Line has a fascinating commentary distinguished with great detail. John Toll. One day Terry walked up to our lead editor and said, "Somewhere, after 'cut' has been called, there are about ten or twelve frames that (and he described what the frames were)." Now the lead editor has 1.2 million feet of film in front of him. It took him ten days or so, but he found those twelve frames and put them in the sequence. I was in the room when we watched it, and with those twelve frames the sequence worked. 2
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted March 2 Author Posted March 2 Defiance (2009) Blu-ray has good commentary. The director Ed Zwick knows his stuff! Many directors are not that technical in their comments of their film. Disc has interesting discussion about pushing film 2 stops, lighting, using a format ratio to support faster lenses and shooting dream like sequences at 6fps with a 90-degree shutter and triple printing, etc. Many of these discs also have behind the scenes mini docs, so don't forget them. Zwick's 6fps triple printed footage was gritty and had some nice blur effects. Maybe a 90-degree shutter at 24fps produces low blur. AI / Google... A "90 degree shutter" in filmmaking refers to a camera setting with a narrow shutter angle, which results in significantly less motion blur, often used to create a sharp, crisp look in action scenes or to convey a sense of urgency by minimizing the blur of fast-moving objects, like in the famous "Saving Private Ryan" opening scene where a 90 degree shutter was used to enhance the chaotic feel of the battle. Key points about a 90 degree shutter: Less motion blur: Compared to a wider shutter angle (like 180 degrees), a 90 degree shutter captures less motion blur, making fast movements appear sharper and more defined. Intense action scenes: This setting is frequently used in action sequences to emphasize the details of quick movements and explosions. Gritty aesthetic: By minimizing blur, a 90 degree shutter can give footage a more gritty, realistic look, particularly when combined with handheld camera movement. Creative choice: While not the standard setting, a 90 degree shutter can be used creatively to convey a specific mood or feeling depending on the scene.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted March 2 Author Posted March 2 On 2/26/2025 at 9:20 AM, Jeff Bernstein said: The Thin Red Line has a fascinating commentary distinguished with great detail. John Toll. One day Terry walked up to our lead editor and said, "Somewhere, after 'cut' has been called, there are about ten or twelve frames that (and he described what the frames were)." Now the lead editor has 1.2 million feet of film in front of him. It took him ten days or so, but he found those twelve frames and put them in the sequence. I was in the room when we watched it, and with those twelve frames the sequence worked. Library has some DVD's of it. No Blu-rays. They don't have everything. I don't remember seeing that film. Maybe I did ages ago, but memory is poor. Probably saw it back in the VHS days. Anyways, thanks for the recommendation! 2
Premium Member Marcel Zyskind Posted March 2 Premium Member Posted March 2 (edited) This is a great behind the scenes documentary from 'The Two Faces of January'. A film I cherish very much. Documentary was made by Hass Amini, brother of director Hoss Amini. Edited March 2 by Marcel Zyskind 2
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Posted August 8 Author Posted August 8 (edited) Here is a great DVD for commentary and learning...The Big Bang (2010 / 11) Slideshow The Big Bang (2010) Slide Show D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. : D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Sample screenshots The Big Bang (2010) Screenshot Collection D. D. Teoli Jr. A. C. : D. D. Teoli Jr. A. C. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Too many details to go into here. Fantastic and detailed commentary. Some internet sources list the film as 2011 and not 2010. It is really worth your time if you like lighting and post effects. Film is a modern-day noir. Some reviews say it is neo-noir or noir on acid. Dutch angles, Danish angles (Danish has less Dutch to it.) Use of filters that get transformed to new colors in post, selective color processing and on and on. A.S.C. Shelly Johnson did a fantastic job on a low budget with the film. He has a short commentary along with the main film commentary. Look for them all! Shelly Johnson (cinematographer) - Wikipedia I'm way behind the times. Just watched this movie a few weeks ago. I just finished up a Fatty Arbuckle series, so it is still a big jump from 1914 to 2010 for me even though it is not 2025. One other tidbit... If you are a photographer and want practice for timing, comp and speed shooting. Pick a film and screen shoot with a screen recorder while watching it on your computer. Great practice! I don't do it anymore for speed training. I just do it for archival work. But if you need to improve for skills, try it. Don't have a screen recorder? Watch it on TV and use your camera. Same training for speed, comp and timing plus you get better with your own cam. <><>><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography Edited August 8 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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