When I started watching DVDs' extra features, it was apparent that they are likely to be more interesting to us writers than movies in isolation. There is much that can be learnt thanks to a director's and/or writer's commentary and I have often found that a brilliant commentary has allowed me to appreciate little, inconsequential movies much more deeply. Today I have prepared a round-up of excellent commentaries that every writer out there should listen to. It is thanks to these that when I came to write my book I felt confident enough to deconstruct plots and structures in order to relate them to seemingly unrelated narratives (The Dark Knight with The Name of The Rose).
BACK TO THE FUTURE
The Back To The Future trilogy DVDs include a Q&A session with director and writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. As a rule I would say that you should seek anything done by Robert Zemeckis, for he is exceptionally apt at articulating the thinking, writing, editing and visual story-telling processes that make all of his interviews and commentaries must-listen. Out of many I chose this Q&A with his colleague writer Gale because it tackles both practical and writing issues which span several years. Back To The Future was rejected by countless studios for a very long time and even when things started to look up, its creators continued to battle ill-advised suggestions that required great negotiation skills as well as immense patience. In this session they discuss problems associated with sticky plot points (how to get Marty out of that car with his mother; how to ensure that the time machine was mobile) as well as how they succeeded in making every scene count.
Listen to this if... you've received ten years' worth of rejection letters. They don't mean a thing.
COLLATERAL
Director Michael Mann has a bit of a reputation for crash-boom-bang pseudo-espionage-meets-action movies. Whether you agree with the tabloids' view of his work or not, I strongly suggest that you listen to his commentary to Collateral, for here he goes to great depths of insight regarding characterisation and the conflict built on the oppositions between the characters, story arc conception, plotting process and mid-shooting changes.
Listen to this if... you cannot quite figure out who your characters are and what they should do.
PLEASANTVILLE
Writer and director Gary Ross provides one of the best commentaries ever for Pleasantville. Satire, memory, reality, fiction, the romanticisation of the past, individuality, the choice of a specific point of view, conflict within an hermetically sealed world, the creation of complex scenes, shock, cultural, feminist and historical considerations... this commentary has got it all, for Gary Ross also includes references to his past and to his creative identity in order to enrich our understanding of how and why this movie got made in this way. If I had to listen to just one commentary for the rest of my DVD-viewing life, this would be it.
Listen to this if... you are after a tri-dimensional understanding of the stories we tell and why we tell them.
SEABISCUIT
Writer and director Gary Ross is joined by Steven Soderbergh in a commentary which delves into the challenges associated with a story about people and their resilience as well as about a mechanised society which is slowly moving from horses to cars. Find out how it is perfectly possible to make a movie about an animal and the people who loved it without turning it into a tearjerker of epic proportions.
Listen to this if... you are dying to learn about the process of using biography to turn legends into compacted stories that fly to the finishing line.
THE INCREDIBLES
As for Robert Zemeckis above, you should ensure that you seek out all commentaries and interviews by Pixar people, for you'll be very hard-pressed to find many other writers out there who can give a story that is equally plot- and character-driven. But one above all of them stands out, and that's Brad Bird, director and writer of The Incredibles and Ratatouille. In the commentary to The Incredibles he tells us of characterisation, action and conflict, of making painful choices that benefit the finished product (killing our darlings, yes) and also points out that animation is not a genre but a medium. He is also one of those rare writers/directors who stays on course as the movie rolls; pay attention because you're gonna get lots and lots of information in just under two hours. I must have listened to this one twenty times already.
Listen to this if... you are lingering, unfocused, in a well infested with clichéd characters that just don't work.
WALK THE LINE
Writer and director James Mangold tells us that a screenwriter is often thought to be writing only dialogue while in reality he is writing in images. Thus he begins his commentary with a reading of the script and continues it by telling us that he had the Johnny Cash story in his mind for many years before he even attempted to turn it into into a movie. And attempted he did, many times over, for no studio would consider a film about people, rather than costumed superheroes or other fantastical creatures. He speaks of the great challenge associated with telling the story of an almost mythical figure and of how authenticity was important to him as he conducted his research. This is an impeccable commentary from a writer who had been clearly highly invested in the subject matter for many years.
Listen to this if... you are struggling with a mammoth project that you love but that never seems to end.
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A special mention goes to Wes Anderson for the fabulous insights into his writing process in the DVDs of The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic and to Billy Wilder for the simple reason of having written some of the most brilliant comedies ever. Who knows what we could have learnt from a commentary on The Apartment or Some Like It Hot?
Have you listened to a fantastic director's commentary recently? Like what you read here? Join me and the other participants of the eCourse for a bit of work on Tootsie and Spider-man...
Really useful post, Steph. I love DVD extras, especially the deleted scenes, which I always watch with the commentary on. However, I can never quite bring myself to watch a whole film again with the commentary. You may well have persuaded me to try.
Posted by: dirtywhitecandy | 08 September 2010 at 18:31
You've surpassed yourself Steph. Fantastic post and so very useful.
Posted by: Kim | 08 September 2010 at 19:00
An extremely imaginative post, I've linked my nieces to it as they love to watch extra features. As do I, in fact!
Posted by: London Agent | 09 September 2010 at 12:51
THese are great movies in terms of structure and plot, with interesting character arcs
Posted by: e.lee | 10 September 2010 at 07:05