“useless babel” from Chris Marker?
For me extras and other stuff come after the film and not before. I never read introductions, afterwords, footnotes and annotations of a novel until I have read the book proper.
In the case of a film like SANS SOLEIL there isn’t any need for extras. The film says all that it has to say thoroughly. It cites the sources of the footage in the end credits. And that’s that.
///“useless babel” from Chris Marker?\\\
Marker doesn’t babel – the interview was with a friend from Dziga Vertov Group
i never watch the materials first. and when i finally do watch the materials, i dont think i ever watch them again. i cant remember a criterion disc that ive watched the materials to over and over again.
Wait . . . DVDs have something other than just the movie on them?
Useless, with few exceptions. There are two discs of special features in the Lee Chang Dong box set. Mostly, I’m content reading the essays and such, which is done after seeing the film.
Depends on my anxiousness to watch the film. With some films I need to jump right in with no outside information. Others I need to dance around it before I watch it—whet my appetite, so to speak. But usually I watch the extras before I watch the film only when I am already familiar with it.
And I used to listen to all the commentaries. I bet I haven’t listened to a commentary in four years.
After. Always.
Never. Ever. The foremost reason I love film is that I love thinking. And when someone talks about the movie for me I can’t think myself. I love coming up with little theories, insights, quirks, that may not at all have to do with what the movie is about, but as long as I thought long and hard about it I feel so good.
Watching all the extras is cheating.
Though production documentaries are sometimes very interesting, I’ll watch those on rare occasion, but even so, I just feel like it starts giving away too much and then I get someone’s voice stuck in my head, and I can never watch the movie purely again.
In fact, I don’t even read reviews, critiques, analysis breakdowns.
I’m here to learn, not be taught.
But we can learn from many sources. It’s all information, and it’s all there to be absorbed. Believe me, nothing Annette Insdorff says about Kieslowski is going to influence my thinking about Kieslowski, though what Kieslowsi says might. Anyway, its there, so why avoid it?
After. I like to experience the film on my own terms first, and then I may watch the extras, interviews, etc. It’s easier making up your own mind about the film that way, and still it can bring something extra to the reviewing or retrospectively. I don’t do it with every film though, but I’ve had some positive experiences doing this.
I always watch the movie first, then the extras, usually starting with the behind the scenes stuff, the trailers, the deleted scenes and then the commentary or commentaries. I like learning from the extra material of how a film was made, because I think it enriches and deepens my appreciation for the film. Even bad films can have some interesting stuff for extra features, even if the film wasn’t that good.
Extras first? Please cease and desist.
Film, then extras and essays with personal thought throughout, followed by a second viewing, days after.
Am I the only one who doesn’t give a shit about interviews, commentaries, and other special features in the DVD? Maybe I watch some of them occasionally but I really just enjoy the movie-watching. I dunno, it usually ruins the experience.
I always thought Criterion releases’ special features are just so unnecessary. And sometimes they have the option in their menu of “COLOR BARS”. Hahaha XD.
You might be the only one – the insights posted at Autuers aren’t all being self generated …
The Color Bars option is there for a reason.
Robert W Peabody III
I can’t decide – sometimes it adds greatly to watching the film. In the case of Varda’s Vagabond I watched almost an hour of material before the film. Part way through I was thinking that was too much, but once I saw her vision in total, I was ok.
The other side of this coin is that one isn’t developing the ability to think independently about their own perceptions.
Last night I watched the interview after Sans Soleil – useless babel, so it wouldn’t have mattered.
Thoughts?