Its about time: Apple brings bonus content to iTunes movies

If you were on the internet at all on Wednesday you probably were having load-time issues because everyone was F5ing a bunch of pages to get the latest from that day’s Apple event. There wasn’t the anticipated news that Beatles albums would be available on iTunes but there was lots of hoopla around new features for various versions of Apple’s iPod.

There was also the announcement that select movies within iTunes would be bundled with bonus content (Video Business 9/9/09) akin to what’s available on DVD under the iTunes Extra banner.

Bonus content will include what you’d expect from DVDs, meaning documentaries and trailers. The movies with Extra material will be priced the same as they otherwise would have, a sign that distribution costs are falling since there’s no need to bump up the price to send more information to the consumer.

This is the kind of thing Scott Kirsner was asking about last month and it’s going to be interesting to see what the consumer adoption of digital extras actually winds up being. Are they a holdover of the DVD age or is there a place for them in digital distribution models? I’m not sure there’s an answer about that yet but I’m sure one will emerge.

Personally I’d be interested to see how these things evolve. I have a hunch that that same sort of pre-packaged featurettes aren’t going to be as popular when they’re *meant* to be watched on a computer screen so will probably have to begin incorporating more interactive features, something that’s been part of the promise of next-gen DVD formats like Blu-ray. See recent stories about up-to-date IMDb information on the cast and crew being available (Video Business 9/10/09) to buyers of X-Men Origins: Wolverine as an example of what I’m talking about. When people watch something online I think there’s the implied promise it will be interactive to some extent and efforts like Apple’s will eventually have to cater to that.

Competing formats, bonus material under consideration by music industry

From Movie Marketing Madness: Various reports have come out about moves being made by the music industry – including Apple – as they seek to shore up sales not just of single songs but of full albums.

As Epicenter rounds-up, Apple and the major labels seem to each be working on their own formats for full albums that would be loaded with bonus content, creating an incentive to purchase that complete album instead of just a single at a time as has become the norm among buyers. The two formats don’t seem to be, as Van Buskirk at Epicenter says, at war since the parties are working together to some extent and the different formats are likely going to be used in different stores.

This story dovetails nicely with a question Scott Kirsner posed the other day when he asked what the future of “DVD extra” material is in the age of digital distribution. The two options he offers are that they will be folded into the movie’s online marketing campaign or that some will be offered for free but others (particularly those with high production costs) will be available as a la carte offerings for a buck or two on top of the film itself.

In the comments on Scott’s post I came down on the side of these features being made available during the marketing campaign, but on a staggered schedule that supports not only the movie’s theatrical (or other initial) release but then as a way to continue the conversation about the movie into its home video or secondary release life.

For the music industry I think the best thing that could be done is to go back to the traditional 45 LP, cassette single model: When someone buys the most popular song of the moment they get a B-side from the album as well, giving them a “free” taste of the rest of the album and thereby giving them a stronger reason to complete the album.

But I think it’s interesting that both the music and movie industry seem to be re-thinking the value proposition of additional content. What needs to be stated, though, is that in order to truly become a factor in the consumer decision making process additional content needs to have as much value as the core content itself. That can be value in the form of replay-ability or in the form of social capital, something that gets peers talking to each other on the same level that core content does.

That’s why I think free bonus material is a better model.

Imagine if, when you bought a song on iTunes you were given the option to subscribe to a video podcast by the artist. (Or you can use movies or books or whatever in this idea as well.) So you listen to the song and then a week later you get the latest episode of the podcast delivered to you and think “The song they played in that episode was pretty good.” and you go buy that. After a song or two you’re probably going to go ahead and just buy the rest of the album.

Regardless of the model there’s obviously a place for bonus material that supports and enhances the core content being sold. It’s just a matter of figuring out how that best works out.

(Insert Film Title): The Companion Material

In a world where content is divided up into 2 categories (Self-Indulgent and Insightful) it can be hard to learn from example of what to include as bonus content with your film. Does one simply make a 20 minute Behind The Scenes featurette? How important is commentary?

The best way to answer this question is think ask yourself another question; What is needed to enhance the viewing experience? In order to continually engage the audience we must keep asking questions. We must constantly keep them interested. As filmmakers, we love bonus content, we love to learn what the director was thinking or the writer, or the actor, very rarely do we get a chance to see anything beyond that outside of commentary of a BTS featurette.

In effort to make "Our Last Days As Children" as engaging and appealing as possible, both to our peers and our audience, myself and the rest of the production team (Toni Ann Baker & Diane St. Laurent of Two Sisters' Productions, Inc., as well as DP Seth Melnick and Composer Mauro Colangelo) have started to take inventory of all the bonus content from all the films we love. What we found is that there are not many projects that have more exploratory content. Recent studio films like WALL-E and The Dark Knight have done a great job of adding bonus DVD content, explaining the technology they used, or how stunts were orchestrated, and there is a great deal of those topics to explore in such films, but for those of us with an eye and ear towards the grand Mise en scène, its not always enough.

In order to best describe what we intend to do with the bonus content for "Our Last Days As Children" we'll point out a few features of other projects that we enjoyed and plan to follow.

"Heights" - The DVD has wonderful commentary provided by Director Chris Terrio and actress Glenn Close, but also includes a Locations Journal. Chris gives wonderful insight into not only the story of how they acquired these locations, but also why he chose them. One mistake that amateur filmmakers stumble across is that of locations and production design. "JOE LIVES IN A HOUSE" so the location manager finds a house for Joe and the production designer will make it look tidy. However, in this case, very rarely do filmmakers look beyond Joe. "Is Joe messy? Does he like Art? Is he utilitarian? is he a packrat? Does he fit the space?" Naturally, if Joe is a real person, his environment would be an extension of his personality. I've been seeing more and more films where the characters and their environment don't match, most recently a film in which a character was a deadbeat drug addict with no money, yet her home was very well furnished, very clean, very modern and technologically on par with the average American middle class family. Nothing about the character reflected that, and after a conversation with the director, it was also apparent that the director didn't think about that either. With Heights, Terrio does a wonderful job examining a few of the key locations and how they not only reflect the character, but also how they help scope the character. The apartment that Isabelle and Jonathan (Elizabeth Banks and James Marsden) live in is small, confined, and cluttered. Terrio took time to make sure that his characters lived within that space, even setting up shots in the smaller rooms to reflect their world closing in on them.

"Children of Men" One of my favorite special features; a featurette featuring futurists and various humanities professionals discussing the plausibility and functionality of the not-so-distant and familiar future they story takes place in; in many ways, a video-essay.

"Serenity" The Companion Books; "Finding Serenity" & "Serenity Found"

-In "Finding Serenity" this eclectic anthology of essays, former cast member Jewel Staite, "Kaylee," philosopher Lyle Zynda, sex therapist Joy Davidson, and noted science fiction and fantasy authors Mercedes Lackey, David Gerrold, and Lawrence Watt-Evans contribute to a clever and insightful analysis of the short-lived cult hit "Firefly". From What went wrong with the pilot? to What's right about Reavers? and how the correspondence between the show's creator Joss Whedon and the network executives might have actually played out, the writers interrogate the show's complexity and speculate about what might have been if the show "Firefly" had not been cancelled.

-"Serenity Found" the follow-up to Finding Serenity, takes the examination of Joss Whedon's canceled cult favorite even further, addressing the events of the film Serenity as well as offering even more thought-provoking, fascinating, and far-thinking essays on the Firefly universe. Contributors include actor Nathan Fillion, who played Captain Mal Reynolds, as well as noted science fiction writer Orson Scott Card. Behind-the-scenes details are explored, including why Firefly makes such a good platform for the upcoming Multiverse online game (with an essay written by Multiverse executive producer Corey Bridges), while other essays examine recurring issues from both the series and the movie, such as the Alliance's hatred of science, the role of smart-mouthed women, and the real reason the Firefly universe has no aliens.

These are wonderful, wonderful books for the true fan, but more importantly, they give insight into the universe the story takes place in. They spark conversation among fans as well as ask questions that don't always give answers.

Battlestar Galactica: Bear McCreary's Battlestar Blog - On Bill McCreary's Blog, the Composer offers up amazing insight onto how and why he composes the music for each and every scene and what its intended purpose is. His music and blog have such a following that recent DVD release of the first half of season 4 includes an entire film on his process.

An excerpt from his blog on it: Battlestar Season 4.0 is finally released on DVD this week. "I’m thrilled to announce officially what many of you have suspected since early reviews of the DVD leaked out: This DVD set includes my original documentary “Inside The Secrets Of The Behind The Making Of The Music Of Battlestar Galactica: Revealed.” This is a film I produced with Matthew Gilna and Kristina Maniatis that premiered last April at our Los Angeles Battlestar concerts. If you missed our shows last spring, here’s your chance to catch up. And since you’re reading my blog, I’m assuming you’re already a fan and will be checking out the DVDs at some point anyway. :) Many people came together to help make this film a reality, but there are several without whom it would never have existed: Matthew Gilna and Kristina Maniatis… You both went above and beyond the call of duty here, and poured yourselves into this project. And congratulations on your recent engagement! For all this, I owe you guys a wedding march or something. (Taiko drums and bagpipes??)"

These are just a few examples that filmmakers can utilize with their own projects and add value to their films. We certainly are.