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the influence of various filmmakers on each other.
The film commentary on one of the greatest films ever made, Seven
Samurai , is done by a film critic and is able to teach much from an
outsider's perspective
Learn a lot of interesting film history by listening to the commentary tracks
by Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich on the DVD of Citizen Kane .
Donald Richie's comments on Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and
Gene Youngblood's comments on Antonioni's L'Avventura offer
excellent insights into these classics.
On the two disc set of THX1138 watch the original Lucas short,
Electric Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB and compare it to the feature length
version. The documentary "Legacy of Filmmakers" on the early days of American Zoetrope is of interest to
filmmakers not only as an historical document but as a warning of being frivolous with money & opportunities as
Francis Ford Coppola was, compared to the frugal George Lucas.
George Lucas' interview on the Kurasawa Hidden Fortress (Criterion edition DVD) disc shows how
strong is the influence Akira Kurasawa has had on all filmmaking. Hidden Fortress was the basis for the original
Star Wars story.
More Commentaries
Want to find even more great commentary tracks. The following should be helpful.
RateThatCommentary.com has a huge set of ratings of DVD commentaries including the 100 best and 100 worst
lists. More than 3,000 DVDs are covered. Check this site before you start listening to the commentary to see if it
is worth bothering with. Unfortunately the ratings are more about the entertainment value of the commentary,
not what specific areas of filmmaking are covered.
Another very interesting site that rates and describes DVD commentaries is CommentaryDVD.com.
Here is a list of someone's favorite DVD commentaries.
Here is EOpinion's list of 10 best DVD commentaries.
Wikipedia has a interesting article on audio commentaries along with a list of some interesting DVD
commentaries.
Here is a site with fan created DVD commentaries.
Listology has a list of interesting fan created commentaries that, unfortunately is no longer kept up.
This short list of favorite DVD commentaries is on Amazon.com.
Netflix has a much larger number of available DVD titles for rent, but Blockbuster Online has generally been
better at providing the DVD versions with the best features and commentary tracks. For example Netfilix will rent
you the single DVD of Panic Room as will Blockbuster Online, but Blockbuster also has available the 3-disc
Special Edition which includes some excellent features on filmmaking. Scream 2, Princess Bride and Black Hawk
Down also are available in better versions from Blockbuster.
Product Reviews
It's essential you study lots of movies to be a filmmaker. Netflix lets you see
all the movies you want for way less than renting individual movies at your
local video store with a much better selection and keep them as long as you
like with no penalties. They let you try it for free to see if you like it. You've
got nothing to lose. It's a no-brainer!
The Filmmaker's Basic Library has all the top-rated filmmaking resources.