Up until now a lot of my complaints and rants have been about the cinema experience and what happens up until the point of actually seeing a film (with the exception of some actual thoughts on some films), but a lot of our experiences with films happen at home.
Most people don’t go to the cinema until a certain age (Don’t you dare bring anyone under 3 years old. At least), we can’t see everything that comes out at the cinema, and what about all the films that existed before we even exist? Well, for that there is ‘Home Media’ DVD’s, Blu-Rays, VHS, iTunes, Amazon and Netflix. And this month I have been looking at the ways we watch films at home and some of the big problems I have with the current models.
Physical Media
This is the first one I want to go into because it’s the one that I grew up with. I could not count a number of times I watched Star Wars, Indiana Jones and all sorts of other films on VHS tapes. I was turning into a teenager around the time DVD’s were becoming a thing and have entered adulthood at the start of the Blu-Ray age.
That’s the big problem with this medium. It changes. You line your walls up with all your favourite films from childhood, the ones you saw on the Big Screen and loved and the ones you missed that kinda sucked (Looking at you Hobbit Part 3) and then, within the next decade the format is obsolete and everyone is digging the new thing.
So now, you need to spend all your hard earned cash money getting the entire collection again so you don’t look ‘behind the times’ and sometimes not every film gets the Upgrade and so your shelf looks weird with different sized boxes and how are you even meant to organise them?
The same goes with the players. When do you update? When it’s new so you spend hundreds on a new player? After a few years, where maybe it’s cheaper and some kinks have been sorted but what if you’re too late and you waste money because the next format is starting to come along! Now. I know what you are thinking “Leigh, old bean. You don’t HAVE to buy the new format, the film can still be watched on the old one you silly boy” (I imagine you have a top hat and monocle) “BUT” I respond “What happens when your player breaks down? When my VHS player broke I was unable to find one to replace it? Do I sit there longing to watch ‘Flight of the Navigator’ for all eternity?” I used to work selling electronics, and there is one guarantee about all technology, the one promise I can make you right now; at some point, All Technology Breaks.
This doesn’t even just apply to the players, VHS tapes could get damaged, DVD’s and Blu-Rays can get scratched, so you could end out buying the same film on the same media more than once. It’s a disaster. And that doesn’t even include the formats that failed. Remember the war for Blu-Ray VS HD-DVD? VHS Vs Beta max? You could invest in a player and films on a format that within a year you can’t even use anymore.
Funnily enough, something relevant to this happened the other week. Recently The Hateful Eight came out on Home Media, and I went to buy it, the problem is I had the choice of Blu-Ray, the superior format, or DVD, which came with some character art cards. And I like stuff like that, so despite paying more for Blu-Ray I’m missing out a collectable. Why should I have to make that choice?!
Remember the war for Blu-Ray VS HD-DVD? VHS Vs Beta max? You could invest in a player and films on a format that within a year you can’t even use anymore. Funnily enough, something relevant to this happened the other week. Recently The Hateful Eight came out on Home Media, and I went to buy it, the problem is I had the choice of Blu-Ray, the superior format, or DVD, which came with some character art cards. And I like stuff like that, so despite paying more for Blu-Ray I’m missing out a collectable. Why should I have to make that choice?!
And that’s not all, What about Box Sets? These big things that come with a collection of films that either fit similar genres, have the same cast/crew, or are all in a series are a disaster. Why? Well, let’s go back to 2014 and I go and buy a box set for Jurassic Park.There hasn’t been a new film in the series for a while so I could get it all in a neat collection that looks cool and means this series all have the same box art and style. I’m particular like that. What’s that? A 4th Jurassic Park film?
Well, now I’m gonna have 3 films with the same box art and style and then one that just has to be a little special snowflake and make my shelf look STUPID. Or I go and buy a box set for something that is never gonna get added to, let’s say I buy a set of Hitchcock films. Great.
I’ve got Rear Window (my personal favourite), Psycho, Vertigo (Go watch it if you haven’t) and North By Northwest. It’s not all of his films he was prolific, so after a while I get another box set and this one contains Dial M for Murder, Rebecca, Rope and Vertigo.But I have Vertigo from the last one. I’m now spending money on a film I already have. There’s no difference with what’s on the two discs, I now have two box sets that overlap and so now I’ve wasted some of that money on something I already own AGAIN (Yes I own Blade Runner several times, but they are different cuts and tell drastically different stories, same goes with Alien). And then there is the Box Sets best friend. the ‘Special Edition’ this little device allows the film studios to take advantage of poor gullible fiscal idiots like me who find out
But I have Vertigo from the last one. I’m now spending money on a film I already have. There’s no difference with what’s on the two discs, I now have two box sets that overlap and so now I’ve wasted some of that money on something I already own AGAIN (Yes I own Blade Runner several times, but they are different cuts and tell drastically different stories, same goes with Alien). And then there is the Box Sets best friend, the ‘Special Edition’ this little device allows the film studios to take advantage of poor gullible fiscal idiots like me who find out they’re some extra Special Features in the DVD box that I haven’t seen before. And it always turns out to be a 5-10 minute thing with no new information. So I sit there hate myself for wasting my money and what’s that? An Anniversary Edition of Back to the Future? Be right back guys…
I will allow myself here to talk about one moment of weakness; (Cough cough) I love alternate cuts. Blade Runner plays on this worse than anything else. Theatrical Cut, Directors Cut, Final Cut. Any new cut that even adds a 2-minute scene can change the entire context of a film. Ever seen the alt cut of Alien? It contains a scene in which (SPOILERS AHEAD) Ripley finds Dallas, who was dragged off by the alien but not actually killed on screen, stuck to a wall and ready to be hugged in the face. He begs her to kill him and she does. It’s a powerful scene that reveals something the theatrical cut didn’t. It revealed that Dallas isn’t killed. It reveals a bit more about how the Xenomorphs work, and it shows yet another ordeal that Ripley has to go though because of this creature, adding to her hatred and fear for it. (SPOILERS OVER). This sort of thing drives me because it’s a part of the filmmaking world we don’t think about too often. We complain about and celebrate what we see on the screen, but don’t think about what we don’t. Sure in this day and age we get the ‘Deleted Scenes’ but seeing a director, producer, editor or whoever make the choice to put that back in the film to see if it would have improved or ruined it is brave and can really change things.
Finally, storage space. This is an issue you don’t think about until it happens. Sure, you start with 10-15 DVDs that fit on a nice little shelf. But before you know it you have 1000s and have to dedicate four bookcases and a whole wall to a bunch of films you might never watch again. “Sell them once your done Leigh, DUH” No. They’re mine. I want to have the option to watch a film whenever I want, and the last thing I want to do is have an urge to watch something followed by remembered I sold it off, got half of what I paid for it, if I’m lucky, and now I have to settle for something else. But, storage space with physical media is a huge problem. Plus I like having a part of my house people will come and marvel at looking at all the sick films I own. And more and more quality media gets made every day, and to support said quality you want to buy it and enjoy it at your leisure from home. But where am I suppose to keep it all? Why should I have to choose between Film A and Film B, not based on quality but because to get both would mean moving house because I could fit another Billy in that I couldn’t where I live now. Okay. Storytime. A long time ago, when I was at university, I didn’t have much room where I lived, and this is pre-Netflix. I was studying film and so I bought a lot of films. Because I didn’t have much room I got a bunch of slipcases, like what you’d put a bunch of CDs in for taking them around places. I still have them and they contain hundreds of discs. Hundreds of films. I also no longer, have the actual DVD cases for these film so storing them in a way that says to visitors ‘Yes. My film collection is larger, of a higher quality and more range than yours’ is now impossible. Chances are if I did have them I wouldn’t have the room to show them properly anyway so at least this way I can pick a film like looking through a catalogue? Plus, and this is an argument that happens on a regular basis in my house. How do you organise them? I like to go alphabetical, but partner says genre. I don’t wanna break up because she doesn’t understand that some films transcend multiple genres and which one you put it in can be complicated!
OK, guys. I’m gonna level with you. This came out WAY longer than I imagined, so, rather than keep going about my next topic I’m gonna stop here and pick this up next time. And I mean it this time. The followups to my Transformers piece and Cinema Etiquette are coming, there still a lot I have to say on those topics but I wanna make sure I get those just right.
Next time I’m gonna be taking a stab at digital media, and if there’s time some other issues that kinda fit into both. Until then, hit me up on twitter (@whee_leigh) with how you organise your DVD/Blu-Ray/VHS/Laserdisc collection!
See you soon!
Video Editor and film buff. Looking to preserve the world of cinema for future generations
