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What's the best "behind the scenes" or filming making documentaries (apart from "Heart of Darkness")
  • Wondering what's out there on the web or DVD/BD special features. In all aspects of filming making. Cheers

  • 30 Replies sorted by
  • There's a 5.5 hr workprint version of Apocalypse Now floating around.

    The Lord of the Rings Behind the Scenes documentary is 6 hours long!! (Platinum Edition)

  • Check out the Criterion film Gomorrah..they have on the second disc, a breakdown of the filming of five separate scenes...they used a lot of real life mob guys in this movie, so in one clip they have a behind the scenes tantrum of one of the guys when the director changes his mind about letting him "kill" the main characters..he says if he doesn't let him "kill" them then he won't let anyone film there..haha..its pretty funny. The movie itself is very good, very gritty and realistic, its in Italian with subtitles....another one is Requiem for a Dream...Matthew Labatique goes into some detail about his cinematography..lenses, filters, techniques, etc..

  • Robert Rodriquez has a lot of special features on his DVDs, specifically from his first film up to Sin City. His commentaries are also great with lots of insights.

    Even just standard commentary can have a tidbit or two that can be invaluable and you can learn a lot from. Unless the movie is so good I need the DVD/Blu Ray...I won't buy a dvd unless it has director commentary. Everything has something you can learn from.

  • "Lost in La Mancha". About Terry Gillliam trying to get Don Quixote made.

  • Don't forget all the great recipes for mexican food from Robert Rodriguez in his 10min cooking schools. Essential if you have to keep your crew happy at those late night shoots ! :)

  • Tristram Shandy is remarkable for its merging of narrative content and actors' behaviour off-camera.

  • I learnt most beginner stuff from LOTR behind the scenes DVDs.

  • I liked the doc on From Dusk Till Dawn special 2DVD edition. think it's an hour long. Stripped from all that 'glamour', showing how it really looks on the set and what people do. found it the most accurate

  • Check out Chris Marker's A.K. If you haven't already.. Great little film in it's own right, behind the scenes during the making of "Ran".

  • The BtS for The Shining is good -- filmed by Kubrick's daughter, you get to see Kubrick work, Nicholson goof off, and it becomes pretty apparent that everyone is annoyed by Shelley Duvall.

  • +1 for The Shining - my favourite BTS love the bit showing him blasting them with music in the maze scene to keep the actors on edge

  • @redpaw

    Yeah, I think you're referring to "Full Tilt Boogie".

  • Amelie, Seven, American Beauty, The Machinist, Harsh Times, Saturday Night Fever, French Connection, To Live and Die in LA, Shawshank Redemption, Taxi Driver, Bullitt, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Dog Day Afternoon, Gomorra, Sideways,The Shining, Deliverance,.....some of my favorite commentary tracks.....the Director of Saturday Night Fever said that they were in a bind time-wise and financially to decorate the disco "2001", so in a pinch they ran out and got boxes of aluminum foil and basically just draped the walls in it...it came out awesome...these are the little things I love about commentary tracks....or in Shawshank Redemption, where they had a character get carried off into a vintage ambulance..only the ambulance broke down, so they had to push it and then let it roll a bit to look like it was driving away. Even the big-budget filmmakers have to wing it sometimes..

    Yes Jleo, LOTR 'making of' is really cool too.

  • +1 for AK and the Shining doc. Love Burden of Dreams as well!

  • On vimeo you can find great making of "Brand Upon the Brain!" and other good stuff by the Canadian director Guy Maddin!

  • Fellini's making of... "ciao Federico" Making of Fellini's Satyricon Making of "the city of Women" by ferruccio castronuovo (8 1/2 French Edition BluRay)

  • "That Moment" on the Magnolia DVD/Blu ray. "The Making of Do The Right" by St. Clair Bourne I know is on the Criterion edition, not sure about the Blu rays. "The Making of Fanny & Alexander" - Criterion again. Yeah, Kubrick saying "hunks of hair..." on Viv's Shining behind the scenes is always good for a laugh.

  • I liked "Stanley Kubrick's Boxes". Gave the perspective on how much work has to be put in to achieve something.

  • @Macalincag - yeap, that's the one :)

  • 'Beunos Aires Zero Degrees' is the the making of Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together. An intersting look into how the movie shaped. I highly recommend.

  • "Burden of dreams" from Les Blank, the documentary of the shooting of Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo". I think it's absolutely necessary to (re)watch "Fitzcarraldo" and then "Burden of Dreams". It's an incredible "mise en abyme": you discover that the fact of making this movie in the amazonian forest echoes so much with the main aim of Fitzcarraldo: making an opera in the jungle.... Absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Both of them!!!!!!!!!!!!

    "Burden of dreams": http://www.imdb.fr/title/tt0083702/ "Fitzcarraldo": http://www.imdb.fr/title/tt0083946/

  • @jobilo Amen for "Burden of Dreams"! In my opinion more exciting to watch than "Fitzcarraldo" itself!

  • Jaws has a really nice Behind the Scenes on the DVD that captured quite a bit of the problems during production. Spielberg talks a lot about the problems he had to deal with, but of course, it all ended well. The Alien films also had some really nice ones, the highlight is probably Alien 3 (even if Fincher is missing) because it really gives you an idea of the problems during the film. "Dangerous Days" from Blade Runner is also worth checking out. All of these are helped by Spielberg and Ridley Scott being very interesting to listen to.

    Of course, not all good behind the scenes are on hard shoots. Jurassic Park linked above is great and some of the BTS is pretty good. I also really liked the ones on the Bond DVDs, while a bit short it's really fun to see how managed to accomplish stunts that are out of this world and making sets that (literally) were larger than life.