Making of Documentaries

Fakman87

Hey lads,

I'm looking for recommendations of good making of docs, similar in style to the alien retrospectives in the quadrilogy set, the making of the thing, the fly and the original dawn of the dead.

Thanks

Squeedily Spooch

The Abyss has a great "Making Of", looked like an insane production to be part of. Should be on youtube as it's not out on blu-ray.

enfant terrible

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_of_Darkness:_A_Filmmaker's_Apocalypse

Arkaron

Lost in La Mancha - Documentary on the production/making of the aborted Don Quixote film by Terry Gilliam. Highly recommended to see how everything plays down when a film production ends up being a disaster.

The Hamster Factor - Making of Twelve Monkeys.

Inferno: Making of the Expendables - Quite enjoyable if you're interested in Stallone's directing career.

e_e

Burden of Dreams, absolutely insane how this film came into fruition and can be enjoyed regardless of the subject itself.

Also Clerks 1 & 2 have great in-depth making ofs.

Liam McPoyle

My personal fave is 30 Days in Hell : The Making of the Devils Rejects.

Now I will admit to being a massive fanboy for the movie so perhaps that skewed my perception but I thought it was fantastic.

Adamantium

The Jurrassic Park one is not on the DVD/Blu ray as far as I know. Covers the trilogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6OyVIPRLpI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luImTkjZwtM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWLKwrmYd6A

Ipso

There's one about Jaws called The Shark is still not working.

tricky D

Dangerous Days On the Edge of Blade Runner

jonnyfingers

Always enjoyed the documentary about the first Matrix film, The Matrix Revisited. Think it came as part of a two disc boxset.

camz09

'That Moment' : the making of Magnolia by PT Anderson. Brilliant. It's on youtube, i think.

Ageyev

Squeedily Spooch wrote: »

The Abyss has a great "Making Of", looked like an insane production to be part of. Should be on youtube as it's not out on blu-ray.

Was going to post this one. One of the stand-out docs to (re-)feature on DVD.

The docs for Apocalypse Now and 12 Monkeys are also worth watching as mentioned.

There's a 40 minute doc shot during the shoot for The Shining made by Kubrick's daughter.

The DVD doc for the original Tron is very thorough and is interesting considering the pioneering techniques used.

Lots of Ridley Scott films had extensive documentaries put out on DVD - pick your fav film.

There have been dozens of various documentaries and featurettes released on DVD covering the 1978 Halloween. 'Unmasked' and 'A Cut Above the Rest'

Star Wars Episode I The Beginning is another must see. When Lucas screens a cut of the film, the lights go up and he solemnly says "hmm, maybe I went too far".

Martin Scorsesse DVD documentaries aren't always all that insightful insightful (least in his latter years) but there's good stuff on the Taxi Driver and Raging Bull Blu-rays.

'My Best Fiend' about the Herzog/Kinski films.

X-Men 1.5 and X-Men 2 DVDs had really good documentaries.

'The Battle Over Citizen Kane' was only included on North American releases but it was nominated for an Oscar!

Ageyev

jonnyfingers wrote: »

Always enjoyed the documentary about the first Matrix film, The Matrix Revisited. Think it came as part of a two disc boxset.

I found the Matrix documentaries to be too bogged down in tech details about the effects etc.

The doc on the philosophical ideas featuring Cornel West was alright.

The Strawman Argument

It's not exactly a making of, but Overnight (2003) follows Troy Duffy from his script for the Boondock Saints being picked up to a year or two after its release. Nice bit of insight to the other side of Miramax in the 90s too, I guess.

While it's not a making of for a film anyone is likely to have seen, American Movie (1999) is an absolute peach that everyone should see.


I'll second Hearts of Darkness mentioned up above, you'll totally get why Coppola stopped knocking out masterpieces after seeing it and why Martin Sheen seemed to age about 20 years between it and his 80s movies. Will also make you appreciate Apocalypse Now a hell of a lot more.

Fakman87

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

It's not exactly a making of, but Overnight (2003) follows Troy Duffy from his script for the Boondock Saints being picked up to a year or two after its release. Nice bit of insight to the other side of Miramax in the 90s too, I guess.

While it's not a making of for a film anyone is likely to have seen, American Movie (1999) is an absolute peach that everyone should see.


I'll second Hearts of Darkness mentioned up above, you'll totally get why Coppola stopped knocking out masterpieces after seeing it and why Martin Sheen seemed to age about 20 years between it and his 80s movies. Will also make you appreciate Apocalypse Now a hell of a lot more.

I've seen American movie a few times now, absolutely brilliant film. I was sure it was a mockumentary at first because it was so odd. That's what I love about good documentaries, they can capture a moment and place in time that is gone forever.

Mizu_Ger

As mentioned above, "The Abyss" making of is well worth watching. Crazy stuff!

Also, "The Poughkeepsie Shuffle" on the French Connection DVD/Blu-ray is very good.

There's a 2 hour Jaws making of on that blu-ray too.

I find that retrospective doc's on older films tend to be better than more recent films. People are more likely to tell what happened exactly (or at least how they remember it happening).

humanji

Embracing Chaos: The Making of The African Queen is a brilliant one. I didn't expect much from it, but it's quite hilarious some of the things they suffered and what Huston was sometimes willing to sacrifice just so he could go off hunting in Africa.

Although not really a Making of Documentary, the commentary track for The Thing! is well worth listening to. It's as good as a making of doc as they talk about every aspect of the film as it happens. On the DVD/Bluray, there's also an actual making of documentary that isn't as good, but does give a bit more insight into what's said in the commentary. Plus it's an awesome movie!

conorhal

humanji wrote: »

Embracing Chaos: The Making of The African Queen is a brilliant one. I didn't expect much from it, but it's quite hilarious some of the things they suffered and what Huston was sometimes willing to sacrifice just so he could go off hunting in Africa.

Although not really a Making of Documentary, the commentary track for The Thing! is well worth listening to. It's as good as a making of doc as they talk about every aspect of the film as it happens. On the DVD/Bluray, there's also an actual making of documentary that isn't as good, but does give a bit more insight into what's said in the commentary. Plus it's an awesome movie!

It's the same with Big Trouble in Little China, Kurt Russell and John carpenter make listening to two old buddies shooting the $h1t a very entertaining 90 minutes.
It's a pleasure to hear a commentary track involving witty, thoughtful fun people that enjoy nattering to each other rather then the all to frequent commentary track that involves dull actors delivering a stilted description of what's happening on screen.

For my money the Alien Quadrology making of extra features and those on the definative Blade Runner DVD's are breathtakingly extensive and, unusually for DVD extras, breathtakingly blunt with very little puff. Neither doc shys away from talking about the conflicts, disputes, creative arguments and tetchy crews that characterised the tetchy production history of the films.

Squeedily Spooch

Agree on Carpenter and Russell's commentaries, it's just listening to two old friends having a laugh watching a film they made. Kurt Russell's laugh is infectious.

Roar

Another shout for American Movie. A delightful film. And Mike steals the show



As mentioned above, Lost In La Mancha may just be my favourite making of. Watch Terry Gilliam go from excited, to frustrated to angry to heartbroken over the course of the film is fascinating.

Ageyev

conorhal wrote: »

It's the same with Big Trouble in Little China, Kurt Russell and John carpenter make listening to two old buddies shooting the $h1t a very entertaining 90 minutes.
It's a pleasure to hear a commentary track involving witty, thoughtful fun people that enjoy nattering to each other rather then the all to frequent commentary track that involves dull actors delivering a stilted description of what's happening on screen.

For my money the Alien Quadrology making of extra features and those on the definative Blade Runner DVD's are breathtakingly extensive and, unusually for DVD extras, breathtakingly blunt with very little puff. Neither doc shys away from talking about the conflicts, disputes, creative arguments and tetchy crews that characterised the tetchy production history of the films.

The Alien3 documentary on the DVD was cut to remove criticism directed at the studio. These scenes were restored for the blu-ray release.

Netflix needs to up its game and add these DVD/blu-ray documentaries if they really want to kill off physical media

Sad Professor

Ageyev wrote: »

The Alien3 documentary on the DVD was cut to remove criticism directed at the studio. These scenes were restored for the blu-ray release.

Netflix needs to up its game and add these DVD/blu-ray documentaries if they really want to kill off physical media

If only they were so ambitious. Netflix just want to be an online cable channel offering exclusive content. Movie fans won’t have much reason to subscribe in a couple of years.

Squeedily Spooch

Sad Professor wrote: »

If only they were so ambitious. Netflix just want to be an online cable channel offering exclusive content. Movie fans won’t have much reason to subscribe in a couple of years.

I find netflix is great for back catalogue films I might not have seen in a few years or missed completely. If you have access to the various regions netflix is a no brainer really. For tv it's absolutely essential and great for catching shows you missed at air. I just hope they don't go down the route of paying extra for specific content more than they currently do or (and I hope they don't ever get this idea) splitting it between netflix movies and netflix tv as separate things. If they started adding much more recent films that aren't long on blu-ray it'd be worth a few quid a month but not that much. I'll happily pay for films that arent a year old on a streaming service, like a month after blu-ray release or something but I doubt the studios would go for that, it'd cripple home sales if you could just wait a few weeks for say Godzilla to turn up on netflix.

conorhal

Ageyev wrote: »

The Alien3 documentary on the DVD was cut to remove criticism directed at the studio. These scenes were restored for the blu-ray release.

Netflix needs to up its game and add these DVD/blu-ray documentaries if they really want to kill off physical media

I didn't know that, I just assumed that the critisism was a bit more muted because David Fincher didn't take part in the interviews, though his battles with the studio were mentioned. Dan O' Bannon's swivel eyed crazy vitriol more then made up for his absense and they were a cut above the usual studio marketing department gushing fluff peices. You are dead right about the availability of good quality extras from on-demand services though.

Another wothy mention would be the making of docs on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. The world building and practical effects in those film are amazing and lovingly detailed in the documentaries.

Bipolar Joe

There's a film called Strings, and the characters are all marionettes, aware of some higher power controlling them, even some crippled by having their strings cut. The making of is pretty short, but I loved it, seeing how much care and love was put into everything. Some of the puppet makers refer to the puppets as people, and it's easy to get carried away with it all. Good stuff!

Ageyev

Sad Professor wrote: »

If only they were so ambitious. Netflix just want to be an online cable channel offering exclusive content. Movie fans won’t have much reason to subscribe in a couple of years.

There are already a few documentaries on the making a certain film on Netflix. The From Dusk till Dawn doc Full Tilt Boogie is there, there is a Nightmare on Elm Street doc and for House of Cards they added a David Fincher commentary track on some episodes - although these commentaries seem to have been removed now.

DaveDaRave

I thought the making of Dusk Til Dawn was great, but i cant remember anything about it or what it was called. Just remember enjoying it a lot

DaveDaRave

DaveDaRave wrote: »

I thought the making of Dusk Til Dawn was great, but i cant remember anything about it or what it was called. Just remember enjoying it a lot

It's called Full Tilt Boogie and is up on netflix.

DaveDaRave

Deleted User wrote: »

It's called Full Tilt Boogie and is up on netflix.

yeah fail thread reading

MRnotlob606

Great documentary on Youtube about the making of full metal jacket.