The Best "Behind the Scenes Making of..." is
 

So what are the Best "Behind the Scenes Making Of" documentaries on DVD.

I am talking about the ones that show the actual making of the movie and not just the actors and crew being interviewed.

Maybe post your top 5 or so.

Thanks

Kinda hard to pick ones that don't feature interviews, as you say.
But 2 of my favorite "You're-on-the-set" docs are for Star Wars-The Phantom Menace ("In The Beginning") and The Devil's Rejects ("30 Days in Hell")

Under Pressure....The making of The Abyss

Interviews with the cast and crew is fine as long as its not JUST interviews (like the ones on JAWS or Amadeus). Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Garden State, Bad Boys II...all of these have great on the set footage.

The Devils Rejects is great as well.

I have been digging these lately...

Hostel
High Tension
Wolf Creek
Dazed and Confused
Indiana Jones…
Taxi Driver
Sin City
Terminator 2
Terminator
Batman Begins
Donnie Darko – Directors Cut
12 Monkeys
Pirates of the Caribbean – Both DVD’s

I haven't seen everything of course, but "making-of" docs are often my favorite parts of a DVD. My first instinct was to mention "Empire of Dreams", but I think that's mostly interviews instead of actual making-of footage. If you're looking for VERY extensive footage of the movie being made, I'd suggest the All-Access edition of <i>I, Robot</i>. The "video diaries" are a little boring to me, but if you're looking for footage of the film being shot as opposed to interviews, that would be the one I'd recommend out of my collection. I'd imagine that there are many others like certain editions of <i>King Kong</i> that have a lot more footage, though.

Anyway, in terms of my favorites, I'd really have to go with just about any Kevin Burns doc I've seen, from "Empire of Dreams" to "Look, Up In The Sky...".

Hamster Factor from 12 Monkeys is, hands-down, one of the best (if not the best) behind-the-scenes making-of I've ever seen - and I've seen a lot.

the hamster factor from 12 monkeys. i also recommend lost in la mancha (another gilliam project) about a movie that never made it out of production

When it comes to behind the scenes footages on DVD, "HBO First Look" is synonymous with quality.

Dit-to.

Top 3

12 Monkeys: The Hamster Factor and Other Tales

Star Wars Trilogy: Empire of Dreams

Clerks X: Snowball Effect

rotfl

Magnolia has a pretty great doc.

:up:

That is my choice.

I've not seen it yet, but if I recall correctly, From Dusk Til Dawn has a documentary that's the running time of the movie called "Full Tilt Boogie."

Yup... :thumbsup:

I'll second <i>Lost In LaMancha</i> and <i>Snowball Effect</i> although again, I think the OP was looking for actual on-set footage rather than interviews, which means the former qualifies, but not so much on the latter.

The recent "Requiem for Krypton" about the making of Superman Returns was pretty much ALL making-of footage. Beginning from even before Bryan Singer pitched the idea to WB.

As mentioned, "Under Pressure" for the Abyss was also pretty extensive.

"The Beginning" from Star Wars Episode I was as fly-on-the-wall as you can get.

The making-of on Matchstick Men is also pretty good - going from rehersals to filming up to editing - it really takes you all the way through the filmaking process like a good bonus feature should. It's very comprehensive, and far more interesting than the typical behind-the-scenes features.

And the OlbBoy tin has a similar feature that runs for almost 3 hours.

I really enjoyed the Making Of doc on the 24 Season 2 set, and I usually can't stand those types of things.

Most of those early Universal titles had truly great docs.

E.g. Field of Dreams, Apollo 13, 12 Monkeys, American Grafitti, Blues Brothers

Does Lost In La Mancha (though great) really count given that it's entirely a stand-alone documentary film on its own that's about a movie that had the plug pulled and was never completed?

(I just got the impression that the OP was looking for "Behind the Scenes" documentaries that are bonus DVD features for actual movies.)

I'll also recommend 12 Monkeys and any of the Star Wars DVD features like that. There are plenty of good ones though.

That King Kong Production Diaries thing that comes in the brief case packaging...that's pretty much ALL that is, so I'd say that's my highest recommendation if that's what you're looking for with more focus on on-set production than sit-down interviews.

:up: And the docs on the King Kong Extended DVD are pretty in-depth as well.
:up::up: Snowball Effect on Clerks X too.

These aren't on DVD but:
The Frighteners making of clocks in at 4.5 hours roughly and is by far the de facto making of feature.
Bram Stoker's Dracula - Also a laserdisc release but this 30~ min making of was pretty good.

Length is not everything! But I'd say Peter Jackson is still the winner.

Check out the 30-minute "Good Taste Made Bad Taste" to see a wonderful behind-the-scenes doc with tons of astonishingly cool making-of footage. I think it's incredible how much ingenuity he had when he was young. Too bad King Kong wasn't as good as it should have been...