Anyone else deliberately avoid "Making Of" docs/specials?
 

I used to eat these things up, starting with the making of Star Wars specials that were on TV/VHS ages ago. There was an old show on Nickelodeon that showed behind the scenes of movies that I watched over and over again (the episodes with Krull and Superman III stand out in my mind). Lately, I have found myself avoiding these things on purpose. My wife asked me if I wanted the King Kong Production Diaries on DVD and she was amazed that I said "no".

This may sound silly but whenever I see a "making of" doc on DVD or on TV any more, I find myself watching that movie in the future and only thinking about how they made it. I quit watching all of the docs on the extended editions of the LOTR extended editions because I found myself focused on the effects and such instead of trying to lose myself in the movies.

I guess I don't want to see what's behind the curtain. Instead, I want to immerse myself in the movie's "world".

Anyone else feel this way? I had a long conversation with a friend earlier today, he more or less agreed with me. He also feels that the current deluge of behind the scenes stuff available takes away from the movie magic feeling I had when I was a little kid.

Yep. I never watch them on TV or as extras on the DVD. I like to keep the movie in it's own little world, not be shown how the illusion was cobbled together.

I'm the opposite; I love all that behind the scenes stuff, and it's probably the reason I got into the work I'm doing today. I'm the type of person that loves to know how they did a really complicated shot or pulled off a really dangerous looking stunt.

This is going to sound weird, but I'm a huge fan of these things in the winter; can't get enough of them. During the summer, however; it's a different story, only show me the damn movie, forget those making of specials.

I'm slowly working through all of those behind the scenes extras on my dvd's one winter at the time! :D

I avoided all the featurettes on all the Matrix DVDs for this very reason. It would have ruined the magic for me. By the time the Ultimate Collection came out, I had already seen all the movies many times over, so felt I could cope with letting the magicians reveal their tricks.

i love watching the making of features. that's part of the reason why i paid extra for the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions, Master and Commander COllector's Edition, Moulin Rouge 2 Discs, Phantom of the Opera 2 Discs, LEmony Snicket discs and the Batman Begins Deluxe Edition (ok well i got that one for 15.99 off amazon) just to see all the background footage. i love watching all the reasons behind the movies and what they did to make the shot.s

it's disappointing to see a really great movie like hero have next to nothing about the making ofs.

i happen to produce and edit these things for a living. it never gets old exploring the process by which films are made. i love watching them, i love making them.

In many cases, like the Godfather docs/commentary, it's amazing how a movie that you would think went along so well and easy could have all these wild things happening and when you hear how much was going on during a few minutes of a scene the appreciation goes up, at least for me.

I enjoy "making ofs" but what I can't stand are reading lists about little mistakes in movies; watches in Braveheart, etc. Once I read those I can never look at the movie the same.

I devour every little scrap of info I can get my hands on. Particulary on any film helmed by David Fincher.

I love the making-of docs. However, they have to be high qualtiy--not some EPK fluff that too often passes for behind the scenes.
And I'll always watch the movie a couple times before watching the behind the scenes (except with King Kong; I watched all those diaries when they were still online). I agree that knowing how the film was made will take you out of the movie, but after seeing a movie a bunch of times I'm not really too taken in, but rather, am focusing on the technical elements like story structure and camerawork.

I too enjoy the good making of docs. i watched the kong diaries online and didn't feel like it ruined much of anything, i already knew the basic plot.
The trailer gave more away than all the production diaries combined. The diaries just showed what all goes into making a movie of this size, not the plot too much

Depend son the movie I guess for me.

Making of Dazed(Dazed and Confused) was awesome :) just thought i'd add my two cents.

Now we just got to wait for Dazed and Confused Criterion Collection to get it on dvd :)

I thought ruining the magic of the Matrix movies would be watching the Matrix movies. High Five.

Well...this would please Ray harryhausen no end as it reaffirms things he has said about not wanting to reveal how he "works his magic", but I couldn't disagree more.

I simply don't understand it myself. It just seems silly. It's like saying, "I don't want to know how a car functions because it would spoil the enjoyment of the drive I'm taking.

I have started avoiding such specials before seeing a movie. But only because, like bad trailers, they tend to give away parts of the story.

However, after seeing a movie, I still want to know how it's done and usually even more than before. And such things don't spoil repeat viewings. If anything, they enhance my enjoyment.

Well, as with you, I used to eat these up and watch them all the time. Now I don't watch them not because they spoil the movie, but because I'm simply not interested anymore. My attention span seems to have been rapidly decreasing this year.

I love them, but only watch them for movies I absolutely loved due to time constraints.

Just shelled out $30 for the King Kong Production Diaries, can't wait to get into them.

As an amatuer filmmaker, I love them. Anything to get insight into how they do certain things...

Plus, it pumps me up/inspires me sometimes. As do commentaries.

= J

I usually just do the commentaries...pretty much states everything that is to be found in a "making of" doc.

To some degree I don't like to watch them. Like for example, I remember a long time ago I saw something on TV about the Planet of the Apes remake and it showed (spoiler for all those who don't want this spoiled for them, even though I don't imagine too many fans of the movie are reading this)
Anyways, everytime I see this movie (probably twice now? haha) I look for the effect to see if I can spot it. So I can see where people are coming from when they don't want to watch those things.

However, I love to watch making ofs that don't all involve special effects. I like to listen to interviews and commentaries on why they chose one thing over another. Or how this special shot was made. Or what was their thinking behind choosing a certain actor, or camera lense, or composer.... of course most of those things are on commentary anyways. I love commentary. The more the better for me.

Good thread.

I avoid them at all costs for the same reasons (takes away from the viewing experience i.e. focusing on how the effects were done, remembering what was said in the special features about certain scenes and then only thinking about that topic when said scenes appear) I've never liked special features, they are just so boring to watch and usually, the same thing is repeated over, and over, and over again.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of people love the docs, special features, etc... and for good reason but I'm never going to be a filmmaker and I don't care about every little detail (well, sometimes I do) that goes into making a movie.

I also love when DVD's come in two versions - the loaded bulky box packed with stuff I'll never watch/read and the barebones movie only dvd that comes in the standard keepcase (thanks goes to the people who did this for Batman Begins).