The devil is in loving the details...

(WARNING: Pathetic fan prattling ahead. Potential boredom ensuing.)

I love the DVD format. Not just for picture/sound quality, or any kind of deleted scenes (althought those are all groovy).

I love the DVD format for the director/cast/creative-directors' commentaries. I like the "making-of" documentaries. I love the how's of the filmmaking process. (Dozens of hours of Lord of the Rings making-of footage? Bring it on!)

This goes back to Dr. Hagen's Film Genre class. Each chapter discussed different aspects of filmmaking: mise-en-scene, cinematography, lighting, sound. I learned how movies (especially the best ones) aren't just actors reciting lines; everything is designed, carefully and purposefully. I know this is the same way in theatre, but in movies and TV, this design is much more apparent, because the director decides what the viewer focuses on, what they see, what they don't. They set the subconscious mood, based on something as simple as at what angle the camera is shooting.

So the DVD revolution has been a boon for me. If I have a film on VHS, I won't usually buy it on DVD unless I get commentaries and behind the scenes stuff. Simple film-quality improvement doesn't sell me.

So, grown out of this near-obsessive appreciation of the cinematic arts, I love reading reviews and analysis of television and film. The in-depth technical stuff, not just the "gee, i like this actor, he/she is so pretty" stuff. Yes, I know, I write those kind of reviews (have you been to Better than Critics yet?), but if I really went into detail, that stuff would go for pages, and no one (besides obsessives like myself) wants to read that.

And in my continuing search for good reviews, I've found one reviewer on Kryptonsite that makes me quite happy. She does a technical review and recap of my favorite television show, and does so not only by analyzing plot development, but looking at all of the unspoken techniques to communicate story.

I'm happy to find this.

That's it. Just wanted to put it on the record.