Bay: DVD Could Be Better

Michael Bay admitted to USA Today that the record breaking Trnasformers DVD is "not as good as it could have been." The 8.3 million first week in sales seems to indicate many didn't mind though.

The article:

Most directors diplomatically go to bat for DVDs of their films. Filmmaker Michael Bay (Armageddon, Bad Boys, The Rock) is just as likely to drop verbal bombs while talking about his DVDs as when he is directing.
Bay's take on the new Transformers DVD, which has sold 8.3 million copies since its release last week: "It's a good DVD. But not as good as it could have been," he says. That sales total made Transformers the year's fastest-selling DVD in North America, according to Paramount Home Entertainment.

Despite setting a record, Bay, 42, says a hectic studio schedule prevented him from being as personally involved in the DVD as he was back in the days of Pearl Harbor. His 2002 four-disc director's cut of that film set the standard for buffed-up special editions.

"I was traveling promoting (Transformers) while they were doing the DVD," he says. "You try to guide people as to what to do (in making it), but ultimately if you rush your date, you are not going to get the DVD as good as it could be. … Studios want to pump this stuff out, and my job is to care about it and try to put the right people on it. They just see it as a show they are selling, and I see it as a movie. That's how your movie lives on, in the DVD format."

An aspect of the DVD that Bay says he personally fought for was having the film be on a disc by itself, with just a commentary. He won that battle in the $20 single-disc version that hit shelves last week along with a deluxe, two-disc $40 version.

Its nice for Bay to acknowledge that the DVD extra features where not up to the high standards he has established in the past. The Pearl Harbor set is a good example. I own it and some issues with the movie aside (fantastic potential but...) the extra features are nearly as good a benchmark as the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions documentaries.

As my review indicates, the second disc just wasn't as good as it could have been, being only a surface skim of how the movie was done. The potential was there but not realized. The special effects could have been its own section that could have been hours long. What about all the design work? Almost no pre-production information was shared. How about the practical effects? Except for the bus effect, little was covered. And those poor sound guys. They created Oscar worthy sounds but nary a mention in the extra features.

Anyway, admitting room for improvement will hopefully lead to the sequel set creating new benchmarks in special edition features.