The ABCs Of DVDs
As the new millennium approaches, some might find it tempting to say goodbye to videotape and hello to digital versatile discs, better known as DVDs.
CBS News This Morning entertainment contributor Eleanor Mondale gives a quick lesson on DVDs.
It's projected that more than a million DVDs will be stuffed into Christmas stockings later this year. DVD players can now be bought for less than $200.
"By the end of the next decade, videotapes will have gone the way of vinyl record albums," says Stephen Sommers, who directed the blockbuster hit The Mummy.
Films released on DVD often contain bonus material not seen on the originals. And for anyone who has ever struggled with a VCR, DVD players are user-friendly.
"I'm technophobic," says Sommers. "I'm a writer and a director."
"When I go to weddings, people always hand me the camera and say, 'Can you do it? You're the director!' And I'm like, 'Where's the on button?'" says Sommers.
"I was even worried. I popped in my DVD and [said] 'all these options!' But it couldn't be easier," he adds.
Pressing the select button on the DVD player remote control, Sommers confidently demonstrates how to access the bonus materials from the DVD of The Mummy.
"We show more than any movie has ever shown. It shows how we constructed a three-dimensional walking, talking corpse," Sommers says.
"It shows how we got a bug under a man's skin," he adds.
Many DVDs also offer the option of a running commentary by the filmmakers.
The DVD's commentary for a scene from The Mummy describes how the dress the actress is wearing is actually just body paint; she's not wearing any clothing at all.
"Everybody cheered when this shot came on," recalls Sommers. "It's really fun to go back and look at the movie and just vamp on it," he says.
DVDs can also include related documentaries, of interest to movie buffs. A special DVD commemorating the 25th anniversary of The Way We Were, starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, will be released Nov. 8 with a documentary offering new insight into the making of this award-winning film.
In one scene from the film, Streisand cries on the phone, pleading with Redford to come over and see her through the night. Streisand explains how she did not prepare for it.
"Cause you read it and you cry," she says of the script.
The DVD includes never-before-seen footage and inside stories from director Sydney Pollack.
"There was something so appealing about her as a character and the intensity of feeling they had for each other. It really got to me," Pollack says on the documentary.
Pollack is one filmmaker who is hooked on the convenience of DVDs.
"First of all I can play them on my laptop. I can take them on airplanes now," he says. "I just came back from Australia, 1hours there and 15 hours back. I stick a set of earphones on and I watch three movies. Beautiful quality!"
The documentary explains that Streisand was not only instrumental in changing the tune of the film's title song, but she also changed the first word from "daydreams" to "memories."
DVDs provide instant access to any moment in films. And when it's over, there's no rewinding. While videos can fade or fall apart, DVDs don't get worn out after being played too many times.
With many movie DVDs, after a push of a button, films can be viewed another language, such as Spanish, French or Italian.
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