extras on the dvd

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• Extras on the spirited away DVD
  
  SPIRITED AWAY is an animated wonder that tells the story of a little girl named Chihiro, who gets swept away into a strange and fascinating spirit world with her parents. Once there, her parents are put under a spell and our little heroine must do whatever’s necessary to free them and return back to the human world.

on the actual menu of the dvd you recieve the choice of simply watching the film from the beginning in a linear fashion, or you can skip straight to any scene in the movie so you can watch in a non-linear fashion. this is so much more convenient instead of racing all the way through the movie again to find the place you left off!!

A special two-disc set. Disc 1 features Spirited Away Introduction by John Lasseter, in which the famed Pixar studios giant and executive producer of this film sets the movie up nicely by sharing with the viewer his love of the film and his total admiration of director Miyazaki. Another extra entitled The Art of Spirited Away is a 15-minute interview and behind-the-scenes filled journey by which the producer, director, voice talents and many others who were involved with the film share their thoughts about subjects ranging from the other brilliant works of Miyazaki to the effort it takes to translate an animated film into another language. A few sneak peeks of animated films (including a couple of the director's earlier films) are also thrown in with the rest of the extras on this first disc. This gives a taste of other films you may enjoy, and so is not only promoting the other films but also helping the viewer to see the options that are available to them.

Disc 2 includes The Nippon Television Special-The Making of the Film. This is a forty-minute Japanese special that delves deep inside the life and times of director Hayao Miyazaki. I appreciated this film all the more after witnessing first hand the hard work and dedication that the man puts into his films. You truly get a sense of who Miyazaki is; this special shows him at home, playing with his dog, cooking and being totally involved in almost every single aspect of SPIRITED AWAY. Then there is the Select Storyboard-To-Scene Comparison, which is pretty self-explanatory. It's basically the first ten minutes of the film presented in sequence on storyboards with the option of the English or Japanese languages playing along. I am an artist through and through and i can fully apreciate these types of features because fans or people who aspire to be film makers or animators (like me) get an insight into the fascinating details and effort put into these storyboards. Next up was a five minute ditty called Behind the Microphone which takes you into the studio to witness the fun, the trials and the tribulations of the voice-over actors doing their thing. Finally there are the original Japanese trailers (tons of them, actually) of SPIRITED AWAY. This Giving insight the audience is a great way to promote the film, but it is also beneficial to the viewer because they can get enjoyment from watching how the magic comes to life!

There is an option for English subtitles on all these features, this allows English people to view their favourite movies without confusion, it is shrinking the world and overcoming language barriers.

• interactivity-getting into the actual film through the features
• non-linear viewing.
• promoting other miyazaki films