Movies can morph on disc, reports Angus Kidman.

Published in AustralianIT, July 8 2003

MOST DVD remote controls include a button that allows you to switch viewing angles, but only dedicated DVD menu ferrets or (ahem) "adult" movie viewers are likely to have used it.

The ability to include extra material has been one of the most talked-about selling points of DVDs.

While early proponents talked up the possibility of elaborate extras such as alternative endings or multiple camera angles, in practice most extras fall into five categories: deleted scenes, foreign language soundtracks, making-of documentaries, audio commentaries and trailers.

The main reason for this restriction is simply cost. Producing extras is an expensive business, so their quality is often directly related to how many copies a DVD is expected to sell.

Trailers and foreign language soundtracks already have to be produced, and commentaries only require a couple of people to sit in a studio, so they're inexpensive options for cash-hungry studios.

Providing 15 different angles on the same scene would be rather more expensive. (Incidentally, most adult movies are routinely shot with two or three cameras, which is why the porn industry has been slightly quicker to offer multi-camera options.)

Similarly, while deleted scenes are already filmed, they may not be presentable without extra work. The DVD release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones included eight additional scenes, each requiring months of effects work to match the rest of the movie.

Payment for artist clearances also can be a major issue determining a DVD's profitability, especially if deleted scenes include cast members who didn't make the final cut. This is why, for instance, scenes featuring former Austin squeezes Liz Hurley and Heather Graham were excluded from the DVD version of Austin Powers in Goldmember, even though they had been filmed and the DVD offered more than 45 minutes of deleted scenes.

A carefully planned program of extras can provide a major sales boost. While the DVD release of the Eminem movie 8 Mile would undoubtedly have sold well anyway, the inclusion of a previously unavailable video clip for the song, Superman, was credited with helping it sell more than two million copies in the US on its first day of release.

Dedicated fans can also be persuaded to shell out more than once for a DVD copy of a movie. For instance, The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring was released twice within six months.

Both editions offered numerous documentary extras, but only the second included additional scenes, edited into the film to create a spectacle even more buttock-numbing than the original.

Some movie directors are now planning to use DVD releases to add extra material to the main film. In many cases, this is because material had to be excluded to achieve a particular rating.

US studios often put pressure on directors to modify films so they can receive either a PG-13 rating (which allows teenagers to attend movies unaccompanied by parents) or an R rating (movies rated NC-17, the highest level, are only available to adults, and can't be advertised in many publications).

That was the case with the recent sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, currently playing in cinemas and expected in DVD players before the end of the year.

"The film was too crazy. It was too sexual. It was too violent," director McG told a video trade publication recently. "I had to back off. Wait until you see the DVD."