So, What's So Special About the Special Edition?
Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 1:08PM 
We have a lot of people asking what’s going to be in the Special Edition. Enough that we thought it was about time we write a post about it.
The Special Edition is indeed going to be special.
We have a ton of ideas with regards to what we’re going to include. Unfortunately though at this point, it’s just too early to state specifically what the S.E. will consist of. Our mindset right now is: Finish the film first and then work on making the S.E. outstanding. But this is what we can tell you...
Too Much Good Stuff
So far, we’ve collected over 200 hours of footage - much of it meaty, info-ladden story & design-filled interview content. However, the projected run time of the finished film is 80 minutes (not to short, but more importantly, not too long). As a result, we know (and we’re already seeing this) that there will be tons of interesting, intriguing and emotional content that won’t make the film - simply due to time constraints.
A lot this extra material is design/game-specific content that might be a little too esoteric, some of it is plot pieces that might not fit the pacing of the final film. A good example of something that we love, but would likely not go into the film is the Canabalt piece you’ve seen already. The Special Edition will be filled with little vignettes like this...
Multiple Movies Worth
Overall, we think we have enough quality material to cover not one, not two, but likely three films worth. You can already see this happening with our web content:
To date: We‘ve released 86 minutes of free web content
(remember our film is aiming to be 80 minutes long).
This means that between the web, the special edition and the film itself. There will be a mountain of IGTM-related content out there.
Fully Produced Extras
One important point that we need to make with regards to our S.E. content is that we plan to fully produced these bonus items. A lot of traditional bonus features are simply dumped to a film's DVD's special features. We'd like to treat all S.E. content as if it were its own stand alone film.
Other Material
We also want to include as much other relevant material we possibly can. A lot of this would be dependent on the approval/blessing of the film’s subjects. But we’d love to see content such as:
- Game Concept Drawings/Art
- Official Soundtrack
- Behind the scenes material
- Limited Edition Packaging
- We are also toying with the idea of a companion hard copy book of some sort.
Going To Be Worth it
Overall, the Special Edition will be our way to do everything we possibly want to do with this project. Our own personal way of closing the book creatively on this film, before we start the next. The material mentioned above, is the type of stuff we’re thinking for the Special Edition. Basically as much high quality material as we can possibly fit into 2 or 3 discs. But like I said earlier, all of this is yet-to-be-determined. Make the movie first; then the extra goodies.
But rest assured the mandate for the Special Edition is to make it rock and make it worth every penny of the donation (which really does help and goes straight into the current production).
Any follow up questions or ideas? We’d love to hear ‘em! Let us know via email or comments below...
-J
J + L
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We've started to announce various segments that will be included in the Special Edition of the film. Here are a few of the planned segments...
- Steph Thirion & Eliss
- Thatgamecompany (Flower, Flow, Journey)
- David Hellman & The Art of Braid
- Jason Rohrer (Passage, Sleep is Death, Under a Star Filled Sky)
There's a lot more to come, and we'll be posting additional material as the package develops :)
Reader Comments (65)
Is Special edition pre-order only thing? I would love to buy the special edition, but I don't know if I will have saved enough money to buy the special edition before its official release
Hi Brian,
No worries on the timeline. The special edition will always be around. Indie Game:The Movie is fully self financed by ourselves and the preorders are mainly a way for good hearted people to help us make the film happen. The special edition will be around after the film's launch.
Though, I wouldn't be surprised if the preorder people receive some nice surprises and extra love ... I wouldn't be surprised at all :)
Thanks for asking.
-James
Hello.
I just ordered a special edition, hope it won't get too troublesome to get it in France.
I'm very looking forward to seeing this movie. I've followed the project for a couple of months now and I congratulate you and the whole team for what is about to be something more than very interesting.
I was surprised to see that only dvds are available now, I would be willing to put some extra bucks (not too much though, I got a student wallet !) to honor the 5D hd with the blu ray format.
Good luck and cheers from France, I'm eager to lay my hands on the final thing !
hey I was just wondering when you were planning on putting this up on iTunes because i really want to see this and this is the most accessible way for me to watch it.
Hey JJ,
The movie will very likely be on iTunes (99.9999% sure).
But the special edition may not. We're going to look into the 'iTunes Extras' method of delivery and see if we can make it work that way. But as of right now, it's looking like special edition will be physical only.
But that could change.
Thanks for asking!
-James
Any update on the region encoding of the DVD? Also, delivery costs... What are they? European here.
Hey Kieran,
If we do the DVDs ourselves, we'll be doing region free. If we end up going through more traditional routes, we'll still be pushing for region-free, but it may not end up that way :(
There is a good possibility that we end up doing a hybrid approach, in which we'll see from our site and also offer through traditional channels. If we have full control over the DVDs we sell personally, we'll go region-free.
There may be a strange reason or a good unheard argument as to why we shouldn't go region-free. But, right now, it's looking region-free. Sorry I can't give you a 100% answer at the moment.
In terms of shipping, I believe it's $ 7.99 worldwide if ordered through the Paypal links.
Thanks for asking!
-James
The people who buy the SE are people who actually care about this, as is anyone who watches this film. With that being said, I think the special edition should come with as much footage as possible. If you have 3 discs... I am fine with that. And, art is nice, I love little art books. AAAND, I know this is totally stretching it and most of us already own them, but what about Steam codes for the games featured in the film. Above all else, I would really like a lot of footage!!!
Will the digital download of the theatrical version be included with the special edition? (That's one way to ensure people who order the SE can see it at the same time as the rest, would be a cool SE extra, and can operate as a "region-free" version of at least the main film)
Thanks for all the amazing work!
Hi Elliot,
Yes, definitely. all preorder people will be getting digital copies on day one :)
We wrote a bit about the preorder rollout here http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/news/2012/1/3/ive-pre-ordered-whats-next.html
But, I'm sure we'll be doing another update soon.
Thanks for asking!
James
Hello, I wonder if the extra content will be translated into other languages.
Thanks.
If I pre-order the special edition of the film, does that pre-order include a copy of the digital movie when it is released on June 12th?
If I preorder the Special Edition Bluray now, will I still get a code for the digital download?
hi the blu ray special edition are going to have subtitles on spanish?
Yes. The SE will definitely have Spanish (Latin) subtitles on the film itself. Unfortunately, there will not be subtitles available for the extra content... Too much content to transcribe :(
I'm Sorry, I'm not really good in english.
My question is: in blu ray special edition ( in the bonus/extra ) Is there a subtitles ? (french?)
Thank you.
Hi Karl,
Unfortunately the extra video content will not be subtitled. But of course, the main film will indeed have French subtitles.
As someone making his first documentary, on his own, I totally get what you two have done, the incredible work and sacrifice you've made to pull this off, and not just pull it off, but so elegantly, so beautifully shot and edited, and in such a way that you honour your subjects (and, by association, yourselves--you deserve it). I watched the film in bits, a half hour here, a half hour another day, because I wanted to savour it, and because I have it now for good, I keep going back over particular sections, favourite bits: I am using your film as an education. My series of short docs on public art (done first as an MA thesis, thankfully THAT'S over and I just went to my convocation ceremony last week) has about 10 percent of the production value you've put into Indie Game, if that. But that's okay. I'm not competing with you. I just hope that someday I can pop over to Winnipeg and buy you lunch and chat.
Hello I have a little question about the Special Edition Blu Ray and have subtitles on Spanish the movie as the Regular Version? thanks of your time to read this.
Hi Octavio,
The SE will definitely have Latin Spanish subs for the main film. However, the extra features will likely not be subtitled.
Thanks for the interest and for asking!
-James