So, What's So Special About the Special Edition?

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 

Update on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 12:23AM by 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 :)

Comments

[Ouzo]

Hi,

I'm dying to get my hands on SE, is there any update on ETA?

And has the extra content been locked?

[Sean Gooding]

Hi James and Lisanne,

Just wondering if there is an ETA on the Special Edition yet. I e-mailed last year asking if it was going to be available for Christmas sales. I don't mean to be a pain in the butt, BUT, I am stoked to see the S.E. : )

[Rodrick]

I placed a purchase order for the "Special Edition" well over a year ago. I have since bought the downloadable version and now the movie is on f'ing Netflix. You can keep the DVD just provide info on how to get a refund for my order. I have sent two emails before this post. All you do is passify me by saying its almost ready. If you're going to screw people at least use lube.

[mr arno]

Hey! I've just upgraded to the steam's Indie Game: The movie Special Edition... And It seems that the new contents does not includes subtitles (french i.e)...

[koao]

No subtitle for the special edition or for commentary? :/