The Making of...

<p>On DVD editions of feature films, it is almost a matter of course: in addition to audio comments, an alternative ending, scenes shot and later omitted, a selection of funny slips of the tongue and various trailers, the so-called bonus material also includes a ‘Making of.’ The ‘Making of’ is usually a short documentary which takes a look behind the scenes during production, explains special effects, shows persons involved in the production process at their work – persons who will no longer be seen later, in the actual movie. Naturally, on the one hand this and other extra material merely serves the purpose of advertising the product. On the other hand – as pointed out, for example, by film theorist Volker Wortmann in his text DVD-Kultur und ‘Making of’ – the ‘Making of’ is also significant in as much as “here various discourses are superimposed, diametrically opposed perspectives are united, interests of producers, authors and recipients come together.” Wortmann argues that the additional material on DVDs provides various forms of access to the work on a wide range of different levels, and enhances the respective frame of reference with multiple layers of discourse. Voice-overs of the contributors mark diverging producer- and authorships and, according to Wortmann: “The same thing happens with the various versions, the alternative editings, beginnings and endings, i.e. aspects which provide insights into the film’s decision-making processes and revolve around the variability of an aesthetic decision – not in a comparative or judgmental sense, but in the sense of initiating a discussion about the film, a discussion which can only begin to unfold in the light of the various possible forms it could have taken.” In this context, the ‘Making of’ could thus be understood as an instrument for the creation of transparency with regard to aesthetic production processes and a means of discourse initiation and mediation. At least on this level, the supposedly individual authorship of the director is expanded to include the polyphonic voices of other contributors to the production, and the recipient is supported in his/her task as ‘expanded author’ with additional information…</p>