Ways into the archive

Follow an idea across commentaries.

These guides group commentaries by filmmaking subject or film series. Compare decisions about acting, locations, effects, and editing, or read about the production of successive films.

Guides: 23
Craft guides: 16
Tracks: 52

Ideas across films

Craft guides

Pairs of commentaries about related filmmaking decisions. Compare approaches across films and periods.

Craft guide / 2 tracks

Adapting comic books and stage musicals

Matthew Vaughn explains balancing comedy, violence, and character in Kick-Ass. Tom Hooper describes live singing, close-ups, and adapting Victor Hugo's imagery for Les Misérables. Compare how the two directors use performance and physical settings to make their adaptations convincing.
1. 01 Kick-Ass (2010)
2. 02 Les Misérables (2012)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Depicting presidential power and the arms trade

Wolfgang Petersen explains the aircraft, sets, models, effects, and military advice used in Air Force One. Andrew Niccol describes locations and equipment used to depict international arms dealing in Lord of War. Compare how these production choices support each film's account of political power.
1. 01 Air Force One (1997)
2. 02 Lord of War (2005)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Condensing novels and expanding picture books

Ridley Scott describes condensing and reordering Hannibal's 600-page source novel. Ron Howard explains adding characters, history, locations, and action to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Both discuss what to retain from a book and what to invent for a feature film.
1. 01 Hannibal (2001)
2. 02 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Directing a first crime film

Christopher McQuarrie and Joe Kraemer discuss writing, collaboration, coverage problems, and the lessons of The Way of the Gun. Nick Pinkerton examines Michael Cimino's direction of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot within Clint Eastwood's production system. Compare how the two first-time feature directors worked within their budgets, schedules, and collaborations.
1. 01 The Way of the Gun (2000)
2. 02 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Telling stories through dance and music

Eleanor Bergstein explains how songs, repeated dance steps, and camera choices develop the characters in Dirty Dancing. Atom Egoyan and Mychael Danna describe planning image, score, source music, and silence together for Exotica. Compare how movement and music communicate relationships before dialogue or plot makes them explicit.
1. 01 Dirty Dancing (1987)
2. 02 Exotica (1994)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Creating a documentary style

The Amy team describes assembling archival images and recorded interviews into a documentary. The Marcel the Shell with Shoes On team explains using improvised audio, live action, and stop-motion animation to imitate documentary observation. Compare their choices about image quality, performance, and editing.
1. 01 Amy (2015)
2. 02 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Making creatures and spacecraft convincing

Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman discuss Silent Running's models, drone performers, and aircraft-carrier locations. Joe Lynch, Chuck Russell, Mark Irwin, and Tony Gardner explain The Blob's storyboards, creature materials, lighting, and compositing. Both tracks connect effects techniques to performance and physical movement.
1. 01 Silent Running (1972)
2. 02 The Blob (1988)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Changing comedy during filming and editing

Jeff Schaffer, David Mandel, and Alec Berg discuss location work, coverage, editing, and audience responses that changed EuroTrip. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. discuss and demonstrate improvisation in Tropic Thunder. Compare how planned scenes change through actors' contributions and the edit.
1. 01 EuroTrip (2004)
2. 02 Tropic Thunder (2008)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Combining practical and digital creature effects

Alien³'s cast and crew describe suits, miniatures, rod puppets, optical compositing, and early digital work. Colin and Greg Strause and John Davis discuss practical creatures and digital additions in Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem. Compare the available techniques and production constraints in the two periods.
1. 01 Alien³ (1992)
2. 02 Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (2007)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Using locations to create suspense

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Enrique López Lavigne describe camera movement and London locations in 28 Weeks Later. Fede Álvarez, Rodo Sayagues, and Stephen Lang explain establishing the house's layout before restricting visibility in Don't Breathe. Compare suspense created across a city with suspense inside one building.
1. 01 28 Weeks Later (2007)
2. 02 Don't Breathe (2016)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Using city locations to create suspense

Nathaniel Thompson and Steve Mitchell discuss subway locations, transit details, and New York street geography in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. William Friedkin explains Los Angeles locations, mechanical stunts, sound, and editing in To Live and Die in L.A. Both tracks describe how real locations affect the action.
1. 01 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
2. 02 To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Changes in Bond's action and humor

The edited Diamonds Are Forever production history and Roger Moore's A View to a Kill commentary discuss villains, humor, locations, and stunt specialists. Compare how contributors describe Bond's action and violence across the two films.
1. 01 Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
2. 02 A View to a Kill (1985)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Controlling information in ensemble mysteries

Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie discuss misdirection in The Usual Suspects. The L.A. Confidential cast and crew explain organizing its three leads and withholding information. Both tracks examine how casting, performance, sound, and editing help audiences follow a complicated story without revealing its outcome.
1. 01 The Usual Suspects (1995)
2. 02 L.A. Confidential (1997)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Avoiding excessive sentiment

Barry Levinson discusses music, performance, and the ending of Rain Man. Robert Zemeckis and his collaborators describe maintaining Forrest Gump's tone. Compare their decisions about point of view, pacing, and how directly to express the characters' feelings.
1. 01 Rain Man (1988)
2. 02 Forrest Gump (1994)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Directing large action sequences

Mel Gibson discusses battles, extras, stunts, and photography in Braveheart. Ang Lee and James Schamus describe choreography, locations, and the lengthy shoot for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Compare how they organize large action sequences around the characters' decisions and relationships.
1. 01 Braveheart (1995)
2. 02 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
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Craft guide / 2 tracks

Researching historical settings

Edward Berger discusses the photography, sound, uniforms, and physical conditions of All Quiet on the Western Front. Robert Eggers explains the research and practical coordination behind The Northman. Compare how historical evidence informs sets, costumes, performances, and action in the two films.
1. 01 All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
2. 02 The Northman (2022)
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Production histories

Film-series guides

Commentaries on film series and recurring collaborations, presented in a suggested reading order.