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DVDs Were the Ideal Marketing Tool for Filmmakers
This article refers to the Criterion DVD of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) to explore and explain the merits of marketing a movie through the various features available in DVDs.
a) Marketability extends to beyond just the director — it could potentially apply to the actors, technicians, and academics that were significantly involved in the production of the film too.
For instance, in one of the features titled “Hitchcock on Rebecca, excerpts from his conversations with François Truffaut”, Hitchcock engages with another filmmaker, Truffaut, to explain elements within his films. This makes the feature seem more personal, because Hitchcock comments on his intentions for certain stylistic elements as well as casting decisions that individualize him as an auteur rather than as just one of several directors.
Additionally, the feature “Phone Interviews with Stars Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson from 1986” helps viewers understand the perspectives of those not only behind the cameras but in front of them, and lends artistic value to the actors who receive the opportunity to explain their craft. This also contributes significantly to their “celebritization”.
b) Credibility through expertise was an excellent way to add seriousness or intellectualism to the entertainment aspects of film distribution.
There is a specific instance in this DVD where the world of the auteur combines with the world of the performer, wherein Hitchcock recounts an anecdote regarding Joan Fontaine. Fontaine, who stars as Mrs. De Winter, was unable to form any tears after several scenes that involved her crying, after which Hitchcock stepped in personally to guide her through this. This is done through a feature called “Commentary by Film Scholar Leonard J. Leff, author of Hitchcock and Selznick”. Here, not only does the DVD comment on Hitchcock’s directing style, it also exhibits his process and interaction with his actors and what he expects from them.
If interviews with the stars provide a semblance of glamorousness and talks with the director depict the creative side of film production, then commentaries with scholars perhaps intellectualize this process, making the features of this DVD more versatile and multifaceted. The combination of an…
