The DVD has some nifty extras that you can’t find anywhere else, including seven extra scenes and eight killer gospel tunes.
But one extra you can experience without buy the DVD is the commentary. But this isn’t like many of those other commentaries where the director blithers on about how brilliant they are. No, this commentary is shooting the documentary.
This 50-minute commentary is a discussion between the director of A Life’s Work (me!) and the two principal cinematographers of the film as we watch selections from the film and discuss, reminisce, question, and laugh. Listen to Emmy Award winner Wolfgang Held and Peabody Award winner Andy Bowley share their knowledge about the art of cinematography with yours truly.
What are the first things a cinematographer notices when they arrive at a new location? How do they determine what details to shoot? Do they rely on a viewfinder or a monitor? What frustrates them? What inspires them? What do they become obsessed with and why? In this video you’ll find answers to these questions and heck of a lot more.
And there are recollections of funny moments, difficult moments, lucky moments and unlucky moments.
And though the focus is on the art of cinematography, a lot is revealed about the process of making the film and the reasoning behind decisions that affected the arc of the film.
NOTE: These interviews were conducted separately over ZOOM, so the audio quality is not the greatest. But everything is intelligible and you could always turn on the Closed Captions for an assist.