The days of waiting 9 months to a year for home releases are over, thankfully. Following up on the digital release last Friday, The Force Awakens hits Blu-ray and DVD today. The film was generally well-received (check out our members’ thoughts here) but there were many ideas on how to mix or improve the film. From nips (maybe one too many OT jokes), gashes (Rathtars) and rescores (PT or OT soundtracks), there was no shortage of ideas to play with the movie as fans. Check out the TFA fanedit ideas thread for many more interesting thoughts. One fan is already having fun with it (and doing some sweet editing and FX work) already:
Star Wars is a beloved franchise here—like most places on this planet and its parallel universe equivalents—but this release is even bigger than that. For those too young to remember a pre-Freddy Got Fingered time for films, Star Wars—particularly Episode I—inspired the birth of fanediting as we know it back in 2001.
From blu-ray.com, the bonus features include:
Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey (1080p, 1:09:14 total runtime): A four-part making-of feature covering the move to Disney, bring on J.J. Abrams, initial concepts, practical and digital effects, character development and creation, exploring the themes, that final scene and much more.
The Story Awakens: The Table Read (1080p, 4:01): Though its title suggests it may be the entire table read, this piece is unfortunately only a brief recap of the event with a few moments of the read interwoven between cast and crew interview snippets.
Crafting Creatures (1080p, 9:34): A closer look at constructing many of the practical creatures that appear in the film, including Chewbacca, and the human work that brings them to life.
Building BB-8 (1080p, 6:03): A look at character evolution and design, the droid’s place in the movie, crafting the practical models, and the different iterations that are utilized in different situations.
Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight (1080p, 7:02): An examination of making a climactic lightsaber duel, including set construction and physical preparations for the scene.
ILM: The Visual Magic of the Force (1080p, 7:55): A quick run-through of how digital effects support all of the movie’s practical visuals, with emphasis on some of the iconic spacecraft that appear in the movie.
John Williams: The Seventh Symphony (1080p, 6:51): A discussion of Williams’ iconic work and new material for this movie.
Deleted Scenes (1080p): Finn and the Villager (0:31), Jakku Message (0:47), X-Wings Prepare for Lightspeed (0:22), Kylo Searches The Falcon (0:50), Snow Speeder Chase (0:48), and Finn Will Be Fine (0:23).
Force for Change (1080p, 3:22): A look at the charity work born of the film.
Only a couple minutes of deleted scenes (in THIS release, let’s be real) for faneditors to work with but some decent extras for all fans nonetheless.