Liquidtheater.Com

Letter to Disney

written by Mike Shea on 4 April 2000

Here is a letter I recently sent to Disney regarding the Sixth Sense DVD. Please let the studios know that DVD is not a forced medium, it is an interactive one and should be treated as such.

I just wanted to applaud you on your efforts with the DVD version of The Sixth Sense but I had a couple of suggestions. First of all, your attention to the details of the disc including directors commentary, deleted scenes and 16x9 enhanced picture were the reason I purchased a movie that I would have otherwise just rented. Please keep up this high quality product and I will continue to be a customer for life. One problem though, the idea of forcing previews at the beginning of the film was not a good one. DVD is a much more interactive medium that does not lend itself well to the VHS habit of putting previews at the beginning. A much better idea is to move the previews to the special features so that the user may watch it at his or her leisure. The fact that you don't allow someone to skip the previews by hitting the menu button is also very dangerous. Had I not been able to skip them with the track skip button, the disc would have been unwatchable. While I very much like the idea of having a library of previews available, I certainly shouldn't be forced to watch them. In this day in age of coke and Nintendo ads at the theater before a feature, I can only hope that you see the difference in these mediums and choose to give more freedom to your customer instead of your advertisement branch. Aside from this issue, you have an excellent product. Keep up the good work!