I love learning how movies are made — almost as much as I love watching movies themselves. Collector’s edition on DVD with special features often provide fans like me much more information about the film-making process than was ever made available on VHS or other medium. The Lord of the Rings on DVD contains an impressive amount of behind-the-scenes content. I finally finished watching all that content this week. The amount of effort put into these films truly amazes me!

Each of the three films contains four discs; the entire set, twelve discs.

• The first two discs contain an extended version of the film, which reintroduce many scenes cut for length, accompanied by four audio commentaries. I love listening to audio commentaries! They provide an experience similar to watching the film alongside the cast and crew, and I think they are a great way to learn about what it was like to be a part of its production.
• The second two discs contain documentaries with footage and interviews covering the entire production process: from writing the screenplay and concept sketches to composing the score and digital effects. I especially enjoyed all the different methods used for making the hobbits appear small.

I know many fans of the novel were unhappy with how Peter Jackson adapted the story to the screen. However, I think there’s no denying that these films, taken by themselves, are great films — and the special features on the DVDs have no doubt increased my appreciation for them.

(Be sure to check out my list of my favorite movies.)