the bitter films dvd f.a.q.


  • Where can I find all of Don's films in one place on DVD?
    • Bitter Films: Volume One is finally available! This DVD compiles all of Don's movies, from 1995-2005. For the first time ever, all the films underwent an intense restoration process in high definition, working directly from the original 16mm and 35mm camera negatives. It was a delicate, labor-intensive job, personally supervised by Don: the film restoration team at times logged literally thousands of dirt and scratch removal "brush strokes" on an individual frame of a film, and the end results are fantastic. Not since their premieres have the films looked so vibrant:
    before
    after

    Over a year in the making, the DVD has also been loaded with hours of exclusive special features: commentaries, deleted scenes, interviews, unseen early films, over 140 pages of archival material, and much more. The DVD was deemed "a work of art unto itself" by Aint it Cool News.

    HELPFUL DVD TIPS FOR BITTER FILMS V.1

    For any questions about the status of your online shop order or shipping, please contact the customer service team: merchandise@musictoday.com, or over the phone at 877-MUSIC77 [877-687-4277]. [9am - 12am Monday Thru Thursdays, 9am - 8pm Fridays EST]

    The DVD is very dense and there's quite a bit of exploring to do! Here's a few handy pointers:

    - To return straight to the select-a-film page from any individual film page, hit the left arrow key; this reveals a pop-up arrow that brings you back without having to exit through the main menu and sit through the transition video again.
    - The Bitter Films Archives are exhaustive! Remember that all of them are divided by chronological film chapter but are also all linked together, so you can go both backwards and forwards. For instance, to view the last few pages in the "Rejected" archive without going through them all in order, you could go to the head of the "Meaning of Life" archive and navigate backwards.
    - Don't worry, we didn't forget Don's special Animation Show cartoons - they're located in the special features area.


    - If you 1) notice any stuttering or out-of-synch sound in any of the menu's video transitions, or 2) notice that the navigation arrows in the archive pages are mis-aligned, your player is having minor trouble and we recommend trying the disc out in another one. These problems are extremely rare and most likely to occur in non-dedicated DVD players, like laptops.

  • Where else can I find your other films on DVD?

    • The films have been scattered over the years on a number of out-of-print videotape and DVD collections. These range from Festival of Animation tapes to short film compilations. With the exception of the impressive new animation DVD series from The Animation Show, all of these out of print collections have grown hard to find and are of very poor quality anyway: third party distributors often just transfered the films from very low quality video tape masters.

    Bitter Films Vol.1 is the only official anthology of the first ten years of Don's work, all in one place and properly remastered as nature intended.

    Rejected was first available as a DVD single, released by Bitter Films in 2001.

    Everything will be OK is now available as a DVD single, released by Bitter Films in 2007.

  • What's the story behind Rejected on this awful purple $30 Spike and Mike DVD?

    • Without our involvement, Spike and Mike rushed out a lame DVD collection that includes Rejected. We were not even aware that this DVD was in production, much less already out on store shelves. As a result, not only does their disc contain zero extras, but they seem to have simply used an old VHS screener tape of our film that was lying around their office as their source - it looks like the cartoon is underwater. As is too often the case, the DVD format in itself does not automatically equal quality. We're still not sure exactly what they were thinking and naturally cannot recommend this disc at all. Our DVDs remain the only places to find properly presented versions of our films, with all the special features.

  • I live in a country called ______-land. Are your DVDs compatible with my foreign player?

    • We always produce all-region DVDs, which means that unlike studio releases that will strictly only function within their specific markets (region 1, region 2, etc), it can play globally. They are standard NTSC format, so naturally please make sure your system is not limited to only PAL or SECAM, etc. We hope to one day be able to produce proper PAL versions, but it's not currently within our means to do so.


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