Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, as absurd a title this may be, misnomers are a trademark of Joss Whedon projects. If you think you can judge a book by its cover, you haven’t entered into the critically acclaimed world of TV series called Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, josswhedonclose-up.jpgFirefly, or followed the pathway to comics that are dubbed “Whedonesque.” Creator of all three shows, Whedon recently unveiled his newest project, a 43-minute, Three Act musical film funded by Whedon, put directly online free of charge for a week in June, then shipped to iTunes for the low-low price of $1.99 to download it. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog crashed the server the first day it was up, receiving 1000 hits per second, the musical was crowned #15 of Time magazines’ Top 50 Inventions of 2008, and Joss Whedon was recently named one of the most influential people in entertainment by A ‘n’ E Vibe.

Joss Whedon directed Dr. Horrible, but the team of filmmakers for the musical included his talented brothers Jed and Zack, and Jed’s fiancée Maurissa Tancharoen. Although Whedon’s projects can be considered genre-specific, or unconventional entertainment, his growing and dedicated fanbase are generating enough buzz online to dowse his projects with mass appeal. Not to mention, Dr. Horrible is currently the third most popular DVD seller on Amazon. Obviously, he’s pleasing the most important cog in the entertainment empire – the fans.

So when the DVD was released for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on December 19th in the US and December 30th in Canada, the disc had to include more than just the freebie that everyone had seen online. Basically, the project required a gift with purchase, and so it is jam-packed with special features that were directed, produced and coordinated by Ethan Shaftel.

ethanshaftel.jpgdr_horrible_7.jpgLast year, A ‘n’ E Vibe caught up with Shaftel to speak with him about his film Suspension and enjoyed reconnecting with him over the Dr. Horrible Special Features. Shaftel explain s "The DVD is such a rich counterpart to the movie. The running time of the special features is actually longer than the movie itself. Everyone buying the DVD has most likely seen Dr. Horrible already, the special features had to be full of information and exciting.” The film is on the DVD (duh!) and scene selections, languages and special features. Two commentaries are on the DVD, which include a musical commentary (hilarity ensues when the cast and writers get together to sing their way through the commentary!), and a filmmaker’s commentary. Then three “The Making Of Dr. Horrible Featurettes”; “The Movie,” “The Music,” and “What Just Happened?.” A collection of E.L.E (Evil League of Evil) Application Videos submitted by fans are on the special features and the teaser trailer. The DVD contains three elaborately hidden easter eggs.

Shaftel joined the project after Jed Whedon, who composed/orchestrated the soundtrack to Suspension, contacted him. Shaftel was a game designer at one point and applied that perspective towards the easter eggs. Shaftel points out that the Whedon fans are an enthusiastic and internet-savvy online community “They are great communicators,” Shaftel says, “and so they needed a more challenging easter egg hunt, as anything too easy would have been found immediately.”

dr_horrible_1.jpgShaftel has been eagerly scanning the online communities related to Dr. Horrible to see if anyone has cracked his easter eggs hunt yet. He tells me “actually, the easter eggs have been found, but people have got to them not the way I intended, they discovered the even more complex routes! I still don’t think anyone on the forums has figured out the connection to the countdown screen yet.” Nothing is so sure as the online community will ponder the subject matter long enough to unlock the answers.

dr_horrible_2.jpgThe E.L.E Applications were a prime example of the fans being a part of this project, as the fans could submit a video application of why they should be a part of the Evil League of Evil. “Between 600-700 entries were submitted and we showed the top ten on the DVD” Shaftel tells me. The applications are superb as the fans were insanely creative. Videos from England, Israel, the US and Canada are featured, with such villains as “Lord Stabbington,” “Miss Broadway Dork,” “Mr. Terrible,” and “Princess Zombie.”

dr_horrible_4.jpgAccording to Shaftel, the best features are the ones that will not receive a lot of discussion time on the online forums. “The filmmakers were very specific in wanting as many languages as possible to be available in subtitles, so we have English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. Had we the time, we would have included more.” Also Shaftel points out “The DVD is region-free. Anyone, anywhere, can view this DVD.” Considering the filmmakers wanted the online version of Dr. Horrible to be free for the first week, and without an overly drawn-out promotion, plus the region-free DVD and multiple languages for subtitles, demonstrates the idea of egalitarianism that Whedon is known for.

Motivated by the blending of his gaming perspective towards easter eggs, and bridging a highly marketable commodity, Shaftel says he enjoyed the experience so much, he is fleshing out ideas for a group social game experience online, and would love to create more elaborate easter egg hunts on DVDs in the future.

As for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, it marks a turning point in filmmaking and online marketing of films. The filmmakers ignored the norms for film promotion and took a big gamble that the fans would be quick to believe in the project. With Amazon sales skyrocketing for the DVD, being number #1 on iTunes for five weeks, and all the acclaim and kudos from critics and fans, it would appear they made a safe bet.