Technical Specs

• HD DVD
• HD-30 Dual Layer Disc

Video Resolution/Codec

• 1080p/VC-1
• 1080p/MPEG-2 (Alternate Encode Version)
• 1080p/480i/VC-1 (Supplements Only)

Aspect Ratio(s)

• 1.78:1

Audio Formats

• English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Subtitles/Captions

• English Subtitles
• French Subtitles
• Spanish Subtitles
• German Subtitles
• Italian Subtitles
• Japanese Subtitles

Supplements

• None

Exclusive HD Content

• Picture-in-Picture Commentary
• Audio Commentaries
• Documentary
• Script-to-Screen
• High-Def/Standard-Def Comparison

Best Sellers and Deals

Elephants Dream (German Import) (HD DVD)

Imagion / 2006 / 11 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: October 14, 2006 (Germany)
List Price: $27.95

Reviewed by Peter M. Bracke
Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Editor's Note:

This is a review of the German release of 'Elephants Dream.' Note that this disc has not been released in the United States, however (if you're able to get a copy) this German import carries no region coding and will play in any HD DVD player worldwide.

The Movie Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Elephants Dream' is a most unusual HD DVD release. The first HD DVD to be released in Europe, it's taken on a somewhat cult status among HD DVD fanatics worldwide as a result of its format-specific supplements, which offer various split-screen effects demonstrating the differences between standard-def and HD DVD at various resolutions.

Also setting it apart from other HD DVD releases is the fact that it's only 11 minutes long -- and unlike other CG animated films, it was made entirely using "open source" software, meaning free stuff anyone can get via the internet.

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The story certainly is slight. Emo and Proog are two rather strange fellows taking a journey deep into the cogs of the giant Machine. It's a dark, twisted and complex world, but a fascinating one made of giant wires and gears and other fanciful mechanics. But a conflict soon arises between the two men -- one that completely up-ends all of their assumptions. Is the Machine real? Or just a figment of Proog's imagination?

Much buzz swirled around 'Elephants Dream' and its open source origins when it first hit the web last year as a free download. But while the film's backstory does somewhat relegate it to the novelty category, 'Elephants Dream' certainly proves that with a little ingenuity and a lot of commitment, you can create some marvelous sights on the cheap.

It took the design team behind the movie a reported six months to complete the project, and it often looks quite snazzy. The backgrounds, object detail and textures are excellent, with some images good enough to frame on the wall as art. The character animation, however, is a bit weaker. Emo and Proog look a bit clunky, and the rather poor voice work doesn't help. The story never really engages, either. To be fair, it's pretty hard to generate much emotion in 11 minutes (9 minutes not counting credits), but the plot borders on the incomprehensible. Even the filmmakers' comments in the included supplements would seem to indicate that they're as much in the dark about its narrative significance as we are.

Is 'Elephants Dream' a satisfying story that stands up to repeated viewings? Of that I'm not so sure, but it does work wonderfully as CG eye candy, and as a testament to the indie spirit.

The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

Designed as a showcase for the many wonders of HD DVD, 'Elephants Dream' is the only next-gen release I'm aware of that offers both VC-1 and MPEG-2 encodes of the same feature, and it's very cool to be able to stack the two codecs directly against each other for an apples-to-apples comparison.

The VC-1 version gets top billing, but quite frankly the MPEG-2 is just as good. Both present the film from the same master, in 1.78:1 widescreen, and the image is flawless. Depth and detail are top-notch, right from the opening scene of Emo and Proog navigating through the Machine's inner guts of silver wires and weird architecture. Texture is impeccable -- even the thinnest wire, way in the background is clearly defined and visible. Colors are also magnificent. Though the dominant hue is silver, there are fantastic splashes of deep primaries, including one moment early on, as a phone rings on a table over a bright red carpet, where the saturation and the purity of the colors is simply stunning. In terms of quality of the presentation -- 'Elephants Dream' on HD DVD really is phenomenal. As promised, this is easily five-star demo material.

The Audio: Rating the Sound

'Elephants Dream' comes with only two audio options, 5.1 surround (640kbps) and 2.0 stereo (448kbps), both in English Dolby Digital. (For non-English speakers, a host of foreign subtitle choices are also offered.)

Overall, the film's sound design is pretty basic and simplistic, but still effective. Strangely, the score is forced into the background, making dialogue and the sparse sound effects almost unnerving in their prominence, but this adds nicely to the '1984' feel of the film's story. Effects are chilly but atmospheric -- eerie wind noises and other mechanical sounds have a nice realism and clarity, aided by ample dynamic range. Low bass is tight but not overpowering. Dialogue is very distinct and well recorded. The soundfield generally creates a pleasing 360-degree effect that's certainly minimalist but still continuous. There isn't enough of a sustained bombast here to really impress, but this soundtrack certainly suits the material.

The Supplements: Digging Into the Good Stuff

Although this movie hasn't been released on any format here in U.S., it was previously released on standard-def DVD in Europe with several of the supplements included on this HD DVD. However, since all of these extras seem to have been remastered for this HD DVD presentation, you'll find them listed (along with several brand-new-to-the-HD DVD extras) in the High-Def Exclusives section below.

HD Bonus Content: Any Exclusive Goodies in There?

As mentioned above, 'Elephants Dream' has taken on a kind of cult status among HD DVD fans in the know, largely due to its surprisingly extensive assortment of extras, which -- added up -- are easily ten times as long as the short itself. It's quite an eclectic, insightful assortment, choosing to examine the short from some unusual angles.

First up are two featurettes. "The Making of 'Elephants Dream'" is exactly what the title suggests, although it's a bit too long at 28 minutes. We start with a visit to the Imagion studios, which may surprise some in that it's actually quite a snazzy place, despite being out in the middle of nowhere. (For some reason, I imagined that the first "open source" animated film would have been made in someone's garage.) The directing/producing team of Bassam Kurdali and Ton Roosendaal and the screenwriting/design team of Andreas Goralczyk, Jan Morgenstern, Mat Ebb and Toni Alatalo delve into all of the technical nitty-gritty, from what software was used to how the production surmounted the various challenges in attempting to make Pixar-level animation on virtually zero budget. We also get a look at the voice recording sessions. Unfortunately, none of this material will really dissuade anyone that 'Elephants Dream' is more of a technical achievement than it is a creative one, as the story always seems less interesting to the filmmakers than their tools.

"HD DVD Making-Of" runs 10 minutes, and is -- as far as I'm aware -- the first-ever documentary on the making of a next-gen release. From the design of the menus, to the encoding and the authoring, interviews with the disc's design team give us a snapshot of what it takes to create an HD DVD title. Unfortunately, the talking-head format doesn't really lend itself to this type of technical discussion, but hardcore early adopters should find it intriguing none the less. In any case, the quality of both of these featurettes is excellent, with each in very crisp 1080p/VC-1 video. (Note that "HD DVD Making-Of" can be viewed two ways: either in full-screen video, or as a picture-in-picture video commentary -- the content is the same.)

Even more technical (and the element of these supplements that has led to so much interest among HD DVD fanatics) is the High-Def to Standard-Def Comparison. Three views are offered of a series of excerpts from the film: a side-by-side split-screen between 1080p and 480p resolutions, plus "Doubling Nearest Pixel" and "Bi cubic Interpolation" scaling method comparisons. It's no wonder that this feature has become A-list demo material for owners of the disc, as the increased resolution of the 1080p encode is immediately obvious. Why this disc isn't running on every HDTV showroom across the U.S. I do not know.

Next up are four audio commentaries -- all with aforementioned members of the film's production team. Even though the short is only 11 minutes, this is a bit of overkill. Much of the same info from the featurettes is covered again, though at least the writers offer a bit more depth on the story, as much of one as there is. Still, only diehard fans are likely to be able to get through all four of these.

Finally, there a couple of pages of HD DVD Credits, plus a note on the disc's promised Online Features, which apparently are planned for 'Elephants Dream' by Imagion sometime in the future.

Easter Eggs

No easter eggs reported for 'Elephants Dream (German Import)' yet. Found an egg? Please use our tips form to let us know, and we'll credit you with the find.

Final Thoughts

'Elephants Dream' is a quirky, visually arresting short film. Granted, the story doesn't make much of an impact, but with a runtime of only 11 minutes, that's no surprise. The value of this HD DVD import release, then, really depends on how interested you are in great demo material and the attractiveness of the extras. It certainly looks fantastic, and having the opportunity to compare different encodes and different resolutions of the same material may prove too great an opportunity for early adopters to ignore. Given the high quality of this release, it's absolutely a solid deal for the money -- if you care to spend it.

Special thanks to Karl C. for loaning us this disc!

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