Share your Process
The Lost Art of Bonus Features
Every artist, filmmaker, and creator has their own unique process. One of the first places I learned that was in the bonus features on DVDs.
There was something special about clicking through a menu of Bonus Features after just watching a movie on DVD. The bonus feature menus were creatively designed, themed after the movie, and felt like a treasure trove for people of any age looking to better understand the process behind filmmaking. Sometimes there would even be entire discs dedicated to behind-the-scenes content, shot in the form of a documentary.
This behind-the-scenes content was a type of upsell for DVDs, I remember loads of DVD cases with “Bonus DVD” or “Exclusive Bonus Disc” written at the top. Sure, it was a way for studios to add more value to the disc you were purchasing so they could upsell you a more exclusive version. But because of that, they actually had to make this bonus content.
One of the main benefits was always the behind-the-scenes footage: long, in-depth breakdowns, director and art director interviews, concept art explorations. One of my favorite bits of bonus content ever is the creation of General Grievous (the leader of the droid army in Star Wars: Episode III).
In that feature, you see the art department churning out sketch after sketch, trying to land on a design the director will greenlight. Ideas flying everywhere. The head of the department compares it to a jazz ensemble, artists riffing, experimenting, tossing ideas around, showing rough concepts to George Lucas, tweaking, starting over, and pushing until they finally nail it.
I’m not a concept artist. I’m not aiming to art-direct a Star Wars film. So why did those five minutes of bonus footage leave such an impression? Because it introduced me to the idea of process. It showed me how creative teams actually work—how much collaboration, trial, and iteration it takes to make something great. How many brilliant ideas end up in the trash before you find the right one.
That stuck with me. It taught me that anything worth making, whether it’s your 9-5 job, a side project, or a freelance gig, is going to take time, revisions, and a willingness to keep refining. Watching others break down their process gave me a glimpse behind the curtain, and I’ve carried that with me ever since.
It’s no secret that the rise of streaming really shifted the film industry. Studios could no longer rely on DVD sales to make up the difference if a theater release underperformed. And with that shift away from physical media, Bonus Features quietly faded out too. Those long-form behind-the-scenes pieces started disappearing. Instead, BTS content felt like it got reduced to seven-minute promo videos on YouTube or a few quick snippets tagged onto the end of an episode. There was a shift: behind-the-scenes footage became more about driving attention to the streaming service than offering real added value to the viewer.
Maybe I’m biased— There’s still loads of great BTS content out there. I thoroughly enjoyed the end-of-episode breakdowns in House of the Dragon season two, where the making of each episode was showcased pretty well. But even so, I can’t help feeling like the focus on process has been somewhat sidelined. These days, you’ll often learn more about how something was made from third-party creators like Adam Savage who make breakdowns on their own channels. Their content is fantastic. But there’s something uniquely special about getting that inside look straight from the source.
Part of me might just be frustrated with having to subscribe to a new streaming service every time I want to watch something. Or maybe I just want to feel the nostalgia of clicking through the Treasure Planet bonus features. However, I’ve been thinking about how important it was for me to see inside an artist’s process. Those bonus features inspired and taught younger me what it actually means to make something. Getting to see the process and understanding struggle, failure, iteration, discovery, that was invaluable. And it all came neatly packaged on one Bonus Disc. That’s something I definitely miss. It’s unfortunate that studios don’t have much incentive to produce all that behind-the-scenes content anymore.
Sure, everyone has their trade secrets and things they’d rather keep close, but sharing what you’ve done, and letting others build on it is how innovation happens. Anyone trying to get into art starts at zero. Whether it’s film, design, writing, whatever—you learn by consuming, by watching others do it, and then trying it yourself.
One of the best parts of the internet today is that anyone can share their process. Some of the most professional, talented people in the world have YouTube channels where they give away knowledge for free. Whether you’re just starting your career or you’ve been doing the thing you love for 50 years, share your process with others—even those outside your field. You’d be surprised how something you've learned could be a complete paradigm shift for someone else.
When people gatekeep and don’t let others in on the magic, innovation gets stifled. Maybe you have a piece of creative advice that will inspire someone to start, or finish something they wouldn’t have otherwise. Each week when we work on these newsletters, we’re always surprised by the parts that resonate with people. A sentence or quote we may not think much about ends up being a process-altering insight for someone else.
So, we might not be getting new top-tier bonus features with cool animated menus anytime soon, but inspiration can come from anywhere, and it multiplies when you share it. Keep sharing what you’re making. Keep sharing how you got there. You never know who’s watching.
Keep creating and repeating,
- James
Every week, we use Sublime—the (not boring) knowledge tool that lets you save one thing, discover one hundred more—to find these inspiring links. So we partnered with them to share it with the Create.Repeat community.
It’s like Notion meets Tumblr. By far our favorite tool for mood-boarding and discovery.
Give it a try.
👨🍳 How to Finally Make Something: “Why do 99% of people struggle to get past the first mile in their creative projects? How could I join the 1% that actually make things?”
🇻🇳Viet GD: A casual index, archive, and celebration of Vietnamese graphic design. Currently, there are 274 objects in this collection.
🍊Typo/graphic Posters: A worldwide, colorful digital collection of posters from artists all over. You can even start your own collection.
✍️ Sketching: the Visual Thinking Power Tool: An essay from 2011 on using sketches as a creative medium and thinking tool.
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This week’s advice…
This week’s spotlight is on Cait Oppermann, a photographer and creative director at FLOWERS—a cross-disciplinary creative studio and full-service production company, with clients like Volvo and AG1.
We want to highlight Cait’s Substack, High Thought, where she shares a mix of notes, sketches, excitements, and thoughts on photography, art, life, and friends. Here’s one of her favorite pieces:
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Really love this push to share more of the process and making of the magic!
An issue I've had is I feel like there's a fine line to sharing the raw and messy process and creating "quality content" around the process.
Some artists do a nice job sharing the process in a way that unedited like just a video of them painting, while other's do a nice job of high-production and in-depth break downs of the process (like you mention with Star Wars).
Both reveal different types of insights, one is a lot more time and energy to produce than the other though.
Great read!
As someone who works in advertising the digital distribution of films, this is really insightful
I remember watching the bonus content on films like Fast & Furious or Shrek, it allows you to really tap into the universe further
There’s definitely a lot of reasons for why we don’t see it as much anymore, and one being physical has been and is still being replaced. But also it could be another topic of discussion like the creative freedom directors have, the strict timelines, the investment and like you say gatekeeping I suppose on secrets
Very interesting topic to dive into though, I might do just that! Process really is everything