Welcome to Wonderland (2006) |
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Welcome to Wonderland (2006) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Documentary |
Menu Animation & Audio CD-Soundtrack (78:32) Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Composers (3) Music Video-Dance Montages (8) Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Special Effects (3) Interviews-Cast-DJs (3) Trailer |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2006 | ||
| Running Time | 63:00 (Case: 65) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | James Short |
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Studio
Distributor |
Short Documentaries | Starring |
Garth Stewie SJ Tristan Krusty Margaret |
| Case | Amaray-Opaque-Dual | ||
| RPI | $26.95 | Music |
Brett Aplin Sugar Benjamin Last |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes | ||
"The needle on the record is where heaven and earth meet".
Welcome To Wonderland is an independently made documentary six years in the making. It explores and attempts to demystify the Australian outdoor dance culture through the bush parties of Victoria that draw crowds of thousands, all told from the point of view of DJs, dancers, event organisers, roadies and ordinary punters.
The documentary explores the effort that goes into setting up the venue, finding a bush clearing, setting up the PA, lighting and other paraphernalia. The film makers interview local and foreign DJs such as DJ Spooky, all of whom have a genuine love for their music and are happy to talk about what makes the gatherings so special and specifically, how they differ from city clubs and noisy warehouse trance parties. Many of the interviewees have amusing anecdotes to share, and we also get a glimpse at the bush communities who, despite expecting legions of drugged-out hippies, actually find the brief invasion of their town is good for business.
Welcome To Wonderland touches a little on what skills the DJ-ing art actually involves, as well as the obligatory sex and drugs, in fact some participants admit to using pills to enhance the experience. Some DJs even go as far as to describe how they actually that feel they can manipulate the crowd, describing dance floor as a living entity.
As far as documentaries go, Welcome To Wonderland is generally well made, with some very nice, subtle touches of CG animation in a few scenes that give it a slightly surreal quality. My only criticism is that as a documentary it becomes quite repetitive viewing at times, hearing the same stories of the music being 'life changing', becoming 'one with nature', I'm 'being who I am' it's my 'alternative lifestyle'- it all quickly becomes a drone of one verbal cliché after another, certainly not enough to sustain an hour of viewing. On the other hand, the film does successfully reveal an aspect of Australian culture that I was until recently unaware of.
If you're a fan of electronica, Australian dance music and/or culture, then Welcome To Wonderland is compulsory viewing. For further information, check out the official website; www.welcometowonderland.com.
It's difficult to critique the quality of what is obviously an independent production, made on a minimal budget with a great deal of blood, sweat and tears. It's realistic to assume that the video quality isn't going to be on a par with a Hollywood blockbuster DVD, however, with the quality of home video DV equipment improving in leaps and bounds, I'm sad to say that I was expecting better.
The video transfer sways among a number of aspect ratios throughout, sitting roughly at 1.66:1 for the majority of the feature. I suspect, judging by the extra features, this has been cropped from a full frame video master. The image is not 16x9 enhanced.
I initially viewed the feature via projection onto a 96 inch screen, and I soon realised the experience would be much more pleasurable on a smaller display. Big screen viewing only exaggerates the limitations of the cameras that have been used, highlighting digital grain and resolution issues, particularly in darker scenes. An example of extreme grain can be seen at 47:28. A shot of the forest canopy at 3:53 displays some nasty jagged edges. Black levels and shadow detail hold up well, considering the source equipment.
Colours are slightly washed out, which is to be expected. MPEG compression issues aren't a big problem.
There are no subtitle streams included.
The disc is DVD9 formatted, however there is no layer break present during the feature. The main feature is split into ten chapters.
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There are two soundtracks to choose from. The default soundtrack is Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s). A stereo option is also available, encoded at 192Kb/s.
The interview dialogue is comprised of location audio, and is generally audible, but can be a little distorted on occasion. Audio sync is spot-on.
The front channels do the bulk of the work, with the surround channels carrying some mild spill of atmospherics and score. I noted some dedicated usage in the rear left channel at 45:55, emphasizing the crowd noise.
The documentary's theme is credited to Brett Aplin, along with the majority of the other original pieces. Some grooves by the Bollywood Brass Band caught my attention in particular.
The subwoofer accentuates the thudding beat of the dance music in the soundtrack very effectively.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
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| Surround Channel Use | |
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| Overall | |
This is a great range of extra features, sure to please anyone with an interest in the film. All are presented with stereo audio.
These featurettes cover three of the contributing artists and how they create their music, referenced by excerpts from the feature. A number of audio-only tracks are included for each composer.
These are a series of clips with a vibe similar to the feature documentary. There is no play all function, which would've been handy here.
3D designers and animators discuss their contributions to some of the film's more surreal moments.
Three of the featured foreign DJs are given the spotlight, discussing their motivations, inspirations and careers.
A short promo piece for the documentary feature.
Almost eighty minutes of music from the film, in eighteen tracks. That's value!
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The transfer is good, considering the nature of the production.
The extras are worthwhile viewing and pertinent to the feature.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Denon DVD-3910, using HDMI output |
| Display | Sanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector, Screen Technics Cinemasnap 96" (16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Denon AVR-3806 (7.1 Channels) |
| Speakers | Orpheus Aurora III floor-standing Mains and Surrounds. Orpheus Centaurus .5 Front Center. Mirage 10 inch powered sub. |