In the age of streaming, dedicated “special features” are hard to come by. Sometimes you have to wait for a rare home release, sometimes they’re made online-only, sometimes what’d be a bonus documentary just drops on the appropriate streamer. But apparently, to change that, all that’s needed is a desire to push your product at the height of awards season.
That’s what Netflix is doing — rather deservingly, we’d say — for The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which not only actually got that rare home release last month, but has formed a major part of the streamer’s For Your Consideration push. To promote both the home release and the animated movie’s award chances Netflix has done things like let Katie Mitchell host fictional twitter Q&As and posted the film school hopeful’s own movie recommendations, and even released the script of the movie. But now on its own awards site, Netflix has dropped a complete digital edition of Abrams Books’ The Art of The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
First published last year, Ramin Zahed’s guide behind-the-scenes on the creation of Mike Rianda’s adventure/roboapocalypse/family bonding animated movie is packed for of glorious art from concepting the film, covering character design, major setpieces, and even the production and art team’s approach to “Katie-Vision,” the 2D/3D technique Mitchells used to highlight Katie’s own unique visual perspective on the world around her and her potential film projects. As well as tons of interviews from the team behind the film, the digital release of the book means that now all the wondrous art within is available online freely for the first time, too. Who knows what kind of impact this’ll have on The Mitchells vs. The Machine’s award chances this season, but we’re not going to say no to public access behind-the-scenes on one of the best animated movies of the last few years.
You can read the full Mitchells vs. The Machines artbook here.