Jezz Vernon of Metrodome Interviewed

In the last few years, the film and DVD distribution company known as Metrodome has been making a name for themselves by releasing the entire original series of The Transformers on DVD for the UK market. More recently Metrodome released a special “reconstructed” version of the original 1986 release of Transformers: The movie, as well as the Japanese HeadMasters series on DVD.
Metrodome has been one of the few companies dealing with the Transformers brand, that has been open with the fans and Transformers related sites. All the updates on their Transformers titles can be found on their Transformers dedicated website www.transformersdvd.com where you can sign up for their news letter or join in with the discussions on their forum.

One of the people working closely on the Metrodome Transformers titles is Jezz Vernon, who has been gracious enough to grant SEIBERTRON.com the following interview.

In the last few years, the film and DVD distribution company known as Metrodome has been making a name for themselves by releasing the entire original series of The Transformers on DVD for the UK market. More recently Metrodome released a special “reconstructed” version of the original 1986 release of Transformers: The movie, as well as the Japanese HeadMasters series on DVD.
Metrodome has been one of the few companies dealing with the Transformers brand, that has been open with the fans and Transformers related sites. All the updates on their Transformers titles can be found on their Transformers dedicated website www.transformersdvd.com where you can sign up for their news letter or join in with the discussions on their forum.

One of the people working closely on the Metrodome Transformers titles is Jezz Vernon, who has been gracious enough to grant SEIBERTRON.com the following interview.

Raymond T.: Please, tell us a bit about yourself?

Jezz Vernon: I’ve worked at Metrodome for about 4 months. I originally went to film school and then have gradually moved into film and DVD distribution on the marketing side. I live in South London with my wife and my dog.

Raymond T.: Can you tell us a little bit more about Metrodome Group?

Jezz Vernon: Metrodome is an independent film and DVD distributor. We buy the rights to a variety of products and then market them for UK release in cinemas, high street retail and sometimes TV. We’re owned by TV Loonland which is a German animation company – they originally bought the Sunbow catalogue a few years back which includes titles like Transformers, GI Joe and My Little Pony amongst others. Metrodome has released films in the UK like Donnie Darko, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Monster and The Corporation.

Raymond T.: What is it that you do for Metrodome?

Jezz Vernon: I’m a DVD product manager, which means that I look after all aspects of packaging, production and marketing DVDs that I’m assigned to work on. I also keep a lookout for interesting products that I think could work in the UK market. But my main remit is to look after the Transformers brand at Metrodome.

Raymond T.: How did you get the job of product manager for the Transformers products?

Jezz Vernon: I worked my way through marketing in a publishing environment and then moved into marketing film and DVDs. I worked at a much smaller distributor before joining Metrodome as a product manager.

Raymond T.: Were you a big Transformers fan going into this job?

Jezz Vernon: I remembered Transformers from its airing on UK tv in the eighties and enjoyed it then, but I hadn’t seen it in a while before I joined Metrodome. Obviously I’ve got back into it in a big way in the last four months, but I was hired more for my ability to market film and DVD than my specific product knowledge.

Raymond T.: Has your perception of the Transformers world changed since getting this job?

Jezz Vernon: Well for anyone involved in Transformers it’s an exciting time, with the Dreamworks movie shaping up for what I’m sure will be a franchise, the animated brand is going to reach a whole new audience and really pull back in the audience that saw it in the eighties. It’s interesting how much its embedded in contemporary culture, with things like the Citroen TV ad which gave a glimpse of how CGI technology can service the concept now, and I even saw a few brief seconds of a Transformer in Pharrell William’s latest video. There’s a real cache emerging again around the concept.

Raymond T.: What about for you personally?

Jezz Vernon: For myself I was surprised at how active the fanbase was, how much dialogue there is and just how big a worldwide phenomenon it still is.

Raymond T.: What has been one of the biggest challenges in putting the Transformers DVDs on the market?

Jezz Vernon: Well there’s obvious challenges like managing elements on a release that can stretch up to 13 hours, it’s a true task trying to iron out flaws and physically get the release to the shop shelf. But the more interesting task is really communication with the fanbase, who are essential to guiding us in what we do. To be honest most of the excellent work was done by my predecessor at Metrodome and I’ve tried to take the torch and carry it in on. I’m also greatly helped by my boss Ken Law who’s extremely knowledgeable about the brand and oversees the DVD department.

Raymond T.: You said earlier that Metrodome is owned by TV Loonland and that they now hold the rights to Transformers, which previously was held by Sunbow. How much control has Metrodome been given by them?

Jezz Vernon: We really have total control on how we manage the releases, but all materials come from the Loonland archives so we don’t have any choice on what’s available – we do have to accept elements as they are, on occasion we can do something special like re-master from a theatrical negative – but only if we have access to that.
Loonland have been very good at orchestrating worldwide rights for the brand and maximising that side. But more and more what we do is investigative work around the world – to see what else is out there that can be added to our releases, making sure that we’re not complacent.

Raymond T.: What has the general response been so far for releasing the Transformers titles?

Jezz Vernon: It’s been excellent – really good. It’s fair to say that it’s exceeded what we expected – but in many ways the landscape will change totally in the next two years – the movie is an unbelievably huge event for any rights holder. Until now we’ve been marketing to a pretty defined older fanbase – you guys! But the new market are likely to be young teens who are discovering it for the first time.

Raymond T.: How much is fan support taken into consideration for releasing these titles?

Jezz Vernon: It’s really essential. An astonishing number of general DVD releases have errors or omissions but more often than not the prior knowledge isn’t there in the consumer so they go un-noticed. With the incredible history that exists around the Transformers brand, it’s key that on each release we try and get everything right and treat it respectfully.
We encourage dialogue and feedback with the fanbase and we try and be responsive. No we don’t always get everything right – but perfection is an elusive concept. We ask that you see the good intent and the concerted effort behind what we do.
We’re also learning from mistakes and are working more closely with advisers amongst you. So on the next series in the Takara Collection, the entire run will actually be watched for quality and mistakes by a Transformers expert, as well as undergoing a technical check by us.

Raymond T.: Do you look at other Transformers DVD titles from other companies around the world? If so, how does it effect the work you do on Transformers?

Jezz Vernon: To be honest – I think we’re doing pretty well in the UK, we’re ahead of most other territories in what we release and braver too. The sheer investment it takes to bring something like Headmasters to market is frightening, we have to sell a lot of units before we break even, and as we are a profit and loss business like any other, we have to argue our case to proceed.
But some great work has been done by many other territories, we’re eager to see what Sony have in store in the US since their acquisition of the rights earlier this year. We’ll certainly help any other territories that we can to release region specific versions of our titles – but it’s their decision.

Raymond T.: Metrodome recently released Transformers: The Movie - Reconstructed. How did that come about?

Jezz Vernon: We felt that the new look picture would be a really interesting addition to fan’s collection and that there would be a curiosity and gratification in seeing the movie with additional picture and improved audio. The image quality was also an undeniable improvement we felt on previous versions – but we wanted to give it a bit more kick, a bit extra, hence the revealing of a wider image area.

Raymond T.: What kind of work went into making this version and why is it so special?

Jezz Vernon: For the reconstructed edition of the movie, we wanted to look at all aspects of the production quality. Initially the film had been released in cinemas in 1986 with the original image cropped top and bottom to create a widescreen format.
Previous DVD and VHS editions of the movie had either been 4:3 pan and scan or had carried the cropped widescreen. For our new telecine we wanted to show the entire image the animators meant you to see. 35mm film has a native aspect ratio of 1.33:1.The 35mm negative had been shot by several different animators using various size gates, therefore the framing is inconsistent.
In order to respect the full film frame and place it within the wide screen video format of 16:9, the telecine was set-up to create an anamorphic transfer which results in a side curtained 1.33 image within a 1.78 ratio. The resulting master preserves the entire field of potential viewable negative; a slight zoom and mask means that the framing remains consistent throughout – but without losing any picture information.

Raymond T.: The way that the movie appeared on the DVD was rather unique in the fact that rather then masking the sides of the picture frames, you choose to show the complete picture taken from the original negatives, which in turn at times showed the unanimated edges of the picture. This has caused some mixed feelings with some fans.
What are your feelings on that?

Jezz Vernon: The ethos behind extras is that it appeals to the side of us that likes to open the clock face and see the machinery inside. When I go to see a film as a consumer I sit back and let myself go with it, but when I watch DVD extras or see a film with a view to buying or marketing it I deconstruct it, ask questions, examine all issues and consideration from casting, editing, production design, to direction etc. The DVD market really likes to exercise the same option of looking at the mechanism of how film is made as well as just enjoying the consumption – this was the thinking behind the reconstructed version – the chance to look behind the curtain.

Raymond T.: What was the most difficult part about that DVD?

Jezz Vernon: Well we would have liked to have had more extras on there but we couldn’t get them legally cleared in time, Hasbro have to give their approval – because we’re a key territory we can’t proceed with unlicensed material, each territory has to make their own decision on that. Aside from that – the key challenge was trying to get things right on the remastered aspects, we almost succeeded.

Raymond T.: There still seems to be a lot of confusion about the "sound quality" (Optimus Prime’s gun mostly noted by fans) of the Reconstructed DVD. Would you care to comment on that?

Jezz Vernon: Something that we didn’t realise was that new effects had been added to the soundtrack in our new 5.1 mix, unfortunately it all happened in a different continent so we had to trust the sound designer. We wish this hadn’t been the case but have had to deal with the fact it’s happened, I wasn’t familiar enough with the movie to spot the error.
Looking ahead though we have some news to announce about the movie and have recruited a NY based fan who’ll actually be able to go into the studio and approve any new work we do. So we’ve taken real steps to ensure that this cannot happen again, mistakes are made – but we’re learning from them.

Raymond T.: Although Metrodome's release was targeted for a UK release, the world premiere of the reconstructed movie was held on a big screen in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA at this years MechaCon Anime Convention. Why a US premiere for a UK release?

Jezz Vernon: Yes – Mechacongate. One of those occurrences that didn’t seem like a significant decision until after the event. Jon Russo had contacted us and we thought MechaCon was a good event to do some co-promotion with, we’re always keen to talk to the global community. He asked if he could show the movie, and we agreed – along with some early test discs of Headmasters.
One of those marketing tie-ups that works well for everyone. If there had been a key event in the UK or European calendar at that point we certainly would have offered the movie to be played there as well. But there was nothing in the diary so MechaCon seemed like a good place to play it.
Ultimately we just take sensible decisions, fully aware that everything we do will inevitably offend a fan who has an opposing view to another. And that’s a key point – on points where there is no common consensus, the nature of what we do means we have to come down in one place or another – otherwise decisions are never reached. And we welcome organisations and events contacting us – always keen to build new relationships, Jon at MechaCon sent us a couple of emails and dialogue began there, so please do post on our website www.transformersdvd.com if you’re looking to do the same.

Raymond T.: Were you happy with the end result of Reconstructed?

Jezz Vernon: As we’ve said, there are mistakes that it would have been preferable not to have made, but as a whole we think it’s a really interesting edition to the catalogue and offers a unique experience. Even if you’re just buying it on an impulse we still feel it’s currently the best version of the movie available (so far…).

Raymond T.: You have recently released the complete series of the Japanese Transformers saga HeadMasters, with MasterForce and Victory soon to follow. What have been the challenges in making these sets?

Jezz Vernon: Materials, authoring and accuracy – in three words.
We can’t describe how unwieldy it is to marshall 13 hours of footage. The easy part is packaging, it’s creative and fun, trying to push an aspect like that. But the difficulties come when you’re reproducing a new set of discs to take care of mistakes in previous versions, more often than not you cause fresh errors while you’re fixing previous ones. Time is always against you, when you get a new set of discs produced you have to watch them all over again – another 13 hours.

Raymond T.: Wow!

Jezz Vernon: In the end we had one of our experts proof the whole subtitle script – a mammoth task – but these amends for reasons known only to the authoring house, didn’t make the final cut. In the scheme of things these are small errors, but we always want things to be right and we fight constantly to ensure that. But we’ve had good feedback and people are delighted that we’ve got sensitively translated Japanese instead of an approximation.

Raymond T.: What did you know about the Japanese series before heading into producing them?

Jezz Vernon: The legendary Star TV dubs are of course the main talking point of the series, and you don’t need to be a fan to judge how poor they are. So the key thing for us was to restore the Japanese audio and commission a faithful subtitle translation. I think it’s fair to say that the Japanese series are more of a concern for the core fanbase – they’re not as widely known as the US series, and the cultural differences are quite marked – they’re more in tune with Japanese narrative principles.

Raymond T.: What would it have taken to create new English dubs for these shows?

Jezz Vernon: Incredible amounts of money, a team of lawyers, great scriptwriters and superb voice actors. Sadly resources that are far beyond what’s available to us.

Raymond T.: What is your opinion on the English Star dubs of the Japanese series?

Jezz Vernon: I think the best recommendation is, as our expert suggests in his audio commentary, to use the dubs as a drinking game, every time someone says darn – take a shot, otherwise they’re just light relief. By the way Chris Mcfeely – who did the commentary hates being described as an expert – but I think we should officially here and now bestow that rank upon him – from our point of view he’s bloody knowledgeable and has been invaluable along with a group of other fans in advising us.
I have to mention Raymond T Fransman, Ryan Yzquierdo, Darren Jamieson, Jon Russo and Jordan Derber in the same breath – thanks guys for all your help and constructive advice, the emphasis is on constructive, we much prefer criticism that helps us do things better.

Raymond T.: How did you decide what names to use (American or Japanese) in the subtitles of the Japanese series releases?

Jezz Vernon: That was really advice that we took off Chris Mcfeely, and good advice most have agreed. We just thought that would treat the series the best.

Raymond T.: What kinds of specials can we expect on the sets of MasterForce and Victory?

Jezz Vernon: We have to wait and see what’s available, of course there will be new translations, but these will come from a fan we’re working with and will be approved before being laid on to the master.
My main concern at the moment is just producing a flawless good looking set that honours the series, I’m hoping we can do an audio commentary again because I think that brought a huge amount to it. And plenty more hopefully.

Raymond T.: What about Scramble City and Transformers Zone! Will Metrodome release these too?

Jezz Vernon: The truth is there is a rights tangle on these and I’m working hard to try and clear the way. We would have to think about how we’d put them out though – I don’t think the two of them on a disc is substantial enough for a standalone purchase, but first we have to clear them. Nothing is easy in the rights world.

Raymond T.: What does Metrodome have in store for Transformers in the future?

Jezz Vernon: Well a key announcement which we’ve just posted today on our own website is that we’d like to consider a 20th anniversary edition of the movie. But before we schedule it in we need to hit the detective trail to see what kind of extras we can dig up, and more importantly need to know what people want from it.
So suggestions please. As I said – we’ll have a fan check at the actual studio to ensure there are no issues with the final sound and the finished project will be quality checked by an expert.

We’d like the edition to be two disc, but that depends on whether we can find the right extras to justify it. We also want to know how fans envision the film appearing – would you like a new widescreen version and a reconstructed version? Commentary? Extras?

Let us know…

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That was certainly a high note to end this interview with! SEIBERTRON.com would like to thank Jezz Vernon for this open interview, as well as Metrodome Group for allowing us this chance.

For more information on future Transformers releases by Metrodome, please visit www.transformersdvd.com for more information.

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