Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-2238912-20190703181824

Since nobody has posted this yet, I figured I'd do it. Here's all the DVD Commentary, copied from a post on Reddit. You're welcome.

Chapter 1:
 * They took out the blood at the White Fang Headquarters but had to add it back in later.
 * The train station was the first new set of the season.
 * They used Houdini for crowd shots this season.
 * Showing what's in the bag RWBY got for Yang is planned for next season.
 * On each boba cup lid (from the food in the background of the train station scene) has the RWBY chibi characters.
 * Originally they planned Ilia to wear a kimono. Also a hint to seeing her again!
 * Kerry's mom wants him (Neptune) to be in the show more.
 * The whole train set is a circle track.
 * The Grimm manticore design was from an artist from the RWBY subreddit! Kerry saw it and he loved it and he contacted her to hire her.
 * There was an inside joke for the audio team where Dee dies it sounds like the track says "Oh Dee..."
 * Dee and Dudley barely graduated from their academy.
 * There was originally going to be a closer shot of Salem in the OP but they wanted to keep the mystery about who she was.

Chapter 2:
 * They put in some lines from the house (what Nora says) that were a response to the criticism from Volume 5 about them staying there too long.
 * Nora was originally going to tell Blake everything she needed to know with some whiteboards on the train, but they decided to just show the house where things are explained.
 * The footsteps in the snow were made using nulls in After Effects. They explain the process which is pretty interesting.
 * Oscar struggling was done in mocap.
 * Lil Miss Malachite is an allusion for Little Miss Muffett (duh) and turns out she is the mother of the Malachite Twins.
 * The Malachite Twins went to live in Vale and be bad guys.
 * Jinn's hair is separated/split more than a normal character's. Same with Summer Rose.

Chapter 3: Originally the Lost Fable was chapter 3 and 4, but they combined them into one.
 * Salem's story one of the first things ever written for RWBY.
 * They really wanted a character's story to revolve around 'happily ever after' then a few steps after that, so Salem was the perfect character for that.
 * The whole episode was mocapped in a single weekend.
 * The crew has a Ruby body pillow prototype that's used during mocap.
 * The Gods are inspired from the Gods of Greek Mythology.
 * They want to show more natural wildlife in RWBY, but due to budget constraints it's hard.
 * The video game Brutal Legend inspired the scene where Salem throws herself into the pool of Grimm.
 * Originally the Gods were closer to human size but were scaled up.
 * The story structure for the episode took inspiration from Harry Potter and Game of Thrones.
 * Originally there was going to be more dialogue from the main cast, but they decided against it.
 * They were originally had Salem look like her current form (well coloring wise), but decided to remove the red veins she has so she looked less spooky.
 * The toy dog one of the children has is a Wizard of Oz reference.
 * Jinn was meant to be an objective outside observer but also a storyteller.
 * The children for one of Oz's reincarnations have silver eyes (confirmed).

Chapter 4:
 * They were excited to explore Qrow's alcoholism past it just being a joke.
 * Hazel is the most compassionate of the villains.
 * Salem knows how to manipulate people and has different methods for motivations for each of her lieutenants.
 * For example, she doesn't have to say that many mean things for Tyrian to take it to heart because he is so loyal.
 * She also knows just how fearful Emerald is of her.

Chapter 5:
 * Neo has begun to evolve her semblance, as shown in the fight.
 * Neo wasn't originally planned to be in this Volume, but was decided when they thought of what they could do better to make Cinder's storyline better and for when Cinder gets to Atlas they thought her having a partner was cool.
 * Brunswick Farm was another idea they had since the very beginning.
 * The Apathy fit so well in this volume because the characters are at a low point.
 * Blake doesn't always get the nuances of relationships and makes a misstep (when Yang and Blake talked and she told Yang she would protect her).

Chapter 6:
 * The Apathy came from an image of a horrifying scarecrow and they came up with the idea of a grimm that wasn't physically formidable. As well as a planet from the movie Serenity where everyone fell to sleep and died, and a short story about depression and not wanting to do anything.
 * The Apathy work through proximity but if they see you their effect gets even worse. But you can get it jolted out of the apathy for a little while if you are startled.
 * The artist that made the Apathy was the same one that made the Manticore.
 * Maria is colorblind, which was evident in the episode when we learn she couldn't tell Ruby's eye color immediately.
 * Seeing the burning Apathy, Qrow realizes that he almost let everyone get killed and now starts to hate himself (his depression changes).

Chapter 7: Maria was originally from Volume 5 but they had to take her out because it was hard to balance out all the storylines.
 * Them having a restriction for how long fights could be (because fights are expensive) led to Miles thinking of a fight that had to last 60 seconds (and Tock).
 * Maria's weapon and use of dust was inspired from the God of War reboot as well as Marvel's Thor.
 * Originally Maria was going to have a cat, and Qrow was supposed to find her in his search for Hunstman.
 * The Arc siblings are all a color of the rainbow, with one set of twins. Saphron is orange.
 * The toy Adrien is playing with is foreshadowing to the plane and the Leviathan.

Chapter 8:
 * Only Cordovin's guards are so goofy (compared to the rest of Atlas guards), and Cordo is considered a nuisance. This was a job they thought she could do well without bothering anyone.
 * Kerry wanted an old lady fight in the show, so he got one.
 * The Old Lady in the Show was something Monty thought of. The boot is the foot of a giant mech. And the giant mech was originally going to be at the end of V2.
 * Butterflies are normally not out in the winter but this is Remnant ;).

Chapter 9:
 * Miles likes to think of Tyrian as one of the most insightful villains. He is really good at observing people and knows how to take them apart mentally and physically.
 * I believe this is where they said this was the first time we see Emerald and Mercury be vulnerable to each other. (I should've included this earlier).
 * They say they’ll never confirm who the Red Haired Woman is, but they said use your brains lol.
 * Looking up at Pyrrha and seeing the airship fly by made Jaune think of the idea to steal one.

Chapter 10:
 * Adrian's crying is not a semblance, that's just comedy.
 * They pitched Jaune's voice down when he says "Roger" so he can sound more serious.
 * Originally there was going to be another episode (episode 14t) where we would see Atlas and Mantle. But they didn't want to end on that because it would require a ton of new assets because of the buildings and the people wearing different clothes.
 * The next season will start with a bang.
 * The Iron Giant was a reference for the mech.

Chapter 11:
 * The mech fight was the most effects-heavy of the fights this season.
 * Blake has always had the scar on her body since the new outfit, but it has been hard to see until her jacket comes off.
 * Yang hitting Adam with her bike was thought of early on in the scripting process.

Chapter 12:
 * A lot of talk about how the animations were made and such.
 * This season had a core fight team that animated all the fights.
 * The way Adam dies is apparently similar to how something in Nier: Automata plays out. Kerry has only played an hour of the game so he did not know that was a thing.
 * But Nier: Automata was actually referenced for the mech fight (the mechanics of how the fight would work) since a robot was involved in the first boss fight.
 * Shots from the Adam and Yang fight were similar to those from Naruto, but that was also a coincidence.
 * They called the Leviathan Levi in the script because it was easier to type.

Chapter 13:
 * They considered Adrian being a very young baby, but later changed him to be a toddler.
 * Gurren Laggan was another reference used for this part (haven't seen that anime but it was referenced when the mech drills the Leviathan).
 * They really wanted to make sure we could hear liquid in Qrow's flask.
 * Salem is no longer willing to confine herself to a room, and is going to start being more active by creating her army of minions. 