Audio Commentary 101
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_commentary

OK.


Was there something you wanted to discuss or was this just informational?

Is it Audio Commentary's birthday today?

I can't believe there's a Wikipedia entry for audio commentaries

-It's an interesting & amusing bit of trivia, and I hoped other DVD fanatics might share the sentiment. Considering how commentary-obsessed many DVDtalk occupants are, how many know that King Kong is the George Washington of audio commentaries?

-The very presentation of information should hopefully lead to discussion without me having to dictate the parameters of the thread.

-Every once in a while I like to post something that isn't completely self-indulgent. I get sick with myself after posting "I bought this" or "I own this" so many times in a row.

Post what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

This'll really make your head spin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVDTalk

Thanks for the tidbit, pretty interesting.

Also thought it was interesting. Thanks.

Audio commentaries are truly my favorite feature. When done right they can be really rewarding.

Anyone know if this Ronald Haver criterion commentary was ever reused? I do not think it is on the 2 Disc SE.

Cool. I've always wanted to know what the first commentary was and when they first started to appear.

I knew this before, but I still appreciate you posting the information.

Great tidbit...did not know that.

I do have something to add:

The commentary track for me is hit or miss. You get ones that are good and others that are awful. It would be nice if there was an audio commentary 101 for people to go through to make sure they don't suck, but that doesn't happen. But there are plenty of good ones out there...listen to any of The Shield ones. For a bad one, listen to almost all of the Sopranos ones. You can really see the difference between them.

The problem is that there is no set formula that makes one good or bad...it just is or isn't. Some commentaries have little to do with the film and are hiliarious and entertaining, while others go deep in the technical side or are too pretentious and aren't that good, and vice versa.

That is true, but if you follow some type of guideline it might reduce it.

There was a thread either here or at HTF where someone created a page for reviewing commentaries. Someone has to know what I'm talking about.

sneak edit: Found it--http://www.ratethatcommentary.com

Would be nice if we could listen to that King Kong commentary...

Great website! Thanks for the link

Interesting stuff. I'm not usually a big commentary listener, but I have made exceptions for some of my favorite films. Usually I'll put them on in the background when I'm doing things around my room.

Same here. I'm listening to Gene Hackman (and later, the late Roy Scheider) talk about The French Connection while I type.

On a related note, "Commentary Tracks of the Damned" on the Onion A.V. Club Web site (http://www.avclub.com) are often quite entertaining.

Very true. I especially love them on tv shows... where you can hear from the writers on on episode, producers on another, and the cast on yet another episodes.

This was the first scene that we shot. He's really great in this scene.

It was really cold when we shot this.

He/she was so great to work with.

It would be nice if the producer of the DVD would explain to the person doing the commentary what exactly a commentary is.

I've listened to so many "commentaries" from old former TV stars who are now in their seventies who just sit there and watch the episode and laugh at the jokes, and barely provide any remembrances or insight into the making of the TV show. Maybe they will comment about their hair or old clothes.

It makes me wonder if they knew what they were supposed to do? Most of them are old and probably haven't kept up with the DVD technology. Either that or they truly have no memories because the work they did was too long ago.

I was going to mention that site if no one else did.

As far as a magic formula for commentaries, there truly is none. But as one poster wondered, there are some guidelines, but I suppose those guidelines will vary for everyone. What works for you may not work for others. Some will want technical info, while others will want idle chatter. I find idle chatter acceptable when there's enough informative stuff snuck in to make it tolerable.

Above all, I need to feel like I learned something to feel that the commentary was truly good. Whether I've learned something about film-making or something about the story, it matters not. Just that I learned something.

I've always found Kevin Smith and company on his various films to be among my favorites.

I think more commentaries should be done interview-style, where the director or commentator will bring a friend (perhaps another director) to ask them questions about the film.

All of Kevin Smith's tracks are very good. Regardless of whether or not you like his work the man certainly has the gift of gab. His best tracks are the ones with Ben Affleck, who is very self-deprecating and witty. Terry Gilliam is also quite engaging, John Carpenter great when he teams with Kurt Russell, and the creators of Futurama are a blast.

I wish Paul Thomas Anderson, Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch would record commentaries. I think there are preconceived notions as to the limitations of what you can do with a commentary that don't actually exist. Lynch, especially, does not have to explain the film at all, the commentary can be just as much a way to goose the viewer as anything.

Hard Eight and Boogie Nights both have commentary tracks. He's just not doing them in future.

Yeah I loved the Magnolia commentary. Oh wait

I don't need a magnolia commentary, but I would really like a Punch-Drunk Love commentary.

i'd say roger ebert and eli roth are my two favorite commentators. john carpenter is cool too.

something tells me roger won't be doing too many more though.

Nowadays, this scene would be done with CGI. But they didn't have computers back when we shot this.

That's my wife's cousin playing that guy in the background. His name is Paul . . . really great guy . . .

So true. The Sideways commentary I found to be extremely annoying. All Giamatti and Church did was crack jokes about their flabby bodies. At times I would laugh, once or twice it was informative, but all in all it was annoying. My friend loved the track however.

I actually do love little tidbits like, "This is my friend Roy. We made our first movie together at the age of 15. Now he is the manager for 7/11 but he took the day off to make this cameo."

Then of course there are the commentaries that nobody should defend such as William Friedkin's Bug commentary which is actually more of a book on tape. "He then walks to her and thinks, "How nice?" She looks at him with the same sort of affection but begins to realize there is something brooding behind his eyes."

I guess for our blind movie viewers it may be beneficial.

He did the same thing for most of the CRUISING commentary. Gets annoying really fast.

Oh god, Paul Verhoeven has this propensity. The commentary he and Arnold did for Total Recall was like "Rekall for Dummies". How many times does he need to mention "you see, this could all be for real or just a fantasy". Though it was funny to hear Arnold during the violent sequences: "Jha-hah, I used his body as a human shield then threw him down the escalator!"

Thanks! Hmm, I may register for that site, it might redeem the collective hours of my life spent listening to commentaries.

I seemed to remember he did a decent one for the Exorcist but then I put that on and couldn't get through it. I don't know if he did a different one for the Version You Haven't Seen and the Version You Have Seen or maybe I could be thinking of the novel's author commentary.

So film historian Ronald Haver recorded the first audio commentary. Can anyone name the first Director's Commentary? (Hint: it's also from the laserdisc days, but has been re-released on DVD)

Scorsese?

Don't know which came first though between Bull and Taxi.