Director's/audio commentary research

Director's/audio commentary research

A director's commentary or an audio commentary is an audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add information which otherwise would not be disclosed to audience members. Audio commentary can be used over the top of many different media, most commonly used in TV series box sets, music video's and sections of films. Usually a seperate feature often found in bonus material of DVD's. These tracks will contain dialogue and sound of the movie, during the dialouge the volume of the movie will be temporarily turned down. The two main types of audio commentary are Partial or scene-specific and Feature-length or screen-specific commentaries. These differ through length of commentary rather than the type of content. However, 'Partial or scene-specific' can sometimes be recorded without the speaker viewing the film and thus the commentator may make more general comments than pointing out specific details. And 'Feature-length or screen-specific' commentaries are recorded in one session: the speaker or speakers watch the movie from beginning to end and give their thoughts directly based on what is happening on-screen. Usually the director will take part as one of the speakers and reveal how he achieved the current shot showing on screen or alternatively an actor/artist will describe how they achieved their performance. Sometimes the speaker will get someone else (to act as an audience member) to ask him certain questions that he can answer during the audio commentary. 


Here are some examples of audio commentary over music video's:



- This is a perfect example of an audio commentary used to explain how exactly the director achieved some shots. The group/artist explain what the song is supposed to be about. But mainly they all are trying to be funny and give their fans a little bit of an extra insight into their group.



- This is just a single speaker audio commentary that goes over the whole track.



- Some audio commentaries are created purely to be funny and entertaining.


Here are some examples of audio commentary for TV series':



- Commentary by actor Neil Flynn talking about co-worker



- Commentary by the cast describing the scene in an entertaining nature.