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.

Directors Commentary Research

DEFINITION:
A Director's Commentary is a descriptive account from the director of a perfomance/ produced product as it happens or has taken place and an opportunity for them to look back and take into considerartion the glory of hindsite and see what has gone well, maybe not so well and possible improvements for future productions.



TWO TYPES:
Partial or scene-specific - which only covers selected scenes of the film. Sometimes these are recorded without the speaker viewing the film and thus the commentator may make more general comments than pointing out specific details.


Feature-length or screen-specific - which is recorded in one session: the speakers watch the movie from beginning to end and give their thoughts directly based on what is happening on-screen.

FORMATS:
Most audio commentary is used in films and movies, however they often are used with music video's too. There have also been some video games which have added bonus commentary to the game.

The commentary does not have to be done by the director - some have been done with cast members, writers and producers as well as critics, historians and fans. There have also been commentaries by actors in character - perhaps to make the commentary more entertaining and enjoyable.

EXAMPLES:


This Rise Against music video uses scene specific commentary by the director. We see the director being filmed and talking about the certain pieces of the video which he used to display the meaning of the song. We also see how the band filmed their part of the video from a different perpsective.



This is similar to the Rise Against commentary, however it uses a variety of people - director, artist and photographer. Although this isn't seen as a commentary, and is made by MTV, it still shows how all of these people came together using different ideas to create the PULP video.



This is an example of a feature lenght commentary, however it seems like the commentary is done to be slightly entertaining. The voices seem to match the quirky nature of the video and the band itself, and i feel that the way that it is produced makes the video alot more interesting and enjoyable to watch and listen to.

Digipak Final

Magazine Advert

Feedback

u1 44 -

pros -

good use of location
fits visuals and lyrics
good lip syncing
good varied shots

cons -
a bit too obvious
maybe more locations to contrast

luka josh shona

Research- What is a Director's Commentary?

"On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional 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."

The DVD medium allows multiple audio tracks for each video program. DVD players usually allow these to be selected by the viewer from the main menu of the DVD or using the remote. These tracks will contain dialogue and sound of the movie, often with alternative tracks featuring different language dialogue, or various types of audio encoding (such as Dolby Digital, DTS or PCM). Among them may be at least one commentary track.

There are several different types of commentary. The two main types simply define the length of the commentary rather than the type of content. They are:

• Partial or scene-specific, which only covers selected scenes of the film. Sometimes these are recorded without the speaker viewing the film and thus the commentator may make more general comments than pointing out specific details.
• Feature-length or screen-specific, which is recorded in one session: the speakers watch the movie from beginning to end and give their thoughts directly based on what is happening on-screen.

Typically a commentary track will include feature-length commentary from the film's director, cast members, or occasionally writers and producers. Occasionally actors will perform commentary in-character. (In recording sessions with multiple speakers, a designated moderator may encourage the discussion flow,) Some DVDs include outsider commentary performed by film critics, historians, scholars or fans. In more elaborate productions, multiple speakers from various recording sessions may be edited together for a single audio program.

Some DVDs feature commentaries with on-screen video enhancements, such as telestrator prompts, (allowing the director or commentator to "draw" on the screen, pointing out specific details), or theGhostbusters "video commentary", where one of the subtitle tracks is used to add silhouettes of the speakers in a manner where they seem to be in a theater commenting on the movie as it was screened for them in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Less common are actual video commentaries, showing the speakers as they are recording the commentary, requiring separate video tracks.

The video to 'Drop' by The Pharcyde as well as the making of/video commentary by Director of the video Spike Jonze.




The official video to 'Fell in love with a girl' by the White Stripes followed by the making of the Video featuring interviews with the band and video Director Michel Gondry.




The official video to 'All is full of love' by Bjork accompanied by the making of the video featuring interviews with the artist herself and video director Chris Cunningham.




The video to Jamiroquai's 'Virtual Insanity' followed by the making of, featuring and interview with the Video Director Jonathan Glazer.




The official video to Jay Z's '99 Problems' as well as the making of/director's commentary featuring interviews with the artist himself, crew and the video director Mark Romanek.

Digipak Ideas - Rough

Idea 3

Idea 2 (Front and Back Cover)

Inside Cd (Idea 2)

Idea 1 (Front and Back Cover)