“But I think we pulled it off” and other DVD audio commentary inanities - Page 7

Just to clarify, since I started this thread:

I will frequently abandon a track after about 20-30 minutes if it doesn't do anything for me, or at the very best I might chapter ahead to see if it sounds more interesting later on, or during memorable scenes. If not, as Charlie says and many of you no doubt do, I switch it off and get on with my life (perhaps another commentary track or perhaps scrubbing the bathroom tile, either way I do move on. After all, they're just movies.)

I suppose my comments about "slogging" through these things (in my previous post) were uncalled for. Rarely do I consider it "slogging," but as I mentioned way, way back in this thread, sometimes one feels the need to at least get one’s money's worth out of a disc (the whole "completist mentality" thing), but I'm also well aware that just because a studio or filmmaker puts something on a disc doesn't mean we are bound in any way to watch it. It's just that ever-increasing amounts of this material, particularly on new releases that may not warrant it, bring so little enhancement to the films they supplement (as others here have noted as well). But hey, if ultimately it helps sell more copies, who’s to argue?

Admittedly if I didn’t have the distinct advantage of being able to listen to commentaries at the office without it impacting my workload, I honestly doubt many of the commentary tracks would even reach the 20 minute mark. Sometimes I just let them play out simply to ease the boredom and avoid the top 40 radio that plays all day off in the corner.

Granted, many of us would probably balk at the price if a DVD didn't have extra material, but I'm happy to say I'm not one of them. No-frills discs have their advantages too, particularly on some newer titles (so very many of which seem to be burdened by ample “extras” these days, regardless of box-office performance, critical reaction, audience reaction, etc.) Makes one pine for the days of Laserdisc, it does, when commentaries and supplements seemed to be, predominantly, the domain of arguably important films, classic films, and films that had held up to the test of time for one reason or another (and to one fan or another), and even the occasional cult films, art films and Hollywood Blockbusters. Back then, because the whole concept - if not the entire format - was targeted largely at the collector mentality, I consistently felt like I was really about to hear something special (even if it ultimately wasn’t) that regular VHS buyers wouldn’t get to hear. Obviously, I don’t get that feeling anymore. Half the time, the participants on today’s tracks simply sound obligated...which seems all the more sad if they’re not paid to take part.

And please, Damin, don’t think that I dislike pretty much every commentary ever made. I never meant to imply that, but as a recent thread about great commentaries quickly devolved into a series of lists (as nearly always happens when people discuss favourite things), I simply knew that the bad ones would be more interesting to discuss and debate, and the length of this thread has pretty much exceeded the mileage even I thought it could bear.

That said, I'm still hoping to hear more horror stories, if only just for the fun of it.

Melson brings up a very interesting point.

I love it when commentary tracks are subtitled, as I'll do exactly what he does: put the player on 2x or 4x speed which, on my all-region players, is still slow enough for the laser to grab the subs and for me to still be able to read them. For the unsubbed commentaries, they come to the office with me.

Slightly off topic, but not really, are the enhanced information tracks, which I sometimes prefer to audio commentaries. Someone way back mentioned the "interactive" tracks on the recent Disney animated films Treasure Planet and Finding Nemo. I checked out part of the Finding Nemo one out of curiosity when I bought it and was rather impressed with how well it integrated all the different extras (including some of the usual studio publicity type interviews) into a rather enjoyable mix. I'm guessing basic commentaries are cheaper to record and program than these tracks, but this at least allows numerous features, including bits of commentary, production drawings, interviews, behind-the-scenes stuff to be inserted where they'll have the most impact, rather than coldly lumped together somewhere else. Sure, it expands the viewing time considerably, but if your player has a memory-play function, it can be split into sessions.

Basic information subtitle tracks also benefit from Melson's technique. I watched the info-track on Die Another Day last night in just over 1 hour, including watching most, but not all, of the "incoming video transmissions" (a lot of these are publicity interviews) Amazing how much of the info on John Cork's track simplified what was said on the Tamahori/Wilson audio commentary. The cool thing about this particular track is that none of the features "jumped away" from the movie, meaning the entire experience at regular speed would still be no longer than the movie itself. In fact, I dare say there's probably more useful tidbits here than there are in the commentary, and it's not a bad commentary! The video segments simply zoom up to fill up the screen, while the movie proper zooms down to the corner so you can still watch it out of the corner of your eye.

These kind of features take far better advantage of the interactive nature of DVD in my opinion, even if they are largely "programmed" to lead us in certain directions.

Now that I know Charlie de Lauzirika was involved in that MI5 track on Die Another Day, I know one BIG way he could help us help ourselves to get on with our lives: turn off the commentaries and start making more features like this and the ones on those Disney discs. Nice work!

Come to think of it, couldn't a producer or editor pick and choose commentary highlights, much like they do with tracks featuring multiple participants who weren't recorded together, to further augment these text/video commentary tracks? Just to have semi scene-specific commentary in-between the video snippets. If the commentators indeed are not paid for their services, surely they wouldn't have recourse if their tracks were pared down and incorporated into a greater multi-media track like that on the Bond disc.

Could be cool, but then I guess people would eventually start posting "best and worst audio/text/video commentary inanities" on internet forums, so it might be a no-win situation.

Good to know, Charlie. Looking forward to more of these. I do prefer it when the movie keeps playing in a smaller frame. When the number of jumpouts on those other titles, particularly The Matrix, added up to less than the running time of the feature, I always wondered why they just didn't have both appear simultaneously so you could sort of compare before and after (where applicable).

In addition to the subtitle factoids, pop-up production drawings, selected storyboards, costume designs, posters, etc. might also be worthy of inclusion in these tracks rather than as separate galleries. I recall Tomorrow Never Dies had this by itself on the first special edition, and seemed to include nearly every storyboard drawn for the film. I'm sure today's multi-tasking DVD viewer could easily keep up.

McG lets someone get under his skin on the commentary track for CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE:

"...and you see from the girls' performances that, I mean, they're just really having a good time out there and, you know, it's interesting that some people found that infuriating that, you know "Hey, they're having such a good time making this picture," which I thought was strange and just goes into the fundamental take if you hate yourself, you will hate Charlie's Angels."

And later, he pats himself on the head for making one of the few Hollywood motion pictures without substance...

"Drew and I have this thing where we say it's, you know, people always try to make films that contemplate the human condition, and we feel that it's even a greater contribution to make a film that helps you forget the human condition."

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Edit: Whoa, I just realized I listened to the entire audio commentary for this big pile of stupid. What's wrong with me?!?!?!