Commentaries: Has anyone ever done this? (1 Viewer)

[earl_roberts]

I really hate it when commentators don't refer to certain parts of a film incase the spoil the film for the listener.
What the hell!?!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Agreed. Tim Burton commentaries are a snooze fest. I heard the PeeWee one is good tho, because they have Reubens in with him

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

What I hate is when they stop talking as soon as the ending credits start.

 

[Tony Kwong]

I remember one time on LaserDisc, I had both the commentary and the original soundtrack played at the same time. Had the commentary hooked to the TV speakers via analog and the soundtrack digital to the amps. It worked out pretty well except for extra loud scenes in the movie.

 

[MarkHastings]

I really hate it when commentators don't refer to certain parts of a film incase the spoil the film for the listener.

Or they'll start to avoid it, but then say something like "well, if you are listening to this, then you've obviously seen the movie" and then they talk about the spoiler material.

I forget which commentary it was, but the director actually said something like "If you haven't seen the movie and are listening to this, stop!"

Are people THAT dumb enough to listen to the commentary without seeing the film first???

I can see if somehow you accidentally had the commentary track on by mistake, but you'd think you'd realize this mistake within the first few minutes of the film...

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Are people THAT dumb enough to listen to the commentary without seeing the film first???

Some of them probably are. [Insert joke about people buying pan & scan here.]

 

[Galen_V]

My only qualm with The Simpsons (and for that matter the Futurama) commentary tracks are that except for the main people like Matt Groening and Al Jean (and David Cohen on Futurama) you really have no idea who is talking. I think the best approach is to do the audio the way they do it currently, but include subtitles when a new person is speaking, like they do in the Star Wars DVD's. While this might not be plausible all the time (as there are instances when everyone is chiming in at the same time), it can be effective at least 90% of the time.

 

[Jeff_HR]

quote:
Are people THAT dumb enough to listen to the commentary without seeing the film first???
Some of them probably are. [Insert joke about people buying pan & scan here.]

I have often watched a film with a commentary on that I'm viewing for the 1st time. And I'm sure as hell not DUMB! Just different!!

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I have often watched a film with a commentary on that I'm viewing for the 1st time. And I'm sure as hell not DUMB! Just different!!

I think differently.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

I have often watched a film with a commentary on that I'm viewing for the 1st time. And I'm sure as hell not DUMB! Just different!!

But I'm sure you are aware that the commentary may contain spoilers, and don't need to be warned.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

If you want some good DVD audio commentaries, may I recommend the "Superman" SE DVD with Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz commenting on the film - very lively from start to finish!

Indeed it is. But this brings up my biggest gripe with commentaries. MAKE A SUBTITLE TRACK FOR THE COMMENTARIES! I've been pronounced legally deaf off and on since grade school. I mean, I can still hear and aren't a danger behind the wheel or anything, but I often watch shows with the closed captioning on to help me decipher what people are saying. I don't need anything for the films themselves as they are professionally engineered for clarity and so the dialog is easily understandable. But often I will run across commentaries where the director has a thick accent or speaks with their voice just a tad bit muffled and I only catch every third word they say. At these times I desperately wish I had subtitles to help my fill in the blanks. Superman is a great commentary, and while Donner's booming voice is easy to understand, I had to practically sit with my ear next to the speaker to catch what Mankiewicz was saying. And you can't turn up the volume beyond a certain point or else the speaker hiss and reverb hurts more than the louder volume helps.

It just seems like any easy thing to me.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> I have often watched a film with a commentary on that I'm viewing for the 1st time.

That's a clear violation of the DVD Viewer Code of Conduct, just below intentionally choosing the pan & scan version.


What really stinks is when a commentary for a TV episode mentions things that happen in future seasons, as if the viewer has seen the entire series.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Indeed it is. But this brings up my biggest gripe with commentaries. MAKE A SUBTITLE TRACK FOR THE COMMENTARIES!

Some DVDs do this, for instance the AOTC disc has them. That's the only one off the top of my head, but I know there's a couple out there.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Chris, agreed. I really wish I'd been warned on the Buffy commentaries.

 

[Kevin M]

Some DVDs do this, for instance the AOTC disc has them. That's the only one off the top of my head, but I know there's a couple out there.

A few Dreamworks DVD's have subtitles for their commentary tracks as well...Evolution comes to mind...I hope this practice catches on as I have been asking for this particular feature for some time.