I was not the first to complain about how quickly Kirk goes from cadet to captain in the new Star Trek film. In general I have trouble with how the film rushes to put every Enterprise crewmember in their "right" place. The original Star Trek series suggests a much more realistic history for the Enterprise roster, such as having Spock served under Captain Pike for some time before serving under Kirk.
But I was thinking, after watching the rerelease of the Genesis trilogy, that given that Kirk is demoted from Admiral to Captain in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and remained at that rank at least until Star Trek: Generations, and the Federation President's remarks that Kirk is best-suited to be a starship captain, that perhaps it's not such a bad thing that Kirk rises to that rank so quickly in the new film. I don't know if Orci and Kurtzmann were thinking about these things when they wrote their screenplay. I know they have an audio commentary on Voyage Home, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it.
Showing posts with label audio commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audio commentary. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Advice for DVD commentators
It seems every movie on DVD today has to have some kind of audio commentary on it, as if it was a requirement. Some of these commentaries are quite enlightening, while others are just plain boring as hell.
So here's some advice for commentators:
1. If it's something you haven't seen in years, watch it once before going to the recording session. It's not a lot to ask. Maybe it will kill a little bit of the spontaneity, but that's so much more preferable to minutes of silence punctuated by the commentator saying something like "It's been so long since I've watched this, I didn't even remember that scene."
2. It's OK to laugh at your own jokes. But don't assume the viewer hasn't heard the joke before, so don't be afraid to retell the joke in your own words, or laugh before the punchline is uttered on the principal audio track. No one I know first watches with the commentary on and then goes back to watch again without the commentary. And if they do that, they've already seen the film in the theater or the show on TV.
3. Enunciate! Your witty commentary is useless if no one can understand what you're saying. Some DVDs have subtitles for the commentary track, but you'd do well to assume that your DVD won't.
3a. But if English isn't your native language, you should still try to do an audio commentary, and not go for a text commentary. You can probably spell better than any native speaker, but do you have any idea how distracting it is to read subtitles that don't match up with the audio track?
4. A commentary is not the place the vent about your frustrations with specific individual actors, directors, writers. Especially if you plan to work with them again in the future. It's another thing to complain about censors, or even to bite the hand that feeds you. But to badmouth your equals and your subordinates is just plain unprofessional.
So here's some advice for commentators:
1. If it's something you haven't seen in years, watch it once before going to the recording session. It's not a lot to ask. Maybe it will kill a little bit of the spontaneity, but that's so much more preferable to minutes of silence punctuated by the commentator saying something like "It's been so long since I've watched this, I didn't even remember that scene."
2. It's OK to laugh at your own jokes. But don't assume the viewer hasn't heard the joke before, so don't be afraid to retell the joke in your own words, or laugh before the punchline is uttered on the principal audio track. No one I know first watches with the commentary on and then goes back to watch again without the commentary. And if they do that, they've already seen the film in the theater or the show on TV.
3. Enunciate! Your witty commentary is useless if no one can understand what you're saying. Some DVDs have subtitles for the commentary track, but you'd do well to assume that your DVD won't.
3a. But if English isn't your native language, you should still try to do an audio commentary, and not go for a text commentary. You can probably spell better than any native speaker, but do you have any idea how distracting it is to read subtitles that don't match up with the audio track?
4. A commentary is not the place the vent about your frustrations with specific individual actors, directors, writers. Especially if you plan to work with them again in the future. It's another thing to complain about censors, or even to bite the hand that feeds you. But to badmouth your equals and your subordinates is just plain unprofessional.
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