In DVD video, an audio commentary is a bonus track added to the video consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, who talk about the movie as it progresses. Depending on the nature of the movie, and upon the person providing the spoken dialogue, an audio commentary can add a wealth of informative, entertaining information about a movie that most audience members would not be at all aware of.
Audio commentaries are located on separate ''audio tracks'' on the DVD. A single DVD disc can have several separate audio tracks that can be selected by the viewer from the main menu of the DVD or by pressing a designated button on the remote. Each separate track contains different content: one track has the actual dialogue and sound of the movie, while other tracks can contain different language dialogue (for translation into different languages), a different type of audio encoding ( Dolby Digital or DTS ), music-only soundtracks, and audio commentaries. Some DVD productions include multiple audio tracks with many commentaries from different persons.
There are several different varieties of commentary tracks:
- only covers selected scenes of the film.
- goes from the beginning of the film to the end.
- is recorded in one session; the speakers watch the movie from beginning to end and give their thoughts on the matter.
- was recorded at various sessions, often with various speakers. Multiple-person commentary tracks recorded for Criterion are noted for this technique. The various speakers and their audio are edited into a cohesive whole, one person speaking here, and one person speaking there.
- is just that; one person taking you through the film.
- can either take live or edited form. A live multiple-person commentary track is sometimes called a party track, especially when there are several persons.
- is from those people involved in the making of the film. They can often describe how the work was done, why a certain choice was made, or discuss generally the themes and limitations of their film.
- is performed by a film critic, historian, or scholar, taking us through the significance of the film, the technique, and at times telling the story behind its making.
- features someone not associated or knowledgeable about the film in any way, shape, or form. They are very rare and so-called because of the commentary track by comedian Carrot Top on Roger Avary's '' The Rules Of Attraction ''.
The value of audio commentaries as a marketing tool was revealed during the heyday of Laserdisc , the laser-based video format produced before the introduction of DVDs. The Criterion Collection company, for example, produced high-quality "deluxe" editions of classic movies on laserdisc, using the best available prints and re-edited versions. These deluxe laserdiscs (which were often very expensive compared to today's DVDs) included bonus features such as production stills and movie trailers, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes information, and audio commentaries from the directors, producers, cast, editors and cinemaphotographers and designers. These deluxe laserdiscs were marketed to movie professionals, fans and scholars who were seen as an elite niche of consumers who could afford to pay more for definitive, quality editions. The audio commentaries on laserdiscs was typically encoded on to secondary analogue tracks which had become redundant as modern laserdisc movies had their stereo audio encoded digitally alongside. This is why certain older videodisc players which predate the digital audio standard, are only able to play back analogue tracks with audio commentary.
The decline of the laserdisc format and the increasing popularity of DVD was highlighted in the fall of 1997, when simultaneous laserdisc and DVD editions of the movie '' Contact '' were released. The laserdisc edition contained one bonus audio commentary track by director Robert Zemeckis ; however, the DVD contained two additional, separate audio commentaries in addition (by Jodie Foster and the special effects producers), as well as other bonus features.
The first ever audio commentary was featured on the Criterion Collection release of the original King Kong movie, on laserdisc in December 1984. The commentary featured film historian Ronald Haver and the first words of the commentary sounded: ''"Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm Ronald Haver, and I'm here to do something which we feel is rather unique. I'm going to take you on a lecture tour of King Kong as you watch the film. The laserdisc technology offers us this opportunity and we feel it's rather unique - the ability to switch back and forth between the soundtrack and this lecture track..."''
- The DVD release of ''.'' The DVD release of '' Ghostbusters '' has a similar feature, accomplished by using one of the subtitle tracks to provide the silhouettes.
- The DVD release of '' ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice") and Donald Duck ("Pomp and Circumstance"), voice actors Wayne Allwine and Tony Anselmo were used to make it seem as though Mickey and Donald were providing their own commentary on their appearances in the film.
- The DVD releases for '''' and '' Finding Nemo '' contained specially-edited 'video commentaries'; the feature-length audio commentaries by the directors and producers were punctuated by cues to video segments illustrating various behind-the-scenes aspects.
- Seth MacFarlane , creator of the animated series Family Guy , recorded a commentary track entirely in the voices of Brian and Stewie, two characters he voiced on the show. The commentary was featured on the Family Guy "Freakin' Sweet Collection" DVD release.
- The second DVD of '' This Is Spinal Tap '', released in 2000 , features a commentary by the three members of the band, in character. They relate how they felt slighted by the film, and how the director (Marty di Bergi in the film) did a "hack job" with the documentary. The commentary is another added element to the fiction of the band. Actors Michael McKean , Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer had previously recorded a commentary for a Criterion Collection DVD which had gone out of print.
- '' The Ultimate Matrix Collection '', a Box Set of the entire ''Matrix'' Trilogy , has two audio commentaries on each film—one by philosophers who loved it, and one by critics who hated it.
- The commentary on Trey Parker 's '' Cannibal! The Musical '' (aka '' Alferd Packer : The Musical'') is notable in that the commentators—cast and crew—start out sober at the beginning. As the movie progresses, the group drinks and gets more and more inebriated.
- The laserdisc version of '' Chasing Amy '' featured a commentary track by the director, Kevin Smith , who says in the commentary track "Fuck DVD," echoing the thoughts of many Laserdisc fans about the then-new DVD format. On the DVD edition of the same film, the same commentary track was featured but the film begins with a video introduction by Kevin Smith putting his comments into perspective and giving a more favourable opinion of the now more mature DVD format.
- The Fourth , Fifth and Sixth season box sets of '' The Simpsons '' contain special "illustrated commentaries" on selected episodes, where two Animation Director s draw on screen while commenting on the episode. This is achieved by using subtitle data to produce the drawings overlayed on top of the video in sync with the audio commentary track.
- '' The Simpsons '' and '' Futurama '', both Matt Groening creations, are among the few TV Series to have audio commentary tracks on every episode in their season box set DVD releases. '' Twin Peaks '', '' Mr. Show '', and the first season set of '' The Shield '' are other examples of these rare instances.
- The Commentary for '' Eurotrip '' has members of the cast and crew playing a Drinking Game to their own film, while giving a commentary.
- The Coen Brothers movie '' Blood Simple '' has a fake commentary written by the Coens and read by an actor posing as a film historian. This "historian" Kenneth Loring gives information about the production that almost everyone would recognize as being totally ludicrous. He claims for instance that one the opening scene was shot upside down with the actors saying their lines backwards and that some roles were reserved for Rosemary Clooney and Gene Kelly . All this was meant as a parody of DVD commentaries.
- When the first season of '' Veronica Mars '' was rushed to DVD so first-time viewers could catch up before the second season began airing in Fall 2005, creator Rob Thomas recorded an audio commentary for the pilot which was a downloadable Podcast because there wasn't time to get it on the boxed set.
- The audio commentary for Bowling For Columbine features non-prominent staff members such as Intern s and the Receptionist of Michael Moore .
- '', '' Project A '' and '' The Young Master '' as well as modern hits '' Iron Monkey '', '' Musa (film) '' and '' Ong Bak ''. For the majority of his commentaries Logan was a solo commentator but occasionally he was joined by notable film makers and cast including Tsui Hark , Christy Chung , Donnie Yen and Maggie Q . He left Hong Kong Legends for the The Weinstein Co. in early 2006.
- US film historian Rudy Behlmer has recorded commentaries for many classics of American cinema, most notably '' Gone With The Wind (film) '', '' The Adventures Of Robin Hood '' and '' Frankenstein (1931 Film) ''.
- US writer and director Peter Bogdanovich has not only recorded commentaries for his own films ('' The Last Picture Show '', '' The Cat's Meow '', '' Paper Moon '') but has also recorded commentaries for important American classics including '' Bringing Up Baby '', '' Citizen Kane '', '' The Lady From Shanghai '' and '' Strangers On A Train ''.
- US writer and director Kevin Smith has recorded a commentary for all his feature films and has also appeared on the '' Donnie Darko : Director's Cut'' commentary amongst others.
A small but active fan base of DVD commentary enthusiasts has sprung up since 2002 offering their own specially recorded fan made DVD commentaries. These tracks (often made available in mp3 format) give the fans own opinions and thoughts on the movies or tv series they are commentating on. A piece of software called Sharecrow has been created to easily synch the tracks to the DVDs.
There are only a few groups out there doing these recordings, the main ones being:
- MMM Commentaries - these Australian fans have created alternate DVD commentaries for the '' Star Trek Series '', '' Star Wars '', various '' Doctor Who '' episodes and pilots for many tv series, such as '' Futurama '', '' The West Wing '' and '' Stargate SG-1 ''.
- Renegade Commentaries - A UK based group with over 50 commentaries including '' Lord Of The Rings '', '' Star Wars '', '' Flash Gordon '' and others
- Commentary Central - Community based commentary site which enables users to list their own commentaries and provides hosting for individual commentaries
- Film Pigs - Offers comedy commentary tracks for '''', '' The Passion Of The Christ '' and others.
- Hurricane Andy - Offers analytical commentaries for '' Jackie Chan's First Strike '', '' Signs (film) '', '' L.A. Confidential '' and others.
- Pulsing Cinema - Offers commentaries for horror films such as '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre '', '' Night Of The Living Dead '' and '' Halloween (film) ''.
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