Audio commentary
An audio commentary is an optionally selectable sound track on a Blu-ray Disc , DVD or a laser disc . The audio commentary is mostly spoken by those involved in the feature film or the documentation that can be seen in video format on the DVD or laser disc. The video material at hand is often commented on by individuals such as the director or the main actor, but also by groups of up to dozens of people. The respective narrator always reports from the area of responsibility they are responsible for and is usually not seen.
Particularly high-quality DVDs and Blu-ray discs nowadays offer up to four audio comments on a film. The audio commentary is usually recorded in stereo or mono format, with the original sound of the commented film usually being heard in the background in the audio commentary sound track.
Procedures for creating an audio comment
Sit-down commentary
The participants comment on the film as they see it. This is the usual variant, especially with newer films, as it means less effort. The audio commentary is recorded between the completion of the film and publication on DVD and / or Blu-ray and then published as well.
But there are also sit-down commentaries that were recorded long after the film was finished, because at the time there were no audio commentaries or laser discs, DVDs or Blu-ray discs and there was no way to make them accessible to consumers close. So z. For example, in the 1986 film Stand By Me , where director Rob Reiner mentions the death of leading actor River Phoenix in 1993.
Usually, all audio commentary participants sit together in one room. An exception is the audio commentary on Hui Buh - Das Schlossgespenst , where the majority of the participants sat in Munich and another was switched on via satellite live connection from Berlin so that he could comment on the film despite his absence.
Interview fragments
With older films it often happens that the audio commentary is not recorded afterwards, but is made up of already existing interview fragments from the time of the film production that were not recorded specifically for the audio commentary.
Visualized audio commentary
There are always attempts to visualize the actually purely acoustic audio commentary. For example, when the audio commentary is activated, a short film introducing the audio commentary is shown before the start of the main film, in which the people involved in the audio commentary can be seen. In some cases, the DVD's "Angle" function was also experimented with in order to fade in the commenting people in the current picture during the film.
On the DVD for Didi and the revenge of the disinherited , the audio commentary is saved as a completely separate film on the DVD, in order to combine both variants (i.e. the fading in of the audio commentary speakers before, during and after the film) with flowing transitions.
The comment is usually in spoken form, but sometimes only in the form of a subtitle comment without a separate audio track. Audio comments are often subtitled (especially when an English audio comment is pressed onto a German DVD or Blu-ray disc), although this is not common practice and is often not done for reasons of cost.