Janna's Director's Commentary Research

A directors commentary can be presented in many different ways which include an audio over the film/music video or there can be atual footage of directors, which is where the producers and editors are talking to the camera about the product they have created. On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with the video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add information which otherwise would not be disclosed to audience members.

There are several different types of commentary. The two main types simply define the length of the commentary rather than the type of content. They are:

• Partial or scene-specific, which only covers selected scenes of the film. Sometimes these are recorded without the speaker viewing the film and thus the commentator may make more general comments than pointing out specific details.
• Feature-length or screen-specific, which is recorded in one session: the speakers watch the movie from beginning to end and give their thoughts directly based on what is happening on-screen.

Album cover Before and After

Photoshop was used to change this image and make it suitable for our album cover. We used the lassoo tool to make the scarf a different colour to the rest of the image.

Editing of our Album Cover

We had to edit all of these pictures into our digi-pak and Magazine advert using photoshop. The tool the that we used was the magic eraser tool to get rid of any unwanted background to get the best look. We then dragged the images onto our work. 

Final Digi-Pak

As you can see, we have included all conventions needed for a digi-pak. This includes:

• The name of the artist
• Name of the album
• Track listing (including bonus track)
• Website and MySpace addresses
• Record label branding
• Pictures of the band members

Final Magazine Advert

As you can see we have included all the conventions of a magazine ad, which include:

• The name of the artist
• The name of the album
• The release date
• The website and MySpace addresses
• Reviews and ratings of the album
• Record label branding
• Pictures of the band members or relevant visual imagery to sell the digi-pak, and it has been manipulated in some way (ie an effect applied to it)

Jolyon's Director's Commentary Research

Directors commentaries can be effectively presented in various ways, which are using audio over the film or music video. There is always real footage of the producers, editors and directors talking to the camera about what their product is, and how they constructed it. Audio commentaries are additional audio tracks made up of lectures or comments by one or more speakers, which match up with the video in real time. Commentaries can either be entertaining or serious in the way they are presented, and there is usually additional information which would not be explained to audience members.

There are a lot of different types of commentaries. The two main types define the length of the commentary rather than the content type. They are:

• Partial or scene-specific, which discusses only the selected scenes of the film. These are usually recorded without the speaker watching the film and therefore, the commentator can make more general comments, as opposed to critiquing certain details.
• Feature-length or screen-specific, which is recorded in one session: the speakers will view the movie from start to finish and provide their opinions based entirely on what is happening in each part of the movie.

Here is an example of a director's commentary

Ediiting our music video again

Another great technique that our group used to edit our music video was the use of slowing and speeding up the the clips. By doing this it helped to make our lyrics that the artist is singing in time with the music being played. We were either able to slow it up to make the artist sing in time with the music or make it faster to catch up. This was used to make the visuals and lyrics in sync with each other which makes the appearance of the video a lot better. Our group also used another technique which enable us to make clips run in reverse, we did this on one clip to create an edge to the video and make it feel like its in a fantasy world.