In-Theater Audio Commentary
Encyclopedia
In-Theater Audio Commentary is an idea coined by Kevin Smith
of going to see a movie at the theater, and after having downloaded onto one's iPod
a podcast
of an audio commentary
, returning to the theater a second time to watch the movie while listening to the commentary at the same time. As of right now, only 2 films have attempted to utilize this idea. Since this idea is so new, the only "rules and guidelines" listed for how to go about doing this are posted on John August's blog.
around May 2006 a few months before its theatrical release that was to be downloaded through iTunes and listened to in the theaters, which was meant to appeal primarily to Smith’s hardcore DVD-purchasing fan base. The Weinstein Company, Kevin Smith, and iTunes were all aboard, but theater owners felt that allowing people to bring outside devices would be distracting and disrupting to other audience members with people laughing at otherwise silent parts of the film. The commentary track was never released for download while the movie was in theaters and was instead included on the 2-disc Clerks II DVD as the third of three audio commentary tracks in the special features section as “Unused Podcast Commentary.” The commentary track features Kevin Smith along with producer, Scott Mosier
, and actor, Jeff Anderson
.
utilized the same idea by creating an audio commentary track featuring himself along with actor Ryan Reynolds
discussing August’s film The Nines
and posted the track in m4a and mp3
formats onto his personal blog, JohnAugust.com, so that people could download it and listen to it while viewing the movie in the theaters. This film had a considerably more limited release than Clerks II, featured in only 5 theaters in the U.S., and thus they were more easily able to get away with doing it. August also lists a number of “guidelines, ground rules, and helpful hints” for listening to the track in the theater in his blog with particular emphasis on being respectful to other audience members and on the fact that one should not listen to it on his or her first viewing or without the movie. The commentary track was also later released as the first of two tracks in special features section of the Nines DVD.
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
of going to see a movie at the theater, and after having downloaded onto one's iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
a podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
of an audio commentary
Audio commentary
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 video...
, returning to the theater a second time to watch the movie while listening to the commentary at the same time. As of right now, only 2 films have attempted to utilize this idea. Since this idea is so new, the only "rules and guidelines" listed for how to go about doing this are posted on John August's blog.
Clerks II
Kevin Smith first recorded a commentary track for Clerks IIClerks II
Clerks II is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, sequel to his 1994 film Clerks, and his sixth and latest feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse...
around May 2006 a few months before its theatrical release that was to be downloaded through iTunes and listened to in the theaters, which was meant to appeal primarily to Smith’s hardcore DVD-purchasing fan base. The Weinstein Company, Kevin Smith, and iTunes were all aboard, but theater owners felt that allowing people to bring outside devices would be distracting and disrupting to other audience members with people laughing at otherwise silent parts of the film. The commentary track was never released for download while the movie was in theaters and was instead included on the 2-disc Clerks II DVD as the third of three audio commentary tracks in the special features section as “Unused Podcast Commentary.” The commentary track features Kevin Smith along with producer, Scott Mosier
Scott Mosier
Scott A Mosier is an American-Canadian film producer, editor, podcaster and actor best known for his work with director Kevin Smith, with whom he co-hosts the weekly podcast, Smodcast.-Early life:...
, and actor, Jeff Anderson
Jeff Anderson
Jeffrey Allan "Jeff" Anderson is an American film actor, film director, and screenwriter best known for starring as Randal Graves in Clerks and Clerks II...
.
- During the commentary, Kevin Smith attributes the idea of in-theater commentary to that of the show, Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica is an American science fiction franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica TV series in 1978, and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games...
, where one can download a podcast of an audio commentary and listen to the track while watching the show.
- During the commentary, they imply that one should ideally not be listening to the commentary track in the theater if it is his or her first time seeing it, even though they are attempting to make the commentary less scene specific.
- At one point in the commentary, the only time they really mention that their audience is in the theater, they discuss the phenomenon of people walking out in the middle of the theater to use the bathroom or to just randomly get food, and how it bothers them. Kevin Smith says during a montage shot “if you’re going to go get some popcorn or use the bathroom this is the time I guess you could do it because otherwise you’ll miss some key dialogue.”
The Nines
In August 2007, writer/director John AugustJohn August
John August is an American screenwriter and film director. He also writes and maintains the popular screenwriting blog , and develops screenwriter-targeted software....
utilized the same idea by creating an audio commentary track featuring himself along with actor Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian film and television actor, best known for his roles in such films as National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Waiting..., The Amityville Horror, Just Friends, Definitely, Maybe, The Proposal, Buried, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Green Lantern.One of his best known...
discussing August’s film The Nines
The Nines
The Nines is a 2007 psychological thriller drama film, written, and directed by John August, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, and Elle Fanning. The film debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and made $63,165 in the U.S...
and posted the track in m4a and mp3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
formats onto his personal blog, JohnAugust.com, so that people could download it and listen to it while viewing the movie in the theaters. This film had a considerably more limited release than Clerks II, featured in only 5 theaters in the U.S., and thus they were more easily able to get away with doing it. August also lists a number of “guidelines, ground rules, and helpful hints” for listening to the track in the theater in his blog with particular emphasis on being respectful to other audience members and on the fact that one should not listen to it on his or her first viewing or without the movie. The commentary track was also later released as the first of two tracks in special features section of the Nines DVD.
- August points out during the commentary that “it's not perfectly synchronizing, since you're not watching it on your disc [as per usual]...but if it's a little bit out of sync that's kind of okay...I doubt we'll be referencing too specific of things."
- A final bit in the commentary is August's joke to Reynolds that he will give him a copy of the film for his iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
so he can watch it again maybe at 2 in the morning or whenever to which Reynolds responds that he can "quietly hold himself."