Directors Commentary

There are two main different types of audio commentary -

• firstly there is partial or scene specific commentary which onl covers specific areas of the film. Sometimes these are recorded without the speaker viewing the film and the commentator may make more general comments than pointing out specific details.
• secondly there is feature length commentary where the speakers give their thoughts on the film and it is recorded by having the speaker watch the film from beginning to end.

The audio commentary is usually done by the directors and cast members however occasionally the writers and producers.

So I hear you ask; 'what is a directors cut?'

A directors cut is defined by google as 'a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit.
It is considered that a directors cut is aimed to show the thoughts and feelings the director was feeling, whilst producing his media product. Whether it be why he used certain shot types, costumes, lighting, etc.
A directors cut, also known as a directors edit, will often be found on a seperate disk. They show the media product, with the directors dialogue played over the top of the video shown. Often only true fans watch these as they are most interested in the thoughts and opinions of the director.

Directors commentary evaluation

Directors commentary, also known as audio commentary, is a separate disc which has 1 or more people talking about the video as it plays in time with the original disc. Audio commentary's can be serious or entertaining and they can describe more about what is going on in than the viewers may originally see.
There are two types of main director commentary's:

• Partial or scene-specific, which only covers selected scenes of the film. Sometimes these are recorded without the speaker viewing the film and therefore 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.

Digi pack cover

magazine final version

YAY!!!!!

Plan for the weeks ahead.

28th November Monday- Timed response to evaluation Questions
30th November Wednesday- No lesson. Type up timed response onto the Blog. Prepare your script.
1st December Thursday- Filming your script- 45 minutes in studio only.
5th December Monday- Editing.
7th December Wesnesday- Editing deadline.
8th December Thursday- Hear feedback on script.
12th December- /finalise blogs.

Conventions of a Magazine advert.

These are a list of the conventions of a magazine advert:

• Title of the band
• The release date
• The age rating 
• Reviews 
• Pictures, should show the genre of the artists song
• Record label
• Text should be eye catching and show genre

With a magazine advert the main aim is to sell the DVD so the magazine ad should show clearly when and where it is coming out and who it is that is selling it. 

Conventions of a DVD cover.

On a DVD cover this is a list of things that should be included:

• A title
• Pictures of the characters or artists
• Age certificate 
• DVD symbol
• Tag line
• About the DVD
• The song list
• Synopsis

These all need to be included in a conventional DVD cover to show the content of the DVD and sell the artist.

Digitpak Research

1. analyse - a video/dvd cover/advert preferably from the same artist.

 - see if there is a running theme in all of them.
Yes, the location where the video was filmed has been used for both the DVD cover and for the advert, the song is about isolation and the theme of the dvd case is the two main characters being isolated from one another. The advert has a very professional finish to it and there isn't too much writing on it clogging it up. The way that the top and bottom of the picture has been blurred and darkened to give it a cold effect.

- discuss how they promote the artist.
They have put the main singer on the front cover of the DVD case with the secondary singer on the back. The artist does not feature on the advert but this helps promote the isolation.

- discuss images/font style.
The same style of image has been used for both of the advert and the dvd case. This gives it a good overall theme of the graffiti which appeals to the younger audience. The same font is also used in both of the advert and the DVD case giving it a good running theme.

2.  plan your own ideas plus upload photos/stills you use

Video Feedback

- The split screen was extremely effective
- Great shot variety
- The comedy was useful towards the type of song it was
- The lip syncing wasn't bad because of the speed of the lyrics
- They promote the artist successfully by by showing all members of the group when they are all together and separate in different shots
- They meet the genre conventions through the randomness of the shots within the footage
- The shot with the phone boxes was really good, good use of the fade transition

T2-40
WE LOVED IT
it meets the genre completely, group mentality, comical, selling the artist.
quirky, 'lads day in cambridge'
Fashion meets the genre.
Timed well, lip synced well.
really liked the split screening, and the multiple split screening, all the timing for the cuts was brilliant and fit in really well with the song.
Like how the end finished how it started but in rewind.
There's no narrative but there didn't need to be one because the lyrics and genre was all random and so that made the video interesting.
The only thing we would do differently, would be to add a bit more commitment to the signing.

T239
GOOD

Used loads of different techniques
Different camera angles
effective use of lighting and locations
fits with genre
appeals to the conventions
really enjoyable
Split screens

BAD
drags a little later in the song
camera is a bit shaky some times
ITS GOOD


T2-38

Good:

• SWANS
• Loads of variation in camera angles
• Lip synced reasonable well for the pace of the song.
• Ducks.
• Split screens used really effectively
• Ducks
• Colour correction on the police-car scene
• Randomly brilliant, no real story which worked well
• Swans.. 
• More Swans..
• Two swans in one shot..
• THE POODLE.
• Use of de-focussing camera
• Good use of camerawork, zooms, pans, tracks.
• SWANS.

Improvements:

• One split screen looks slightly odd with one addition
• The telephone box shot duration was a bit long but good effect.
• Some lighting is too contrasting

Our Response To Feedback

We agree with the criticism particularly that some of our shots are too shakey, however we feel that some  of these shaking shots add to the variety in our video. We're very happy that the animals are appreciated, as we thought these shots added to our video alot. We are glad that people understood the lack of narrative in our video, as the song offers no narrative either. Also that the lip syncing was very hard to do, people seem to think it was satisfactory!

Here it is!

Our video problem

our 'final cut' had some issues with it so we had to come and re-edit it.

Our Final Cut-music video

Diary Entry. Monday 14th November.

Today was our last day to edit!
We have now edited all or footage and we will now upload it to our blog. We have taken all the advice our other classmates and all our teachers have given us and tried to improve our video for the final cut. We feel it has gone very well today and we are ready to upload it.

Diary entry. Wednesday 9nd November

Today we are uploading the video footage we filmed on monday, we hope there is enough footage to fill the other few minutes of music.
After sending an email to Everything Everything we did get a reply however it wasn't as helpful as we had hoped. We asked them what message they were trying to portray in their song 'Schoolin'. We did this over facebook & one of their other fans posted a video where the band talk through each other their songs. We had already watched this video previously so this wasn't too helpful to us, however we appreciated their reply.
We hope to edit some more of our video today.

Diary entry. Monday 7th November.

Today we had our teacher watch our video to give us some constructive critisism. Essentially we were told to film more lip syncing and make use of more advance editing techniques.
After hearing this advice we starting creating ideas for different editing possibilities and quickly set out our footage to create some split screens, over the reoccurring whistling in the song.
We are filming tonight after college and this will be our final chance to film. We understand that we will be very rushed tonight, having to film 2 minutes worth of footage, as it gets dark very early.

Diary entry. Thursday 3rd November

Today we took our critisism from our peers into consideration and tried to correct some of the issues with our video.
After planning where and when we will film more lip syncing we left the classroom to go to film more footage of singing, drumming and whistling, including other 'random shots'. However unfortunately some of our footage was deleted, or not uploaded. We intend to upload the remaining footage next lesson.

Feedback from other students

Good feedback:

• Lots of shot types, angles and distances
• Good Location
• It is a fun video
• Interesting to watch
• Clothing is good

Criticism:

• Not enough lip syncing
• Sometimes a bit too random
• Some cuts aren't that smooth
• Could have more of a narritive
• Keep more footage of the band
• Make each band member have a character