teako170
04-29-2008, 02:15 AM
Finished listening to it this evening. In Linn's email that I posted a few weeks back, he mentioned how he had a strange way of talking sometimes. I can only guess by what he meant. I'm sure we've all heard our own voice recorded and how it doesn't sound right but what I'm thinking he meant might be the pacing of his commentary.
The first 20/30 minutes seemed somewhat hurried - primarily to blame would be the recording device he was using. Think about it: Record.Pause.Record.Pause.Record. When you play it back, it comes off like a verbal run-on sentence. He told me that he spoke with Mike Leeder (I believe) on some pointers on how to do a commentary and he mentioned the use of note cards as a foundation and then elaborate as the recording goes on.
Early on, it seemed he was basically reading his notes. He was kicking out a lot of information and without pauses, it doesn't allow the listener to digest all the material. Soon though he settled into a more relaxed, conversational style. Allowing pauses between his thoughts and some blocks of silence where the viewer could then focus on the action on screen. It was then much more enjoyable and I think he became comfortable with it.
Like I said, I can only guess as to what he meant. One thing for sure, the man is an encyclopedia of information and this track is a testament to his passion and knowledge of the genre.
Now, let me mention about what happened at 26:45.
Linn speaks at length of "Who's on First, What's on Second" aka Men from the Monastery and Heroes Two and which film was to be made/released first, etc. He sent me an email pointing out how Chang Cheh would slip up sometimes (as these 2 films got thrown together in the proverbial production blender) and told me to look at that sequence to see what he meant.
The only thing I saw was the disparity in the depth of field for the 2 shots which I captured and sent back to him (below).
http://www.teako170.com/herotwo.jpg
He wrote back the following...
"You're looking too hard. Right as they're grabbing Chen, you see Fu Sheng say Hung Si Kuan as if he's thinking to himself. This of course was before he was supposed to know who he was! It wasn't dubbed and it wasn't supposed to be there, but it also wasn't edited like it would have been. There's a couple of other bits in the film showing the time constraints they were under, but this one was the most obvious that Chang would have noticed." Linn
Oddly though he doesn't mention this in his commentary but instead the DOF shots. I was eating dinner at the time and I laughed so hard that I nearly choked on my BBQ! Ahh Linn. You got me good buddy. :D
Anyhow.... I leave you with my favorite quote from the commentary:
"Temple of the Dragon is probably my favorite title because there's no dragon in the movie .. and there's barely a temple."
:)
The first 20/30 minutes seemed somewhat hurried - primarily to blame would be the recording device he was using. Think about it: Record.Pause.Record.Pause.Record. When you play it back, it comes off like a verbal run-on sentence. He told me that he spoke with Mike Leeder (I believe) on some pointers on how to do a commentary and he mentioned the use of note cards as a foundation and then elaborate as the recording goes on.
Early on, it seemed he was basically reading his notes. He was kicking out a lot of information and without pauses, it doesn't allow the listener to digest all the material. Soon though he settled into a more relaxed, conversational style. Allowing pauses between his thoughts and some blocks of silence where the viewer could then focus on the action on screen. It was then much more enjoyable and I think he became comfortable with it.
Like I said, I can only guess as to what he meant. One thing for sure, the man is an encyclopedia of information and this track is a testament to his passion and knowledge of the genre.
Now, let me mention about what happened at 26:45.
Linn speaks at length of "Who's on First, What's on Second" aka Men from the Monastery and Heroes Two and which film was to be made/released first, etc. He sent me an email pointing out how Chang Cheh would slip up sometimes (as these 2 films got thrown together in the proverbial production blender) and told me to look at that sequence to see what he meant.
The only thing I saw was the disparity in the depth of field for the 2 shots which I captured and sent back to him (below).
http://www.teako170.com/herotwo.jpg
He wrote back the following...
"You're looking too hard. Right as they're grabbing Chen, you see Fu Sheng say Hung Si Kuan as if he's thinking to himself. This of course was before he was supposed to know who he was! It wasn't dubbed and it wasn't supposed to be there, but it also wasn't edited like it would have been. There's a couple of other bits in the film showing the time constraints they were under, but this one was the most obvious that Chang would have noticed." Linn
Oddly though he doesn't mention this in his commentary but instead the DOF shots. I was eating dinner at the time and I laughed so hard that I nearly choked on my BBQ! Ahh Linn. You got me good buddy. :D
Anyhow.... I leave you with my favorite quote from the commentary:
"Temple of the Dragon is probably my favorite title because there's no dragon in the movie .. and there's barely a temple."
:)