Do you have lots to say about Pixar’s feature films or shorts? How about making a fan commentary? Here’s some free beta software available for Windows for making fan commentaries. However, just using a microphone and any recording software would be good enough for me (I don’t mind resyncing the audio now and then). I know that we’re spread out all over the world, so getting together to do a commentary would be difficult. And doing a commentary solo may be difficult because one person might not have enough to talk about. However, even with those limitations, I’m still interested in what other Pixar fans would be able to come up with.
I don’t think I personally know enough about the films, the direction, the artwork, and etc to make a useful and informative commentary about it. Though I could probably do a commentary examining Finding Nemo’s score/soundtrack in different scenes, which probably wouldn’t interest most people 
Actually, that’s a pretty humorous and cool idea. It would be awesome to see some of the top posting members get together over the internet and do a commentary for a movie.
theowne - I think you’d be surprised at how many people would download your commentary if you made one. That is, if there are other people like me who have Pixar fever. Ever since June 27 I’ve been scouring the internet for interviews, and well written articles about WALL-E. I do this for every Pixar movie until there’s (almost) nothing left to find. I even like to listen to the alternate language tracks on Pixar movies, including the ones I don’t understand (did you know there’s a hidden Japanese track for Jack Jack Attack on the Short Films vol.1 DVD?).
However I think I’m asking too much for any one person to do, since one person commentaries tend to be kind of lifeless compared to commentaries with two or more people. I don’t think Pixar has ever done a commentary with just one person (but I haven’t heard the Cars and Ratatouille commentaries since I don’t have Blu-Ray).
Pixelated - Perhaps a collaborative commentary can be done over the internet, but I don’t know how. I don’t think the software I linked to above has that capability. Synchronization and delay could cause problems. I’ll start reading about internet conferencing.
This is great! I always wondered how it would work to do an over-the-net commentary because you would have to make sure you are both watching the movie at exactly the same time, otherwise your comments would be out of synch. That Overcast software is genius.
As for listening to one person doing a commentary, even with professional films I tend to not listen to one-person commentaries, but it all depends on the person and if they are interesting enough to listen to on their own. I believe for a Pixar DVD they did this, where two Pixarians were recorded together, and the another commentary by one Pixarian recorded separetely, his comments were edited in later. I prefer commentaries where it’s all done at the same time, but with busy schedules it may have been hard for them to do this. It could have been with A Bug’s Life, but I’m not sure.
I’ve thought about this before, and I’d love to “get together” with a couple of other Pixar Planeteers and do this. Not sure to what Pixar film, though… The trouble is you’d have to do a lot of research on the film and have a good, relaxed conversation with the person you are doing the commentary with to make it sound professional and worth listening to.
Actually, I’d probably want to do a fan commentary on Toy Story or Ratatouille, maybe The Incredibles but there are bigger Incredibles fans than me, so I’d let them have first dibs. But I’ll wait a few weeks and see if anyone else is interested. =)
theowne - I’d listen to a bit of your Finding Nemo score commentary… and if you did this with Ratatouille, I’d freak out!
I have found myself doing a Incredibles commentary about a couple times. But I never record them, so it is nice to know there is a device that does that.
This is actually a really cool idea, qxgnxamy! I’m sure a lot of us have something to say about most, if not all of the Pixar films, and there are definitely at least one or two in-depth fans for each film. Especially as the Pixar fanbase is growing every day, there’ll always be someone interested in listening to these commentaries.
I agree with Rachel in that a discussion between several Pixar fans would probably be the most interesting route to go down, especially as they could bounce their ideas off one another and the conversation could develop.
I’d love to do something like this, but I don’t have the technological know-how. I wouldn’t know where to begin! But yes, if everyone chose a topic within a Pixar film and there were enough interested parties, this could be something very interesting.
Here’s one way to do a commentary over the internet:
Those doing the commentary set their clocks accurately.
They initiate one big Skype conference call.
They agree on a point in time at which to start their DVDs.
They hit play on their DVD player at the appointed time and begin the commentary.
All will need headphones (to prevent feedback) and microphones (many computers have them built in). I just installed some software that will allow me to record the commentary. We’ll also probably need to spend some time adjusting the microphone levels before recording. My own microphone is currently not working, but a replacement should be arriving around Wednesday. Skype’s conference calls are free for personal use and (I think) it’s available on all platforms. Up to 25 people can participate in a conference call.
If anyone can improve upon this method please let me know.
qxgnxamy - I was under the impression that the Overcast program synced up the DVD players for you (on separate computers, connected to the Overcast program via the Internet.) If it doesn’t do that, then it should, and that’s a program that I’m sure a lot of people would pay for.
But other than that, the idea you suggested of the commentators making sure to press play at exactly the same time could work, however for someone like me who has a PAL version of the Pixar movies which plays the movie about 10% faster than the NTSC versions sold in the US, this would make the movies and hence, the commentary out-of-sync pretty much straight away. There is a way around this, and I’d be willing to make sure that my version runs at the same rate as the US versions since technically the versions I watch are wrong, so that’s not too much of an issue. 
rachelcakes1985 - I’ve looked at the Overcast website and syncing up DVD players over the net isn’t listed as a feature. I too want a program like that because, with my method above, even if we pressed play at exactly the same time there would still be desynchronization because DVD drives have some delay before they actually start playing.
That’s so odd that the PAL version plays faster than the NTSC version. I’m glad that there’s a way around it. My NTSC Finding Nemo shows a length of 1:40:27. How long is the PAL version?
qxgnxamy - That’s odd… it should be a feature. I thought that was the whole point of the program. Oh well. If we do use the method you suggested it won’t be perfect but it will have to do… My Finding Nemo DVD lists the running time as 97 mins, which I guess is 1 hour and 37 mins. But it’s not really a problem as I can find a way around it, and I guess anyone else that has a PAL DVD will have to find a way around it too, since it’s the NTSC version that’s correct and the PAL version that isn’t.
Also, can we please have this moved to the “Fandom” section, or something? Thanks.
Done rachel! Consider it done!
Thanks, TSS. You’re a shining star moderator, already. =)
The best time to do a commentary may be sometime during a weekend, since we’re in different time zones. Here are a couple possible times:
New York: 5:30PM
Los Angeles: 2:30PM
London: 10:30PM
New York: 9:00AM
Los Angeles: 6:00AM
London: 2:00PM
We have to find the best time for everyone who wants to participate, so anyone who’s interested please chime in. We also have to choose a film (short or feature length) to do. Any of the Pixar films are fine with me. Also, instead of setting our clocks, we can just keep this browser window open and use the UTC clock on top.
I’d join, but i’m not very comfortable sharing my voice/webcam over the Internet yet. I’d love to hear yours, though. Mitch would make it awesomer, though. 
A113 - I’m a bit nervous about sharing my voice too. I’m better at solving technical problems than providing content. Hopefully there are enough talkative people on the forum. =)
I can be talkative for commentaries for the Incredibles because I have a lot of things to say and I know what I want to say. I might not bee so talkative on the other ones, but I would have some things to share.
I might do it someday. I’m kinda shy around fun people, but i would have some things to say.
qxgnxamy - You’re really on the ball with this, aren’t you? Nice work in figuring out the time zones, too. I could do it any time on the weekend, really, but I’d need to know in advance so I could plan my weekend around it and keep it free… But I’d rather keep this thread open for a few weeks and see who responds so we can get more people interested. The more the merrier.
TSS - You have to participate in an Incredibles commentary, dude! I’d love to listen to it and hear everything you know about the movie, which I’m sure is a lot.
A113 - Don’t worry, I’m exactly the same - shy around loud people. I’m sure if you research the movie and chat with whoever you are doing the commentary with beforehand, you’ll be fine. And yeah, I don’t think we could make a Ratatouille commentary without Mitch.
Rachel: I would if we can really get it to work out.
You know, what I can do is do my own commentary of TI and post it up on Pixar Planet. I have done it once before, but I think that was months/years ago. i would love to do it again.