I still need a way to watch the movie while commenting. A portable DVD player is an awesome idea, M-O. Thank you very much. Unfortunately, i don’t have one, but i can hopefully get one soon.
As for having one person in charge, that’s a recipe for disaster. This should be a fun, free, commentary where the fans aren’t pressured. If anyone has a problem, they should just bring it up during our breaks.
One more thing: What short film(s) should we practice with? I suggest Your Friend the Rat. It’s the longest short film, and there’s plenty to say about it.
Wow. It looks as if this thing actually might happen!
I’m all for Ratatouille, and, for the present time, that’s pretty much the only Pixar film I’d be comfortable commenting on, with the exception of Finding Nemo. I’m sure that I’d get adjusted to the situation after a while, however.
Oh, and, for the record, I don’t intend to participate in a Cars commentary.
Well, I can tell you right now that these times will definitely not work for me:
4:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Thursday 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Friday 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Saturday
I shall be working on those days, starting next week, so I won’t be able to participate in a commentary from Thursday to Saturday. Sunday morning won’t work for me either, since I attend church during that time, although the evening would work. So, basically, I’m available every evening (from Monday-Sunday) and almost every morning (from Monday-Wednesday). Basically, I work best during the evening, since I’m a night owl, but I could most certainly adjust if necessary.
Ha-ha! That’s a cute idea.
I’d be more than happy to oblige.
rachel - I’m all for your idea on researching information about the film we shall commentate on, listening to various commentaries before-hand (preferably Pixar ones, naturally), and basically just doing our homework in order to be fully prepared.
Last night, I watched the beginning of Toy Story 2, commentary included, so as to get a feel for any upcoming annotations we’ll be putting into action. The commentators present during that particular session (namely John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton, and an Ash… Brannon, I believe) managed to convey their knowledge of the film in an entertaining, amiable fashion, while effectively pouring out random humorous quotes/phrases in the process. (Gosh, I sound like a computer here or something…)
I’d go with rachel’s suggestion and say that we should gather up as much information as we can and then take it from there. I plan to watch Ratatouille again this Saturday or next week, pick out various (or every) scene(s), and jot down bits of interesting facts that pertain to those sequences so as to quote them later on. I know that it sounds like a planned-out system, but I think that it might help in the long run. I know that it will be an asset to me, at least.
As for what short we should start out on, I’m gonna side with A113 here and say that Your Friend the Rat would be a wise choice. There’s room for error, since it’s such a long presentation, so we’d be able to adjust ourselves accordingly.
Whatever you do, don’t pick me. I’m terrible at those types of things.
Yup, Your Friend The Rat is probably the best short film to practise on, as others have said. Also, because it’s Ratatouille-related, it might give us a bit of inspiration for the Ratatouille commentary.
Just wondering- is Skype free? Is that how we’re going to be doing this? Do you just download it from a website or something? Also, it sounds stupid, but I’m assuming a microphone is needed to actually make the recordings?
Everyone, please, tell what time zone you’re in, because without time zones, this is more confusing than the 2008 US Presidential Election and the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer combined.
Mitch: Thanks! I think… LG: I don’t know if Skype’s the way to go. Not only do i not know how to use it, but i don’t have a telephone number. What i’m hoping for is something that only requires a microphone.
Since it’s going to be a Brad Bird film, i have a new idea on what we could say in sync at the end of the commentary: When the Pixar logo shows up, someone says something like, “Good job, everyone, we finished!” And after that, we all scream, “YES!”
So, here’s what i think’s going on:
Date and time: Undecided
Members involved: A113, Mitch, lizardgirl, qxgnxamy, rachelcakes1985, The Star Swordsman
Film: Ratatouille
Short Film for Practice: Your Friend the Rat
Method of communication: Undecided
Editing: qxgnxamy
Skype is indeed free. It doesn’t require a telephone number. You can download it from skype.com/
A microphone will be necessary. Your computer may already have one built in. Headphones will also be necessary to prevent feedback.
A113- Oh, so that’s how it works? Yeah, I’ll agree with you there- something that just involves a microphone would be good.
I will admit that I don’t actually have a microphone as of yet, but once we’ve got a date organised, I’ll get one by then; I’m sure you can buy them cheap from those computer shop type places.
Good stuff there, A113. My timezone is just GMT, I guess.
I guess Skype’s front page (information about their phone and pay services) isn’t very helpful for our purposes. Take a look at their download page instead: skype.com/download/
In the application itself, don’t worry about the $0.00 (or €0.00) next to your name; that’s used for calls to phones. Skype to Skype calls are free.
A113 - MDT, New Mexico Mitch - PDT, California (i’m not actually sure, i’m just guesing based on the number of Californian events she’s been to that she lives somewhere in the Golden State) M-O - CDT, Illinois lizardgirl - BST, England qxgnxamy - EDT, New York rachelcakes1985 - CST, South Australia The Star Swordsman - PDT, California
I’m happy with having Ratatouille as the first film. I don’t really like You Friend the Rat, but don’t mind getting together and practising on it…
I would love to have Archibald as a special guest for the Ratatouille commentary, seeing as he is from France and all he can give us a perspective of how similar the set design is, to France in real life. And the more variety of accents we have, the better. If he is a bit shy, we can just have him on as a bit of special guest: we could discuss beforehand which scenes would be best for him to comment on (like the scene with the dead rats in the window, for example.)
A113, I’ll PM you about getting the movie to your computer… You got my time zone almost correct, it’s GMT + 9:30. Nice little map there.
Mitch - Yeah, I’d love it if we could make our commentary sound as good as the Pixarians’ commentary… =) And great idea to watch Ratatouille again. I really need to do this, too. Everyone should take a note out of Mitch’s book and do this, as well as the behind-the-scenes and even look in your Art of Ratatouille book if you have a copy. There are behind the scenes of Ratatouille on YouTube, since we all know there isn’t that much in the way of special features on the DVD.
As for distributing the commentary, we could just upload it as one long MP3, and it would be up to the listeners to synch it with the movie on their computer. But we will have to look into this… I’d love it, if we think our commentary is good enough, we could overlay a copy of the audio to the actual movie and send off the DVD to Pixar. =)
Rules: Well, maybe the word “rules” wasn’t a good choice, but we do need guidelines such as “no swearing” or maybe even “no blasphemy” (I have to watch myself on this one, heh), “keep the discussion to a PG level, nothing more”. Basically how we are expected to behave on this forum you should take over those same standards to the commentary. But having said that, I hope this commentary is fun, and I’m sure it will be.
I would probably do best with basically any time from 8am to 8pm on a Saturday, or even a Sunday. Which translated into the different timezones would be on a Saturday…
I’ll be pretty ok with fitting blocks of time into my schedule, and I’ll just tell people not to interrupt me, so that’s fine. I’m ok with having one person in charge, and I’d be happy to do that since I can be a bit bossy sometimes, lol, but if we don’t think that would be good for the atmosphere we can just scrap that idea and keep ourselves in check.
LOL Yeah! We have to stress the fact that we are going to be pumping our fists in the air whilst doing it, though. Ha-ha.
A113 - I do, indeed, live in California, which would be, of course, PDT/PST.
And that map is freaky, man. You can visually see how far apart each of us live from one another. (snigger)
Ha-ha! It’s a compliment. I was merely commenting on the fact that I thought that that particular idea of yours for an ending/farewell sentence was funny/cute.
Yeah, dude!! That’s perfect! Why didn’t I think of that?
rachel - Thanks! I like your idea of “re-reviewing” the Art of Ratatouille book as well, if possible. That might give us a few ideas. I’m also in favor or your suggestion to have Archibald come in as a special guest, if that is all right with him.
I’m fine with those times, as long as the rest of my family is. (They tend to use the “family computer”, as we call it, which is always occupied. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem if I asked them if I might “borrow” the computer for a couple of hours, though.)
Well, actually, you’re supposed to kind of swing your arm down forcefully while saying “Yes!”, but I’m just being nit-picky here.
My Best day will always range from Friday to Sunday. I am open on Fridays until 4:30PM-5:00PM. Saturdays, I am open from 1:00 PM on. Sundays are my total free days.
And I would be happy to do a ratatouille commentary with you guys, but if you plan on doing My Friend the Rat, count me out because not only will I won’t know what to say, I have never seen seen it yet.
Archibald: Well, it looks like we’re asking you if you’d like to come on as a “SPecial guest” for the Ratatouille commentary? You in? Mitch: Good to be in California, eh? I’m thinking of going to college there. And thanks! Rachel: Grr…why do time zones have to be like that? lol. I’m thinking of getting that digital copy you suggested, but i’m first going to try to get a portable DVD player. (by the way, the WALL•E 3-disc DVD is only 26 USD on Amazon.com! ) And i’ll be sure to do that fist-thing. TSS: Sorry about that. You can probably find it on Google Video, though, well, only major parts of it.
How’s this work for everyone?
Your Friend the Rat practice commentary
California - 5:00 PM, Friday (Mitch)
New Mexico - 6:00 PM, Friday (A113)
Illinois - 7:00 PM, Friday (M-O)
New York - 8:00 PM, Friday (qxgnxamy)
England - 1:00 AM, Saturday (lizardgirl)
South Australia - 10:30 AM, Saturday (rachelcakes1985)
Of course, this will be on future Fridays/Saturdays, but i’m just lookin’ for opinions. Some things that will need to happen:
Someone’s gonna have to do it late at night.
We’ll need Skype accounts.
We’ll need computer microphones.
We’ll need some snacks.
We’ll need some slience.
We’ll need some way to watch the short film.
A113 - Oh yeah, there are definitely some advantages to chillin’ in California. (snigger)
You’re welcome! I hope that you’ll be able to attend college here on the west coast!
I’m fine with those times, but perhaps we should choose a short film that everyone would be comfortable with. It wouldn’t be fair to leave The Star Swordsman out of the practice session, so maybe a different film should be chosen. Knick-Knack, perhaps, or Jack-Jack Attack? I’m just rolling out suggestions here…
My apologies for not responding to this earlier, but… I think that this is an awesome idea! I have no clue as to whether or not that would be legal, but I suppose that there’s no harm in e-mailing the company directly and asking for their opinion/policy on the matter.
I’d usually be okay with the late night on a Saturday, as I work Sundays, but unfortunately I’m working the whole of next weekend and the Saturday’s going to be a 9-5 for me. Therefore, 1am isn’t going to be great for that day.
But, if it’s for a Saturday that isn’t the one coming up, I can do it. It’s just next weekend that’s a bit awkward.
If you’d prefer, and if it’s be easier in terms of time zones, I could pull out on this one, as it looks like I’m being the annoying one here. Whatever will make this easier and run smoothly.
And thanks! 
lol. I’m thinking of getting that digital copy you suggested, but i’m first going to try to get a portable DVD player. (by the way, the WALL•E 3-disc DVD is only 26 USD on 
Sorry about that. You can probably find it on Google Video, though, well, only major parts of it. 