Chris Meadows will probably be kicking me for being so late on this, but I think this is a perfect opportunity to bring attention to his hard work. Chris, you see, is a Miyazaki fan, and particularly his 1979 movie Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. Two years ago, he compiled and recorded an audio commentary .mp3 for the film.
The idea originally sprang from Roger Ebert, who suggested in a magazine column several years ago that people should begin recording their own DVD commentary tracks. They would offer their own unique points of view as cinephiles and experts in their own fields, and would help build the greater film community across the internet. This was an idea that began before the rise of weblogs or podcasts, so it was a little ahead of its time. Perhaps now (wouldn't it be cool to have a Conversations podcast?), we will finally see homebrew commentary tracks flourish.
Thanks to the recent Cagliostro DVD reissue by Manga, Chris has gone back and made numerous additions and edits to his audio commentary, keeping it as fresh and current as ever. His weblog details his creative process and how he compiled the information he imparts to his listeners.
Please pay Chris a visit and download his Cagliostro commentary, and be sure to send him a letter expressing your thanks. I've found it to be an enjoyable listen, and I'm looking forward to hearing the newest version.
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro - Audio Commentary
Chris Meadows weblog - That's All I've Got to Say
3 comments:
Hey, thanks for the shout-out! I'm flattered by all the attention. :)
I only wish more anime fans would record commentary tracks. So far mine and the one I more recently did for an episode of Robotech are the only two anime fan commentaries I've seen yet. You'd think there would be more.
This is not a bad idea, especially now that podcasting has become more and more popular. I would think a major hurdle would be the inexperience in making podcasts. Perhaps people believe them to be too difficult to create, requiring more expertise in, say, radio broadcasting, and computer programming. Hopefully, this will change.
I've toyed with the thought of putting out audio commentaries with video clips on YouTube, but, again, that requires some technical know-how that I don't possess. Also, there's no telling when said videos would be pulled by the suits at YT. Either way, there has to be a better solution, aside from giving lectures.
For anyone who might be interested, I have finally finished my new version of this commentary track. Completely rerecorded from scratch, and vetted for as many errors as I could correct, this should be a much better listening experience than the old one.
I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think!
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