Film Junk Premium Podcast: Independence Day Commentary Track

Posted by on July 3rd, 2013   Filed under: Featured, Film Junk Podcast, Premium Podcast

ID4 Commentary Track

As the good reverend would say, light the fires and kick the tires! Harry Conick Jr.’s loveable character Captain Jimmy Wilder is THRILLED that Film Junk has decided to release our very first audio commentary track covering Roland Emmerich’s modern disaster film “classic”, Independence Day! There’s no denying the fact that ID4 has had a big impact on modern blockbuster filmmaking, reviving the disaster film and influencing the current crop of comic book movies that consistently draw upon Emmerich’s brand of big city destruction. So now, 17 years later, we look back on this 90’s blockbuster staple to see how it holds up. While not all of us agree, we still had a lot of fun watching cocky Will Smith trade barbs with Ian Malcolm light. So, in the words of President Thomas J. Whitmore: “We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. So before you go quietly into the night, be sure to download this, the very first Film Junk commentary track! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!”

*It’s worth noting that for this commentary we talked about the theatrical release of the film and not the extended cut. Also, there are syncing instructions in the intro of the track.

» Download It Now!

This series of premium podcasts was created to help support the regular weekly Film Junk Podcast. Head on over to Bandcamp and download full episodes for a minimum donation of just 99 cents. As always, let us know if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any other suggestions for future specials. Thanks for your support!



  • Film Junk Fan 15

    Happy 4th Of July Film Junk!!!!!! Thanks for all the hard work you put into Premiums i will be purchasing this as soon as possibly.

  • Loren

    Currently watching and listening.. about halfway through.. great job! Your bashing the hell out of Harry Connick Jr. was hilarious (justly so) but you forgot to mention his best role as a serial killer in “Copycat” with Holly hunter and Sigourney Weaver which came out the year before ID4. Looked up ID4 on imdb and metacritic and Mike Clark from USA Today gave it 88/100 and that guy pretty much hates every movie from what I recall. Always hated that SOB!

  • Luke

    Wife and I just finished watching/listening. What a great idea. I look forward to many more of these. I was trying to figure out what kind of movies suit the concept best, and I’ve decided you guys were dead on with a Rolland Emmerich film. I think M. Night Shayamalan would work well too. Keep up the great work!

  • Loren

    Bwahahah! Greatest thing ever to bring up when Stealth Fighters are shown. I remember these damn things and everyone did want the Stealth Fighter fruit snack, it would make your day. Things were so simple when you were a kid..lol

  • Loren

    *Stealth Bomber* lol

  • Z

    Thank you! fantastic work, looking forward to more commentaries in the future!

  • Josef

    Awesome guys. I actually really liked the movie re-watching it a lot more than I thought I would. Great idea. Can’t wait for the next one!

  • parapa

    One suggestion if you keep doing commentaries as premiums, is you REALLY need to find a way to have it just be a single file. Forcing us to switch files mid-movie makes syncing a real pain in the ass, because you end up getting off by a few seconds every time you make the switch. If bandcamp forces you to use a minimum of 4 files, then maybe make 3 dummy files and then have the commentary as just 1? Or is it a length restriction?

  • Sean

    Bandcamp requires you to upload the original recording in WAV format and there is a file size restriction of 600 MB.

    We talked about the fact that this might cause issues but I assumed people could just queue the files up as a playlist. It’s possible that the syncing issues are on our end… the DVD skipped a few times during recording. Can anyone else confirm this?

    Hopefully we can iron out the kinks by the time we do another one. Thanks for downloading!

  • yoyo

    $4.44 is the only way to pay for this one. I’ll download after I’ve rewatched the movie. Haven’t seen it since I was like 12.

  • Luke

    Not sure what you are using to play, but I ran a playlist in MediaMonkey with no syncing issues at all (just make sure cross-fade is turned off). Hope this helps!

  • parapa

    Nope, was my fault for not realizing I could just put them in a playlist that would autoplay. Never had to do that for a commentary before, but I suppose it works, no sync issues if you do it that way.

  • Kasper F. Nielsen

    Guys, you’re completely fucked. Clearly the best Rolan Emmerich movie is Universal Soldier!

  • Sean

    Good point, I had hoped to rewatch this as well but didn’t have time before we recorded the commentary.

  • Dave

    You guys rock as usual! Keep up the great work and I’ll be right there buying every single one!

  • Sam

    Good work guys. I rewatched the movie last night and then listened to the commentary separately this morning. Still effective.

    Hadn’t watched the movie since watching it repeatedly on VHS when I was 12 or so kinda wanted to watch it on its own.

  • Sam

    I could be wrong since I didn’t actually watch the movie at the same time while listening to the podcast, but I think Jay is wrong in saying Bill Pullman says “We fight for our Independence Day”.

    Doesn’t he say “We will not vanish without a fight…etc” and then says something like “Today, we CELEBRATE our Independence Day”

  • parapa

    Nope, you’re right, Jay gets the line wrong. It’s “Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” which makes sense

  • Kenneth Serenyi

    Great job guys! This was a great commentary and I appreciate all the viewings of the movie you guys did beforehand to prepare. I enjoyed it but I still prefer the old style of reviewing multiple movies. Have you guys thought about Spielberg films, Mel Brooks films, even Godzilla films? Cheers!

  • devolutionary

    Since I don’t own ID4, I’m tentative on tracking it down again. Not on Netflix Canada and I’d rather rent something else anyways. I know the TV editted version comes on ad nauseum but I’ll just download the commentary and listen to it on its own. It’s probably far more satisfying than the movie ever was. I think the only time I ever truly enjoyed the film was during my initial viewing.

  • tjg92

    Good commentary, I think it’s a good idea.

  • Jay M.

    I laughed hard at Jay going in on the president’s daughter considering her future role as Ann on Arrested Development:

    “…a complete waste of time”

    “There’s that girl again.”

    “Does she even have any lines?”

    lol

  • Napalm

    Lot of funny bits.. enjoyed it a lot! But one tiny criticism… I wish you guys focused on the specific scenes more instead talking about the movie in general.

  • kyri

    I wrote a c++ program that is able to automatically sync commentary from multiple audio files with the film. I will release it in a few days for future shows. I need to do some minor debugging first. here is a preview: https://vimeo.com/69820529 You will just put the audio files in a folder called audio and the film in a folder called video and you just run it and it does the rest. Once synced it even does automatic calibration while you watch and listen to the commentary. You will be able to pause resume and jump forward without the need of having to resync again. :)

  • Ripplesdip

    I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks a lot.

  • Sean

    That sounds pretty cool.

    We were wondering about this before we started recording actually… are there already any other programs out there that people use for syncing fan-made audio commentaries?

  • Joachim Lothe-Rikenberg

    There really is a lot of liquor in this flick. I had to join ‘em. Had a blas. Thanks guys. I’d pay for more of these premiums. Fun time.

  • kyri

    I searched for other solutions before bothering to write code but no software that I am aware of exists out-there able to sync commentary that is separated in 4 -5 files. You can sort of do it with VLC but you must first compile and export the files in one file that takes A LOT of time, you might as well sync it with adobe:premier…

    here is a link for the prototype if people want to try it out:

    https://www.box.com/s/bgjv8oq76dcxk9gaeo37

    (mac only 4now)

    next weekend I hope to write code for the GUI and allow the user to load the files within the program (now you have to put them in specific folders and then run the program)

    If any programmers outhere that own a pc are willing to help I can send you the source code to compile it for pc users..

  • kyri

    ok.. I’ve finished the program:

    https://www.box.com/s/97exwzltsriz7h61pkqj

    FilmJunkPlayer 2.1 is the latest version. make sure you have it.

    Open the program

    click on FILM to load your Film file.

    click on JUNK to point to your Bandcamp filmJunk folder

    WAIT ……… (3-10 sec)

    Sync by pausing vid or audio and click Lock when you think you got it.

    Done.

    Now you have one Timeline. (for real this time)

    This is a solid solid build. You sync it once you lock it and its done. you are set for life.

    ->fixed a bug that caused sync problems when toggling to fulscreen.

    The program still has one bug that I am aware of , but since it is not sync related I will fix it in future versions.

    ffff…

  • devolutionary

    Very cool! A shame that I don’t run a Mac at home.

  • kyri

    I am going to make a pc version as well. First we must spot all the minor bugs and then I will seek for a pc to compile the code. If you have any experience with codeblocks I can send you the source code

  • devolutionary

    While I have some experience with C++ (been awhile; @ our work, everything’s moved to C#/.NET), I have not used the CodeBlocks environment before. Will check it out.

  • kyri

    Great!! Once I have finished with debugging I will send you the code — I need to give it some time,just to be sure that it works perfectly on a mac before opening another can of worms.. ..It shouldn’t be that big of a deal to compile it on pc.. (I think)

  • Sam

    I’m cocky Will Smeeeeth!

  • Tony D’Amico

    I agree for the most part, but I have a strong attraction to The Patriot, I know it’s incredibly heavy handed with it’s push for patriotism for Americans (and I hate that as well). But it has some pretty awesome action scenes and some good violence, specifically when Mel is murdering the corpse of the redcoat well after he’s dead while his children stare in horror.

  • Tony D’Amico

    This was a great idea guys, I didn’t watch the film with the commentary but I still was laughing my ass off at work listening to it. And thank you Frank, I have been saying for years that when Will Smith is a cocky asshole in films, I can’t stand him…nobody ever agrees with me.