Film dubbing
Michele A. Berdy
maberdy at GMAIL.COM
Mon Oct 19 18:43:04 UTC 2009
The preference for dubbing, voice-over translations, or subtitles is an odd
and inexplicable thing: countries do it -- or get used to it -- one way, and
then most people think it's the "only" way. Most Russians like their films
either dubbed or with a voice over translation -- sometimes one voice,
sometime a man's voice doing all the men's lines and a woman's voice doing
all the women's lines, usually with a bit of the original language still
heard. Most Russians can't stand the thought of subtitles (in the same way
most Americans can't stand voice-over translations).
However, perhaps because of the fairly large number of English-speaking
Russians, a few films are subtitled these days. Local movie theater
schedules usually note what kind of translation is used. But I don't think
I've ever seen a subtitled film on television. DVDS, however, (sometimes)
come with a variety of audio tracks and subtitles. Several American TV shows
have never been shown on television here, but are sold on DVDs. (If you can
believe it, House has a incredible following.)
I do subtitling of films (in English), and most of the directors I work with
have never used them, don't know anything about them, have no idea what is
involved, and don't have a clue about placement. In most cases they've never
even seen a subtitled film. However, because Soviet films used to be
subtitled in foreign languages, there are several studios with magical
computer programs, translators who have been doing it for years, and nice
break rooms where we can drink coffee and commiserate.
BTW, Americans aren't such big subtitle fans. Most blockbuster-ish foreign
films are dubbed for the US audience, with subtitles relegated to "art house
cinemas."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh Olmsted" <hugh_olmsted at COMCAST.NET>
To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 9:47 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Film dubbing
> Colleagues--
>
> About film dubbing in Russia.
> Many Russian интеллигенты (intelligenty) are fed up with the
> near-universal practice there of dubbing; they try hard to get foreign
> films with subtitles (титры) so they can hear the original language,
> voices, accents, the whole original integral oeuvre d'art. But it's not
> easy.
> And I when resident in Russia, spoiled by my foreign background,
> certainly have no patience for this universal dubbing (one of whose
> manifestations is retention of the original sound track in the
> background, creating a serious sort of interference). When I ask
> Russians for interpretation and explanation of the practice, I'm
> frequently told that it's driven by the demands and momentum of the
> dubbing profession, whose members need work. I don't know whether that's
> a serious explanation...
> I wonder whether any one has insight or experience about the mechanisms
> at work in this issue, and/or possible movements for change in the
> direction of titry.
> Thanks for any contributions.
> Hugh Olmsted
>
>
> On Oct 19, 2009, at 1:23 PM, Richard Robin wrote:
>
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>>
>> I am happy to see responses on Russian dubbing. My own contribution is
>> this:
>>
>> In 2006, I was invited to watch a cartoon dubbing session at Nevafilm at
>> their Vasilievsky Ostrov studios. Nevafilm mostly dubs cartoons,
>> including
>> some major movie house releases as less noble Cartoon Channel fare.
>>
>> The firm employs local actors who specialize in voice work. Of course,
>> dubbing cartoons into a foreign language reverses the normal animation
>> process in which the voices are recorded first and the actual animation
>> is
>> then fitted to the recorded voices. Here the actor (doing all the
>> voices)
>> looked at the screen and tried to match his voice to the cartoon’s
>> original
>> sync dub.
>>
>> I was surprised that the dubbing director really ran roughshod over the
>> poor
>> actor. (e.g. Опять опаздываешь! Неужели нельзя внимательнее?) The
>> опоздание might
>> have been plus-minus a fifth of a second. The director insisted on take
>> after take after take. During a break I asked the script editor why the
>> director insisted on so many takes. After all, on takes that were so
>> close,
>> any discernible lip flap could be fixed in post production — much more
>> quickly than the time it took to do 10 takes. The script editor’s
>> answer: “У
>> нее подход традиционный”.
>>
>> This episode reinforced my original impression that dubbing in Russia is
>> very much an old school skill which commands respect but which places
>> great
>> demands on the dubbers.
>>
>> -Rich Robin
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 11:58 PM, Prof Steven P Hill
>> <s-hill4 at illinois.edu>wrote:
>>
>>> Dear colleagues, Kayiatos, Robin:
>>>
>>> Just occurs to me that Detfil'm's occasional actress Galina
>>> Vodianitskaia
>>> (Vodyanitskaya, 1918- ) in her years at that studio may have
>>> specialized
>>> as a voice actress i.e., may have specialized in dubbing. I once
>>> interviewed
>>> the famous Detfil'm director Il'ia Frez, who'd begun at Detfil'm as an
>>> assistant, including on the famous WW2 film "Zoia" ("Zoya"), in which
>>> young
>>> Vodianitskaia starred. Mr Frez may have mentioned about
>>> Vodianitskaia's
>>> frequent work
>>> in dubbing. (She was seen ON screen very few times.) -- Steven P Hill,
>>> U. of Illinois.
>>> _____________________________________________________________________
>>> ___
>>>
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ----
>>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ----
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard M. Robin, Ph.D.
>> Director Russian Language Program
>> The George Washington University
>> Washington, DC 20052
>> 202-994-7081
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Russkiy tekst v UTF-8
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the SEELANG
mailing list