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mpelishek
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 Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:11 pm Post subject: Kung Fu dubs |
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I love kung fu movies, new and old. I've always wondered where the VOs for english dubs come from. The old 70s kung fu are classic examples of the awful VO associated with kung fu, and while some are much better in current movies, some are just as bad. I just bought one that came out last year, and the dub was ridiculous. I'm curious why this is. Do they just not pay much for VOs and get whoever is willing?
Do these things even show up in the market for professional VOs? |
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Bruce
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7977
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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I can only speak from my limited experience, having acted in an Italian produced movie here in Arizona many years ago. They used German and Italian actors with very thick accents (along with several Yanks) and even though they shot everything with a mic, they never intended to use the audio and therefore shot with a camera with no sound dampening on the body. They then chose voice talent back in Rome to overdub everything. They made some odd choices and some very bad ones, too. They also dubbed it into several other languages there for distribution throughout Europe and Asia.
Funny thing, they had us sing Amazing Grace in a short church scene and instead of corralling 20 people to sing it in studio, they just used the original audio. You can hear the camera whirring away in the background. Oh, and the title of this classic? Thunder Warrior III, the third installment in this epic series. Rent it if you dare! if you can even find it
B
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mpelishek
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| Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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Haha, that is awesome! That gives you a solid 8 awesome points in my book. As much as I'm curious about these awful dubs, a part of me really loves them.
I'm just one of a million guys trying to learn this business, but I can honestly say I'd be thrilled if I got to VO english dub for a crappy, b-rate movie. Even more so if its a kung fu movie. |
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craigcrumpton
Been Here Awhile
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 240
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:12 pm Post subject: Re: Kung Fu dubs |
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| mpelishek wrote: | I love kung fu movies, new and old. I've always wondered where the VOs for english dubs come from. The old 70s kung fu are classic examples of the awful VO associated with kung fu, and while some are much better in current movies, some are just as bad. I just bought one that came out last year, and the dub was ridiculous. I'm curious why this is. Do they just not pay much for VOs and get whoever is willing?
Do these things even show up in the market for professional VOs? |
First let me state that I'm no authority on the subject. I only know good and bad dubs when I hear them, and have only some ADR for an indie film to my credit.
So this is my non-industry opinion based on a little research and what I've heard at convention panels.
As I understand it, distributors sometimes get the rights to dub and distribute foreign films fairly cheap. They'll cast local talent through agencies, Craigslist or other online resources and may or may not offer pay. The talent sometimes end up being crew/staff or locals who agree to work for copy/credit or very minimal pay.
Distributors/Studios with a modest budget will cast locally or will outsource to other studios, like better-quality anime dubs produced by such companies as FUNimation, Bang Zoom, 4Kids and et cetera.
Even union dubs don't pay very well and they're time-consuming, which is why VO vets like our resident Bob Bergen tend to turn them down.
The best piece of info I've heard on why the early dubs of Kung Fu movies and the cult classic "Godzilla" were so bad came directly from the source, the great character actor James Hong, at Dragon*Con 2008. Hong said that he dubbed several Chinese films in the 50s, sometimes voicing as many as 10 different characters in them. And sometimes he and the other voice talents involved would go very broad and over-the-top with their performances so they would contrast from other characters they were also voicing.
And rather than the standard ADR studio set-up where you're syncing your voice to the film shown on a monitor or screen, the movies he was hired to dub for the same client took place in a regular recording studio with no visual reference at all.
Hong said he even asked the engineer and producer about this and they told him not to worry about it.
Afterwards, the English-dubbed dialog was spliced into the audio track for the film with no attempt to match the lip-flap. And the result -- awesomely bad lip-sync and silly character voice acting -- became film history... something that continues to be spoofed to this very day.
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mpelishek
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| Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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| wow, thanks Craig, thats some great info! Makes a lot of sense too. There are a few companies afloat that still bring in foriegn films consistently, but there isn't a huge market for it here, so I can see them needing to cut costs everywhere they can. Interesting stuff! |
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