Dubbing (filmmaking)

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For dubbing in music recording, see Dubbing (music)

In filmmaking, dubbing or looping is the process of recording or replacing voices for a motion picture. The term is most commonly used in reference to voices recorded that do not belong to the original actors and speak in a different language than the actor is speaking. "Dubbing" can also be used to describe the process of re-recording lines by the actor who originally spoke them. This process is technically known as automated dialogue replacement, or ADR.

Although dubbing is most common with film, television series are sometimes dubbed as well (mostly popular Hollywood series and serialized Japanese anime that have received foreign distribution). Foreign-language films and videos are often dubbed into the local language of their target markets to increase their popularity with the local audience by making them more accessible.

[edit] Automated dialogue replacement / post-sync

Automated dialogue replacement (ADR) is a film sound technique involving the re-recording of dialogue after photography. It is called post-synchronization (post-sync) in the UK. Also referred to as "Additional dialogue recording".

In conventional film production, a production sound mixer records dialogue during photography, but several uncontrollable issues, such as traffic or animal noise, during principal photography can cause the production sound to be unusable. This is also true for computer-generated imagery, since some of the "actors" were not actually present at the set.

When the film is in post-production, a Supervising Sound Editor or ADR Supervisor reviews all of the dialogue in the film and rules which actor lines will have to be replaced using the ADR technique.

ADR is recorded during an ADR session. An actor, usually the original actor on set, is called to a sound studio equipped with video playback equipment and sound playback and recording equipment. The actor wears headphones and is shown the film of the line that must be replaced, and often he or she will be played the production sound recording. The film is then projected several times, and the actor attempts to re-perform the line while watching the image on the screen, while an ADR Recordist records the performances. Several takes are made, and based on the quality of the performance and sync, one is selected and edited by an ADR Editor for use in the film.

There are variations of the ADR process. ADR does not have to be recorded in a studio, but can be recorded on location, with mobile equipment; this process was pioneered by Matthew Wood of Skywalker Sound for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. ADR can also be recorded without showing the actor the image they must match, but only by having him listen to the performance. This process was used for years at Universal Studios.

An alternative method, called "rythmo band” (or "lip-sync band") was historically used in Canada and France. This band provides a more precise guide for the actors, directors and technicians and can be used to complement the traditional headphone method. The band is actually a clear 35 mm film leader on which is written, in India ink, the dialogue and numerous indications for the actor (laughs, cries, length of syllables, mouth sounds, mouth openings and closings, etc.). The lip-sync band is projected in studio and scrolls in perfect synchronization with the picture. Thanks to the high efficiency of the lip-sync band, the number of retakes are reduced, resulting in a substantial savings in recording time (as much as 50% compared to headphones-only recording).

Historically, the preparation of the lip-sync band is a long, tedious and complex process involving a series of specialists in an old fashioned manual production line. Until recently, such constraints have prevented this technique from being adopted internationally, particularly in the United States.

Advanced software technology has been able to digitally reproduce the rythmo-band output in a fraction of the time. This technology is being adapted in all markets and is proven to reduce the amount of studio time and number of takes required for actors to achieve accurate synchronization.

Using the traditional ADR technique (headphones and video) actors can average 10-12 lines per hour. Using the newer digital rythmo-band technologies, actors can output from 35-50 lines per hour, and much more with experience. Studio output with multiple actors can therefore reach 2-4 hundred lines per hour. dubStudio has pioneered the digital rythmo-band technology and has been used by several large dubbing studios.

Although many actors are trained to sing,^{[citation needed]} few are of professional quality. Therefore, if a character must sing well in a movie, ADR is usually used to redub their singing. This technique was used by, among many others, Billy Boyd and Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings.

Adding or replacing non-vocal sounds, such as sound effects, is the task of a foley artist.

[edit] Practice of dubbing foreign films throughout the world

Dubbing is often used to localize a foreign movie. The new voice track will usually be spoken by a voice artist. In many countries, most actors who regularly perform this duty are generally little-known, outside of popular circles such as anime fandom, for example, or when their voice has become synonymous with the role or the actor or actress whose voice they usually dub. Many of these actors also employ pseudonyms or go uncredited due to Screen Actors Guild regulations or simple desire to dissociate themselves from the role. However, famous local actors can also be hired to perform the dubbing, particularly for comedies and animated movies, as their names are supposed to attract moviegoers, and the entire Hollywood cast is dubbed by a local cast of similar notoriety.

[edit] Europe

In the Russian, Spanish or Italian-speaking markets, virtually all foreign films and television shows are dubbed. There are few opportunities to watch foreign movies in their original versions, and even in the largest cities there are virtually no cinemas that screen original versions with subtitles, or no translation at all. However, digital Pay-TV programming is nowadays often also available in the English original, including the latest movies.

Russian television is generally dubbed with only a couple of voice actors, with the original speech still audible underneath.

Italy is the country where dubbing is most used and has the highest artistic and technical quality, with a long work tradition since the 1920s in Rome, Milan and Turin. Rome is the principal base of dubbing, when they dub major production as movies, drama, documentaries and some cartoons, in Milan instead are usually dubbed cartoons and some minor productions. In big cities also can be seen the movies in Original Version. The subtitles are offered usually on night programmes on generalist televisions, and on pay TV all movies are available on English/Italian subtitles, and so many shows in original English track.

In Germany, Austria and the German speaking part of Switzerland, most films are shown in the dubbed versions created for the German market. In big cities though, there are theaters where movies can be seen in their original versions as English has become more popular, especially among younger viewers. On TV, few movies are subtitled, although Pay-per-view programming is often available in its original language.

Some movies dubbed before the unification exist in different versions for the east and the west. They use different translations, and often they are different in the style of dubbing.

In France, movies and TV series are always released dubbed in French. Films are usually released theatrically in both dubbed and original versions in large cities main street theatres, and a theatre showing a subtitled movie typically has a sign on the poster advising the moviegoers the movie is in the original language version (usually abbreviated VO version originale as opposed to VF version française). Art house movies are often available in their original version only due to limited distribution.

In Slovenia, all foreign films and television programmes are subtitled without exceptions. Traditionally, children movies and animated cartoons used to be dubbed, but subtitling has gradually spread into that genre, as well. Nowadays, only movies for preschool children, who cannot read, remain dubbed.

In Croatia foreign films and TV series are always subtitled while some children programs and cartoons are dubbed into Croatian. Recently more efforts have been made to introduce dubbing, but public reception was poor. Regardless of language, Croatian audience prefers subtitling to dubbing. Some, previously quite popular, shows (e.g. Sailor Moon) lost their appeal completely after dubbing started and were eventually taken off the program. Situation is similar with theatre movies with only those intended for children being dubbed (Finding Nemo, Shark Tale) but they are also regularly shown subtitled as well.

In Serbia (and most other Serbo-Croat speaking parts of former Yugoslavia), all foreign films and TV series are always subtitled while children movies and cartoons are dubbed into Serbo-Croat. The dubbing of cartoon classics during the 80's had a twist of its own: famous Belgrade actors provided the voices for Bugs, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Goofy, Donald Duck and other characters, frequently using region-specific phrases and sentences and thus adding a dose of local humor to the translation of the original lines. These phrases became immensely popular and are still being used for tongue-in-cheek comments in specific situations. Even though these dubbed classics are seldom aired nowadays, younger generations continue to use these phrases without even knowing their true origin.

In Hungary, practically all television programmes are dubbed, and about 50 per cent of movies in theaters. In the socialist era, every one of them was dubbed in high quality with professional and mostly popular actors. In the early 1990s subtitling became dominant in cinema, forcing TV channels to make their own cheap versions of dub soundtracks for movies they presented, resulting in a constant degrading in dubbing quality, which once became customary, cinema distributors brought back the habit of dubbing to cinemas for popular productions, presenting them with the quality varying from very poor to average. However, every single feature is presented with original soundtrack in at least one cinema in large towns and cities.

In Slovakia, virtually all foreign films and television programmes shown on television are dubbed, often by well-known actors. Most movies reach the same quality as the original ones, sometimes even surpass the original, as in the case of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame where the dubbing actors were arguably better singers than their English-speaking counterparts.^{[citation needed]} In movie theatres, films are usually shown subtitled, unless they're intended for children of 12 years of age and younger; Slovak law requires those films be dubbed or rated as MP-12 (roughly equivalent to PG-13, without a cautionary meaning in this case.)^{[citation needed]}. Movie theatres sometimes offer both dubbed and subtitled screenings for either very major movie releases (e.g. the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy) that would have otherwise not been dubbed, or conversely for children's films or family films that are expected to also attract mature viewers (e.g. Shrek) to maximize the potential audience.

In Spain, practically all foreign television programmes are shown dubbed in Spanish, as are most films. Some dubbing actors have achieved popularity for their voices like Constantino Romero, who dubs Clint Eastwood, Darth Vader and Schwarzenegger's Terminator among others. In Catalonia however, Televisió de Catalunya has the option of dual (choice between the dubbed into Catalan and the original version) for most of the foreign imports regardless of the language. This option has a limited access depending on the user's television and remote.

In Greece, all films are released theatrically in their original versions and contain subtitles. Only cartoon films (e.g. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles etc.) are released in both original and dubbed versions, for children that cannot yet read fast or at all. Foreign TV shows are also shown in their original versions except for most cartoons. For example The Flintstones is always dubbed, while Family Guy is subtitled and contains the original dialogue, since it is mostly for adults rather than children.

In Finland, dubbing is exclusively used in young children's cartoons, as in Greece. Cartoon films and other films for children are usually released dubbed in Finnish, although many theaters also screen the original versions. For the 5% Swedish-speaking minority, the dubbed version from Sweden is also made available at certain cinemas, and later on video/DVD. In the early ages of television, foreign tv-shows and movies were dubbed by one actor in Finland, as in Russian Gavrilov translation. Later subtitles became a practice also in Finnish television.

In Latvia, dubbing is hugely popular - almost all shows are dubbed.

In Poland, theatrical releases are almost exclusively subtitled, and television screenings of movies, as well as made-for-TV shows, are usually shown with the original soundtrack kept, and translation spoken over by lector - it is almost exactly the same as the so-called Gavrilov translation in Russia. Standard dubbing is not seen with great appeal by most audiences, with the exception of animated and children movies and shows, which are often dubbed both in theatrical and TV releases. One of the major breakthroughs in dubbing was the Polish release of Shrek, which contained many references to local culture and Polish sense of humor. From that time, people seem to like dubbed version more, and pay more attention to dubbing crew - however, it seems that it's the case only with animated films, as live-action dubbing is still considered a bad practice. In the case of DVD, most discs contain both the original soundtrack and subtitles, and either lector or dubbed Polish track.

In Romania, virtually all programmes intended for children are dubbed in Romanian, including cartoons on Jetix, Cartoon Network, Minimax as well as those shown on generalist television networks, children-focused series like Power Rangers, The New Addams Family, The Planet's Funniest Animals and animation movies or movies screened on children television networks (e.g. Babe, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Finding Nemo, Cars or Shrek the Third). Other foreign TV shows and movies are shown in the original language with Romanian subtitles. Usually dubbing is disliked in the Romanian market and subtitles are preferred, except for children-intended programmes.

In Soviet Union most foreign movies to be officially released were dubbed, however with the fall of the regime many popular foreign movies, previously forbidden or at least questionable under communist rule started flooding in, in the form of low-quality pirated videos. Being unofficial releases, they were dubbed in a very primitive way, i.e. the translator spoke the text directly over the audio of a video being copied, using most primitive equipment. The quality of the resulting dub was very low, the translated phrases were off-sync, interfered with the original voices, background sounds leaked into, translation was inaccurate and most importantly, all dub voices were made by a single person and usually lacked intonation of the original, making comprehension of some scenes quite difficult. In modern Russia, the overdubbing technique is still used in many cases, although with vastly improved quality and now with multiple voice actors dubbing different original voices.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the vast majority of foreign films are subtitled although some, mostly animated films and TV programmes, are dubbed in English. These usually originate from North America as opposed to being dubbed locally, although there have been notable examples of films and TV programmes successfully dubbed in the UK, such as Monkey and The Magic Roundabout.

Some animated films and TV programmes are also dubbed into Welsh and Gaelic, including the animated series Fireman Sam, known in Welsh as Sam Tân and Gaelic as Sam Smalaidh. Similarly, in Ireland, animated series shown on TG4 are shown dubbed in Irish.

[edit] Americas

In Spanish-American countries, all foreign language programmes, films, cartoons and documentaries shown in free aired TV channels are dubbed into Neutral Spanish, while in cable and satellite pan-regional channels are both dubbed or subtitled. For theaters, only the films made for children are dubbed into Neutral Spanish and sometimes dubbed into local Spanish for major markets like Mexican and Argentinean ones.

In Brazil, foreign programmes are invariably dubbed into Portuguese in broadcast TV, with only a few exceptions. Films shown at cinemas are usually subtitled (only children movies have dubbed versions at cinemas). Pay TV commonly offers both dubbed and subtitled movies but subtitling is predominant. Foreign TV shows are always subtitled in Brazilian Pay TV.

In Quebec, Canada, most films and TV programmes in English are dubbed into Quebec French with an International French accent, and others, such as films made by DreamWorks, have French dubs imported from France. Such a practice was criticized by Mario Dumont after he took his children to see the Parisian French dub of Shrek the Third, which Dumont found incomprehensible. This has the advantage of making children's TV series comprehensible to younger audiences, but many bilingual Quebecois prefer subtitling since they would understand some or all of the original audio. Most American television series are only available in English on DVD, or on English language channels, but some of the more popular ones have Quebec dubs shown on mainstream networks. A number of adult cartoons, such as The Simpsons, are dubbed in Quebec French.

In the United States, dubbing is rare except for animations: televised Japanese anime is almost always aired in its dubbed format regardless of its content or target age group, with the sole exceptions occurring either when an English dub has not been produced for the program (usually in the case of feature films) or when the program is being presented by a network that places importance on presenting it in its original format (as was the case when Turner Classic Movies aired several of Hayao Miyazaki's works, which were presented both dubbed and subtitled). Most anime DVDs contain options for original Japanese, Japanese with subtitles, and English dubbed, except for a handful of series which have been heavily edited and/or Americanized.

[edit] Asia

China has a long tradition of dubbing foreign films into the Mandarin Chinese which started in 1930s. Beginning from late 1970s, not only films, but popular TV series from the US, Japan and Mexico were also dubbed. The Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio has been the most celebrated one in the dubbing industry in China. In order to generate high-quality products, they divide each film into short segments, each one lasting only a few minutes, and then work on the segments one by one. In addition to the correct meaning in translation, they make tremendous effort to match the lips of the actors. As a result, viewers can hardly detect that the films they are seeing are actually dubbed. The cast of dubbers is acknowledged at the end of a dubbed film. Quite a few dubbing actors and actresses of the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio became well-known celebrities, among whom are Qiu Yuefeng, Bi Ke, Li Zi, and Liu Guangning.

In Thailand, foreign television programmes are dubbed, but the original soundtrack is often simultaneously carried or "simulcast" on the radio.

In Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, South American telenovelas are dubbed, while English language programmes are usually shown in the original language with subtitles.

In India, where "foreign films" are synonymous with Hollywood films, dubbing is done mostly in Hindi which is the national language & few regional languages like Tamil and Telugu, the finished works are released into the towns and lower tier settlements of the respective states (where English penetration is low), often with the English language originals being released in the metros of the same. In all other states, the English originals are released along with the dubbed versions where often the dubbed version collections are outstanding than original. The most recent dubbing of Spider-Man 3 was also done in Bhojpuri a language popular in northern India.

In Vietnam, foreign-language films and programs are dubbed on television, usually with just one voice actor. Programs aimed at children might have multiple voice actors. Chinese-language series available on DVD or for rent are dubbed with multiple voice actors, done by overseas Vietnamese. Subtitling is rarely seen.

In multilingual Singapore, English language programmes on the free to air terrestrial channels are usually subtitled in Chinese or Malay, while Chinese, Malay and Tamil programmes are almost always are subtitled in English. Dual sound programs like Korean and Japanese dramas offer sound in original languages and subtitled or are Mandarin dubbed and subtitled. The deliberate policy to encourage Mandarin among citizens has led to other Chinese dialects (Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew) programmes to be dubbed into Mandarin; exceptions being traditional operas. In a recent development, news bulletins are subtitled.

[edit] Africa

In South Africa, many television programmes, including Beverly Hills, 90210 were dubbed in Afrikaans, with the original soundtrack (usually in English, but sometimes Dutch or German) "simulcast" in FM stereo on Radio 2000. However, this has declined as a result of the reduction of airtime for the language on SABC TV, and the increase of locally produced material in Afrikaans on other channels like KykNet and MK89. Similarly, many programmes, such as The Jeffersons, were dubbed into Zulu[2], but this has declined as local drama production has increased.

[edit] Oceania

In common with other English-speaking countries, there has traditionally been little dubbing in Australia, with foreign language television programmes and films being shown (usually on SBS) with subtitles. This has also been the case in New Zealand, but the Maori Television Service, launched in 2004, has dubbed animated films, like Watership Down, into Maori. However, some TV commercials which originated from foreign countries are dubbed, even if the original commercial came from another English-speaking country.

[edit] Insistence on Subtitling

Main article: Subtitle (captioning)

Subtitles can be used instead of dubbing, as different countries have different traditions regarding the choice between dubbing and subtitling. In most English-speaking countries, dubbing is comparatively rare. In Israel, some programmes need to be comprehensible to speakers of both Hebrew and Arabic or Russian. This cannot be accomplished with dubbing, so subtitling is much more commonplace — sometimes even with subtitles in both languages, with the soundtrack remaining in the original language, usually English. The same thing also applies to certain television shows in Finland, where Finnish and Swedish are both official languages.

In the Netherlands, Flanders, Nordic countries and Estonia, films and television programmes are shown in the original language (usually English) with subtitles, and only cartoons and children movies and programs are dubbed, such as the Harry Potter series, Finding Nemo, Shrek, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory etc. Cinemas usually both show a dubbed version and one with subtitles of this kind of movies, with the subtitled version later in the evening.

In Portugal this has traditionally also been the case (at least for live-action material), but one terrestrial channel, TVI, dubs US series like Dawson's Creek into Portuguese. RTP also transmitted Friends in a dubbed version, but it was poorly received and later re-aired in a subtitled version. Cartoons, on the other hand, are usually dubbed, sometimes by well-known actors, even on TV. Animated movies are usually released to the cinemas in both subtitled and dubbed versions.

On DVDs with higher translation budgets, the option for both types will often be provided to account for individuals' preferences; purists often demand subtitles. For small markets (small language area or films for a select audience) subtitling is more suitable because it is cheaper. For films for small children, who can not yet read, or not yet very fast, dubbing is necessary.

[edit] Other uses

Dubbing is occasionally used on network television broadcasts of films which have dialogue that the network executives or censors have decided to replace; this is usually done to remove profanity. In most cases, the original actor does not perform this duty; instead, an actor with a similar voice is called in. The results are sometimes seamless, but in many cases the voice of the replacement actor sounds nothing like the original performer, which becomes particularly noticeable when extensive dialogue needs to be replaced. Also, often easy to notice, is the sudden absence of background noise during the dubbed dialogue. Among the films considered notorious for using substitute actors that sound very different from their theatrical counterparts are the Smokey and the Bandit and Die Hard film series as shown on broadcasters such as TBS.

Dubbing is commonly used in science fiction television as well. Sound generated by effects equipment such as animatronic puppets or by actors' movements on elaborate multi-level plywood sets (e.g., starship bridges or other command centers) will quite often make the original character dialogue unusable. Stargate and Farscape are two prime examples where ADR is used heavily to produce usable audio.

Since many anime series contain some amount of profanity, the studios recording the English dubs often re-record certain lines if a series or movie is going to be broadcast on Cartoon Network, removing references to death and hell as well. Some companies will offer both an edited version and uncut version of the series on DVD, so there is also an edited script in case the series is broadcast. Other companies also edit the full-length version of a series, meaning that even on the uncut DVD, characters say things like "Blast!" "Darn!" in place of the original dialogue's profanity (Bandai Entertainment's English dub of G Gundam is infamous for this, among many other things).

Although there are many fans who prefer the series dubbed in English, there are still many people who would prefer the undubbed version to air on TV, only with subtitles.

Dubbing into a foreign language does not always entail the deletion of the original language; in some countries, a performer may read the translated dialogue as a voiceover. This often occurs in Russia and Poland, where "lektories" or "lektors" read the translated dialogue into Russian and Polish. In Poland, a single person reads all parts of the performance, both male and female. However, it is almost exclusively done for the television and home video markets, while theatrical releases are usually subtitled. Though, as of recently, the amount of high-quality, fully dubbed films has increased, especially for cartoons and children's movies. If a quality dubbed version exists for some film, it is shown in theaters (however, some films, such as Harry Potter or Star Wars, are shown in both dubbed and subtitled versions varying with the time of the show) as well as on TV (although some channels drop it and do standard one narrator translation) and VHS/DVD. In other countries, like Vietnam, the voiceover technique is also used for theatrical releases.

In Russia, the reading of all lines by a single person is referred to as a Gavrilov translation, and is generally found only in pirated copies of films and on cable television. Professional copies always include at least two actors of opposite gender translating the dialogue (some titles in Poland have been dubbed this way, too, but this method lacks public appeal so it is very rare now).

On special occasions, such as film festivals, live translation is often done by professional interpreters. See also dubtitle.

[edit] Criticism and defence of dubbing

Dubbing has been criticised in several ways, particularly in countries where it is not common practice.

Those who dislike dubbing sometimes claim that it devalues films or TV programs, as original soundtracks are closer to what the director intended. Some feel that dubbing can make the film or program less authentic. For example, Nazi officers in WWII movies can be distracting to some if not speaking German, while in the German-dubbed versions of these films, the contrast between the Nazis and the heroes is lost. The best example here is from the Indiana Jones movies, where the Nazi characters had to be dubbed by native Germans for the German release and for the later re-release of the movies for television and DVD, they kept the dubbed lines even for original soundtrack to make it more authentic. Likewise, some claim it is distracting in English dubbed anime when many characters speak in North American accents, which may not match their ethnicity and nationality or the time and setting of the story. Similarly, in dubbed versions the different accents of the protagonists which may be important to the story (for example in Upstairs, Downstairs, portraying the lives of a upper-class London family and their servants in the early 20th century) can not always be adequately reproduced in certain languages. In addition, a significant part of actor's performance consists of their vocal inflections. Very often, memorable lines from popular films are frequently quoted, not for their substance, but for the way they were spoken; a good example is a famous sentence, uttered by Jack Nicholson, in the film A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!". For these reasons, some may feel they miss part of film's artistic value when watching a film dubbed into another language.

Also, lip synchronization is normally lost when dubbing, even with quality dubbing between closely related languages. There are examples which have been reshot or reanimated to remedy this problem.

Defenders of dubbing maintain that subtitling interferes with the visual experience, as it obscures part of the picture. Some people also find that the act of reading itself is distracting, especially in pictures that rely on subtle motion: one would be too busy reading the subtitles to pay attention to what everyone is doing. Also, some viewers who understand both the original language and the language used in the subtitles say they find that it is confusing and distracting to mentally process the dialogues in both languages at the same time. In other cases, viewers may not consider subtitling (and alternate forms of translation) to be distracting or inadequate; rather, they simply chose to listen to dubbed versions as a matter of personal preference. These people sometimes argue that as long as dubbing does not prevent others from viewing programs in the language format that they chose, it finds its merit simply because there are people who enjoy dubbing.

In many European countries, Hollywood movies are regularly dubbed and some people maintain that a creative translation (not necessarily faithful to the original English words) can bring more fun and depth to films, so that the supposedly more demanding European audience will not find them as tedious. In Hungary it is common for translators to create the Hungarian text to rhyme for comedies and cartoons with well-known local actors providing their voices to read it. The most famous example is perhaps the The Flintstones, with its entire Hungarian text in rhymes.

In the case of languages with large communities (like English, Chinese, German, Spanish or French), a single translation may sound foreign to some groups, or even all of them. This is why a film may be translated to a certain language more than once: for example, the animated movie The Incredibles was translated to European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish and Rioplatense Spanish. However, people from Chile and Uruguay clearly noticed a strong porteño accent from most of the characters of the Rioplatense Spanish translation.

The many martial arts movies from Hong Kong that were imported under the unofficial banner Kung Fu Theater were notorious for their seemingly careless dubbing which included poor lip sync and awkward dialogue. Being that the results were frequently unintentionally hilarious, this has become one of the hallmarks that endear these films to part of the 1980s culture.

[edit] New technology

It is now becoming possible to overcome some of the problems associated with dubbing using new technology. An application developed at New York University, known as Video Rewrite, uses computer animation to match lip movements with the new voice track. In a video clip made using this technology, John F. Kennedy appears to be saying "Video Rewrite gives lip-synced movies".^[1]

TM Systems received Emmy awards in 2002 and 2007 for their dubbing and subtitling software.^[2]

Media Movers, Inc, a dubbing company,has developed a proprietary software which can automatically sync ADR/dubbed tracks with pre-defined algorithms.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• A semiolinguistic study of audiovisual translation. Doctoral Thesis (French)
• How to film with non-synchronized cameras and dub