"Peppa Pig" Chinese voice actor Chen Yiwen.
Stills from Peppa Pig.
"I'm Page, this is my brother George; this is my mom, this is my dad..." Since the British cartoon "Peppa Pig" was introduced to China two years ago, this opening statement has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the pink "Peppa Pig" has become one of the children's favorite cartoon characters.
In this play, the owner of the playful and cute voice of the protagonist "Page" is Chen Yiwen, a new generation of voice actors from Shanghai. At a young age, she already has 8 years of dubbing experience. From TV series, movies, cartoons to stage plays and games, she has played no less than a hundred roles; and her voice has followed the characters into a thousand postures, flying into ordinary people's homes and into the ears of the audience.
Text/Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Cai Lingyue Photo/Provided by the interviewee
Communicating with Chen Yiwen, what felt most deeply to the reporter was her modesty. Despite her good results, she has always maintained a low posture and a normal heart. In her work, she can "go to heaven and earth", and even break the "dimensional wall" without any pressure, but she laughs at herself as a "boring" person in life. "But in the process of dubbing, I can release a lot of emotions and feelings that I have never encountered in my life, and I feel that the soul of that moment is very fresh and free."
Mistakenly hit the line
Chen Yiwen is a native of Suzhou, graduated from Tongji University majoring in television editing and directing, and initially did not come from a science class, in her own words, entering the dubbing industry is purely "yin and yang mistake".
Her first recording experience dates back 8 years, when, like many viewers, she knew nothing about the dubbing industry, thinking that the films she saw on TV were the voices of the actors themselves. Until a chance in 2010, a Taiwanese idol movie was about to be broadcast on CCTV6, the film side needed to find a clean voice for the heroine that did not have a Taiwanese accent, but also slightly green, and Chen Yiwen, who was still a "layman" at the time, participated in the audition, and was actually selected by the film side, and accidentally hit and started his own dubbing road.
The road didn't start out easily. The heroine in the movie is a pair of twin sisters with very different personalities, but the dubbing work of these two roles is left to Chen Yiwen alone. "The biggest obstacle at the time was the shape of the mouth. It is necessary to look at the content on the manuscript and the rhythm of the actors' performances in the picture at the same time, and to closely align the mouth shape. It is a process where practice makes perfect, there are no shortcuts, only groping in practice. ”
Fortunately, she met her own leader, Wang Su, a teacher in the acting department of the Shanghai Theater Academy, who was also the dubbing director of that film. Looking at Chen Yiwen's helpless look, Teacher Wang Su took her into the recording studio to observe and learn, and when she saw the actor Sun Ye, who voiced the male protagonist, crying for the recording of a major play, Chen Yiwen was deeply shocked, and she had a clear understanding of dubbing work for the first time.
"In fact, the lip shape is only the most basic and simplest thing in the whole dubbing link, and the final landing of the four words of the voice actor is the word 'actor', which is not simply a mechanical reading, nor does it need more gorgeous voice lines to show skills, it needs a sense of truth."
After opening the trick, Chen Yiwen successfully completed her first "mission", and she has been deeply attracted to this profession and is determined to continue the road of dubbing.
Used to cry in the studio for a day
In the four years since then, Chen Yiwen has begun to emerge as a voice actor in dozens of TV series, from costume dramas to modern dramas, from martial arts films to romance films, as long as it is a role arranged by the filmmakers, she will gladly accept it and seriously figure out the emotions that different roles need to express. "Relatively speaking, voice actors are more passive, but I think voice actors should be comprehensive. If you only set limits yourself with a fixed label, you are not a qualified voice actor. ”
It is precisely because of this "no pick" persistence, Chen Yiwen's dubbing ability is more and more comprehensive, and she ushered in the important role of "Hua Qianbone" at the end of 2014.
Similar to the previous role, Chen Yiwen also obtained the dubbing qualification of "Hua Qianbone" by participating in the audition, although she already had some experience at that time, she did a lot of homework in order to interpret the core role of "Hua Qianbone".
When the TV series "Flowers and Bones" aired in 2015, it delivered a good answer in terms of ratings and broke the network broadcast record at that time. The hard-won success of this achievement is probably only experienced by those who participate in it, and Chen Yiwen, who is the female number one voice, is even more deeply touched: "Maybe because I am not from the class, so I am always the expression of the 'experience school', and I must really enter the role to be truly expressed." The crew also gave me enough trust, and when I finally recorded, I was alone in the studio, it was an independent assignment without other ideas and opinions, so it was done honestly and self-directed. ”
In order to devote herself to this role, Chen Yiwen did not skimp on her tears, especially in the later stages of recording, with the changes in the mood and encounters of the characters, Chen Yiwen lost control several times during the recording, often crying loudly in the studio in the middle of the night, and sometimes even staying in the studio to cry for a whole day, but for her, these are based on the emotions of the role itself, and she can withdraw in time after that.
"Hua Qianbone is a character who is very close to me, she may not be perfect or perfect, but it is indeed a report card that I can give all my effort and be ashamed to hand over at that time." To put it in a very scary way: during the recording time, I really felt like she was on me. Chen Yiwen said.
"Live" into Page's body
In 2015, Chen Yiwen ushered in another important role - the cartoon piglet "Page" that swept the world.
Born in the Uk in 2004, Peppa Pig was released to rave reviews and garnered countless fans around the world. So far, the cartoon has been broadcast in 180 regions around the world, and similarly, since the introduction of China broadcasting, "Peppa Pig" has unsurprisingly become a "love" of children, and this year the cartoon image has continued to be hotly discussed on the Internet, turning into a phenomenon-level "Internet celebrity".
But for Chen Yiwen, when she first participated in the audition, she did not have any special understanding of the pink piglet, "I had not seen the original cartoon at that time, so I had no idea how popular this character was in foreign countries." ”
As a professional voice actor, Chen Yiwen has become accustomed to "changing her voice" in different roles, in order to restore this young and cute piglet, she carefully watched the original cartoon and gave her own unique interpretation. "The original British page of Page was recorded by children, and that sound is very good, but whether it is in terms of voice line or age, we are very different, so at first I will be more worried about this huge 'difference'. However, in the process of actual recording, for the timbre and the interpretation of the characters, the filmmakers have given me a relatively large creative space. I was not asked to get close to the original voiceline, but I was expected to complete the Chinese version of 'Page' with my own interpretation. ”
Like the previous role, the interpretation method given by Chen Yiwen is to let herself "live" in Page's body, think about the problem from the perspective of a child, let her voice be close to the soul of the character, and interpret the innocence and cuteness of this little pig and some small problems just right. With the rapid popularity of the Chinese version of "Peppa Pig" in China, Chen Yiwen's voice has also become an indispensable "spiritual food" for many children every day.
Soon, Chen Yiwen's friends around her all knew that she was the person behind "Page", and asked her to call her children and communicate with them with the voice of "Page", and Chen Yiwen's amateur life suddenly became busy. She is well aware of the positive guidance that this role can play for children, even if she is busy at work, she will "transform" into "Page" on time every night and take turns to coax her friends' babies to sleep.
Chen Yiwen said: "I once got sick and my voice was dumb, and the children on the other end of the phone thought that Paige was sick, and they made a lot of advice to me in particular, such as listening to my mother's words and obediently taking medicine, and being brave and not afraid of pain when taking injections." At that moment, I felt very moved. ”
"Back to life or myself"
After 8 years in the industry, Chen Yiwen has gradually cultivated into a generalist in the dubbing industry, although she has been quietly dedicated behind the scenes for many years, she does not feel regrets. "It's a stage without an audience, you don't have to laugh for whom to cry, all your joys and sorrows come not only from the creation itself, but more from the naturalness of entering the role." 」
For the existing achievements, Chen Yiwen also looked very lightly, "Whether it is Page, Hua Qianbone, or other, I really pay for each role, there is no special, there is no difference." I'm just a voice actor, and all I do is the most basic job as a voice actor. In the process of dubbing, I can shuttle through the lives of different races, countries, times, and even different species, but back in life, I am myself, and I am only myself. ”
For the future, Chen Yiwen said that she will go with the flow and will not deliberately change anything, as a junior, she still has to learn from the seniors in the industry, but one thing will not change, for each role, she will use her own sincerity to interpret.
"But there are tears in his chest, but there are things in his words." This is the encouragement she has always had on herself.
Dialogue: Dubbing is a chemical reaction, not addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
Guangzhou Daily: Is working as a dubber related to your childhood experience?
Yiwen Chen: When I was a child, I used to be a local children's program host in Suzhou, and I often stayed in the recording studio after school or on weekends. It may also be because of the experience when I was a child, but later I had a special sense of intimacy and security for the recording studio, and the dialogue tube was completely intimidating.
Guangzhou Daily: What do you think you have in common with Page and Hua Qianbone?
Yiwen Chen: What Paige and I have in common is that we both have a happy original family. But my life is actually very much like a white painting, that is, it is still quite boring, and then it also belongs to the kind of people who enjoy being alone. In fact, I don't look so much like Hana Senku in personality, but I understand Xiao Bone, but when I put myself in Xiao Bone's body to dub, that Ben still often runs out.
Guangzhou Daily: In your opinion, the success of voice actors is related to the flow of the work?
Yiwen Chen: Dubbing is an artistic creation, not a utilitarian calculation. Whether a play will be broadcast, when it will be broadcast, and whether it will be broadcast well or not, are not decided by the voice actors. Just because a work that doesn't get any attention in the end doesn't mean it's not a good work, and it doesn't mean that the voice actors don't do it well; in the same way, a good work is not enough to show how good the voice actors are.
Guangzhou Daily: From "Flowers and Bones" to "Peppa Pig", the personality and emotions of the characters are so different, how do you adapt?
Yiwen Chen: I have always felt that voice actors need to combine rationality and sensibility. The early stage needs to be very rational and objective to analyze the script and characters, but when it comes to really entering the recording state, it is worth thinking about not which channel of voice to use, but should empty yourself, give yourself complete trust to the character, cut into the emotional and instinctive side, let go of all the knowledge, position and emotional defense, and enter the character's body.
Guangzhou Daily: What qualities do you need to be a voice actor?
Yiwen Chen: I have not received training in the class, and there are still many deficiencies, so I can't give a very authoritative technical dry goods and standard answers, I think that the artistic creation of dubbing is a chemical reaction, not addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The character in the voice, the humanity in the bones, and the temperament in the language are all cultivated in the subtle. The industry sometimes needs to feel, and independent mental space and pure love may make the intuition after hard work more qualitative.