| We talked to the parties involved in the incident. |
Text/Guo Preserved & Yan Jinyan
No one expected that the Soviet-themed sci-fi game "Atomic Heart" would be popular because of a refrigerator. Now if you search for "Atomic Heart" on station B, you will find that the top three videos in terms of views have been occupied by Nora Refrigerator, with the highest number of hits reaching 3.9 million, and the data related to other content of the game is less than half of it.
If you flip to the comments section, you'll find even more outrageous things. Some people call this boxy red refrigerator "real succubus";
Someone directly published the words of the tiger and wolf;
Some people empathize with the ruffian boss of "SpongeBob SquarePants", because the latter's wife is a computer with 256G memory and a metal body.
If you still don't know what Sanctity Fridge Nora is, click on the video below to see for yourself, and maybe you will eventually become one of them.
There's no denying that Fridge Nora's explosion is due to excellent localized content, as well as a sufficiently solid voice act. In the absence of demeanor and action assistance, voice actor Zhang Qi showed Nora's shaking M attribute with just a few lines. With Nora's outing, netizens also turned over Zhang Qi's portfolio, and even made these characters into memes, and ridiculed that "the refrigerator is the norm, and Candis is an accident."
It's hard to imagine that Nora the refrigerator of "Atomic Heart", Sindra, Morgana, Evelyn in "League of Legends", the female V in "Cyberpunk 2077", Shirogane and Scati in "Ark of Tomorrow", Candis in "Genshin", the evil spirit in "Apex"... These characters with very different identities and personalities all have voices from the same person. It's just that unlike excited netizens, Zhang Qi, the protagonist of the incident at that time, was feeling panicked and at a loss. The day after learning that she was on fire, she posted a frightening message on social media and canceled her planned live broadcast. On the evening of February 25, Grape Jun invited Zhang Qi to record a podcast to talk about her mental journey after the refrigerator came out of the circle, and how she understood the game dubbing. She also shared some thoughts on the views that "dubbing is too far from the industry" and "far less valued than art and music".
Click the mini program above to enter the video version (continuously updated, you can follow station B @游戏葡萄君 to watch), and the full version of the podcast can be long pressed below to scan the QR code to listen.
Here are excerpts from the podcast: (Adjusted for readability)
01
I was on fire because of a fridge
Grape-kun: When did you voice Nora? Zhang Qi: It should have been two months ago, from the beginning of 23 to the Spring Festival. Grape-kun: It feels like it's already the eve of the game's launch, how long did dubbing take? Zhang Qi: From the time I went into the studio to know the specific role, to the time the content was recorded, it took about an hour. Grape-kun: So fast? Did you know Nora's character at the time? Zhang Qi: Actually, at the beginning, I only knew that it was a "Russian game". With the help of the content of the script, I guessed that Nora was a machine responsible for upgrading weapons, but I didn't think about the possibility of a refrigerator at all, which was quite surprising.
Grape Jun: How do you match the right feeling without knowing the specific setting? Zhang Qi: Nora's dubbing is usually called "Waidan". This type of work tends to focus more on the issue of duration, unifying the language version first, and then the localization team tries to ensure that the length of the translated sentences, pauses, and performance space are as consistent as the original. So when dubbing Nora, I try to refer to the English original to paste her performance. Grape-kun: How did you feel when you heard Nora's original voice for the first time? Zhang Qi: If you have seen Nora's live situation, you know that her lines are sentence by sentence, step by step, step by step, and the tone will become stronger and stronger. Jokingly, I kept thinking when I was matching, and there are still a few sentences before it ends... Grape-kun: Do you feel that Nora and Evelyn's voices are somewhat close? Zhang Qi: It's kind of similar. And Evelyn's text is even larger, and each update has to be recorded in a day or two. Often at the end of the recording, I feel that the sound is going to be unmovable. Every time like this, I really want to stay in a small dark room where I don't see the director, and do the rest of the work without everyone seeing me. Grape Jun: When did you realize that the refrigerator was on fire? Zhang Qi: It wasn't until I saw Nora's video on the afternoon of the 20th that I knew that it was equipped with a refrigerator. Then that night, I started feeling that something was wrong. On social media, a large number of friends flocked to the scene of my station 15.
My first reaction at that time was, do you want to stand up directly and seriously say thank you to everyone? But does this make it seem like I'm rubbing the heat? Or should I sneak the cat and wait until the heat is over? Later, the comment area of some cooperative dubbing projects on Weibo also gradually fell. I even made up my brain, in case Party A sees the comment area, will it feel that this person's fans are too crazy, or think that she is a bit of an eyesore, which will affect the spread of the work. In addition, after the refrigerator exploded, my private messages on social platforms also exploded. Some are concerned and comforting, others are fans attracted to Nora's character and they will say "strange things", of course I understand them very well, after all, the attributes of the characters are like this. However, because the names of my various social accounts are not Zhang Qi, many netizens run to other people's bottom to leave messages, and find that they recognize the wrong person and then take it off, which may also cause trouble to others. Grape-kun: What was your mood? Zhang Qi: Everything came too suddenly and intensely, which caused me to feel a little panicked and overwhelmed. I stopped my original plan to live broadcast Lego on the same day, hoping to calm down first, and posted a message on Weibo and B station to express my fear, which is a place for friends to scream and discuss.
It took a few days for me to slow down and figure it out that I couldn't disrupt my original rhythm of life because of a phenomenon. The heat will always pass, and what I should do next will not change because the refrigerator explodes. Grape-Jun: Has this happened before Cyberpunk 2077? Zhang Qi: In the past, the female V of "Cyberpunk 2077" was out of the circle, and there was actually a similar situation, but it was far less than Nora this time. I guess the refrigerator out of the circle is more related to the character personality and setting. Nora isn't the first sexy character I've ever met, but she's a refrigerator, and if she's a humanoid robot, she probably won't have the heat she has now. And the medium matching can also make everyone feel the stimulation more intuitively - this is actually more the credit of the localization team. The biggest difficulty in most translated works lies in translation, which must not only be faithful, but also close to the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures, and conform to language habits. Dubbing sounded a bit strange in the past, but one of the reasons was that localization was so difficult. Grape-kun: Do you worry that after the refrigerator, people will label you, like an actor who has been stereotyped by a successful role? Zhang Qi: Not likely. I have been in the industry for ten years, and the teachers in the circle should know me and understand my ability, and basically will not leave an inherent impression on friends in the industry. And to a large extent, people are actually visual animals, and their perception of sound may not be so sensitive. Maybe if you change your voice, the player won't hear it unless he knows you well. Grape-kun: So what if it's a junior newcomer voice actress who really encounters this situation? Zhang Qi: If a newcomer actor encounters this situation, you can try to communicate and discuss with the teacher in private, and expand your demo library as much as possible to ensure that there are enough reference cases. At the end of the day, the label comes from the voice director's knowledge of the actor, which is a gradual process. They will gradually go through different types of projects to determine which projects you are suitable for and what tone you are better at.
02
What exactly is the difference between game voice acting?
Grape-kun: When did you first come into game voice acting? Zhang Qi: The first game character I can remember is probably Cindra from League of Legends. This hero was given when I didn't graduate from college.
Later, the role became popular, and the senior brother and sister came over and asked if I was worthy of it. At that time, in order to reflect the sense of power of the characters, "League of Legends" pulled a high layer of reverb on the basis of the original dubbing. So I listened to it several times, until I heard the memorable line, and I was sure it was myself. Another earlier match should be Alysse from Final Fantasy 14. When I was recording the new version of my voice before, I was stunned when I heard the first voices - why is it clamped so tightly? Now let me rematch, I guess I can't deserve such a little girl's voice. Grape-kun: How will the voice acting of the game be different compared to other forms of work? Zhang Qi: Compared with dubbed films, TV series, and cartoons, the error tolerance rate of game dubbing is lower and more restrictive. The regular theatrical dubbing is fluid, the lines are joined together, and the performance comes out naturally. For example, in the process of recording or acting in a play, you may puff your mouth or eat words, but as long as the emotions are in line with the current situation and coherent, it doesn't matter.
Except for some drama games that record two or three sentences in a row, most games are used to recording in a single sentence. Therefore, the requirements for the overall voice quality, actor's language skills, breath use and other technical aspects of game dubbing are actually quite high. It requires every sentence you match to convey 100% of the desired content and emotion. If a sentence is misvoiced, the player's flow experience may be interrupted immediately. Grape-kun: If it feels awkward or inappropriate to match, will there be a change of words on the spot? Zhang Qi: Yes. However, the specific degree of change mainly depends on the tolerance of the project team. Some words are not allowed to move, we can only try to ensure rationalization when dubbing, and some say that as long as the teacher feels comfortable and the meaning of the lines remains unchanged, then change it at will. In the case of Cyberpunk 2077, for example, its localization team incorporated a lot of dialect-specific content into the game. At that time, we matched a line that roughly means that something is like dog urine moss, stubble after stubble. But I guess most people probably don't know what dog urine moss is, and can only guess that it's a metaphor. So in order to make it easier for players to understand, everyone discussed changing the line to "like leeks, after cutting a stubble, there is still a stubble". Grape-kun: I feel that there are quite a few restrictions on the voice acting of the game. Zhang Qi: It's hard to say how difficult the dubbing of games and other works is, it depends more on the specific situation. For example, the level of emotional expression of the recorded play is more continuous, which requires the actor to be able to substitute diverse and complex situations and play against different characters. In the game, all the lines of the character basically revolve around him and the player, plus it is a single sentence recording, so its grasp of the emotional level may be slightly lower. All in all, when you dub different types of works, basically its focus will be different. For example, friends who are entering the game dubbing industry have just started recording, and there may be problems such as emotional incoherence and inability to connect the performances. Grape-kun: You've had a lot of characters so far, which one do you like the most? Zhang Qi: It must still be a female V. Cyberpunk 2077 is particularly large, and I clocked in the studio regularly for more than a year for the role – which is not common for a voice actor, so she also made a deep impression on me. And the female V is more similar to a piece of my personality, and there is a feeling of self-release when performing. I didn't really try very hard to shape the voice of the female V, the whole process was like being myself, I personally experienced the story of Night City. Grape-kun: After all, you have been in the industry for ten years now, have you lost interest in dubbing? Zhang Qi: Maybe when I'm very tired, some thoughts flash, but overall I still have enthusiasm. The whole process of dubbing work is actually like opening a blind box. Before you walk into the studio, you probably don't know anything about what's going to be dubbed next. You don't know what kind of role you're going to meet, what kind of life you're going to play, and what challenges you'll have this time. And most of the time, once you have the material, you may only have 5 to 10 minutes to digest the content, then spend another half an hour to an hour to complete the recording and move on to the next job. Perhaps the biggest difficulty of this job is this. In the case of limited time, it requires that you can understand the intentions of the character and the director in the shortest possible time. For example, the director said that the character here is in a state of death, so the hatred expressed is not strong, but faint. But what is called a faint hate? How much is it specific and faded? At this time, you have to try to overturn your original imagination of the role, mobilize all your experience and understanding of life, and bring up all emotions to understand this "faint hate". And that's just one of them. An average of 400 sentences a day for 8 hours, you look at the actors light and breezy, in fact, in their heads, they may have experienced countless collisions and thoughts. Grape-kun: If newcomers want to enter the voice acting industry, what advice would you have? Zhang Qi: First of all, you have to ask yourself a question, do you like acting? If you just have a good voice and lack acting skills, you may only be able to play a handsome guy who speaks normally, but not a crazy beauty. Second, be cautious when entering the industry. You may look at the life and work experience of voice actors, it may seem interesting, but it is actually a particularly difficult industry. You may be in the industry for 3 to 5 years without a high income. The main task of newcomers is to follow the studio, but if there is no audition opportunity, you are actually just listening to the teachers recording, and you will not have any income. In this case, where exactly should the money for your meals come from? So at least think clearly before entering the industry, if there is no income in the first few years, what is your source of living. Grape-kun: So how can a voice actor grow up faster? Talent or hard work? Zhang Qi: Dubbing is actually a process of harmonizing reason and sensibility into complete synchronization. For example, if you are on stage, you can complete a complete set of performances together through body movements, demeanor and the assistance of the camera. But in a voice act, you only have your voice and two vocal cords, and during this process, you have to keep a fixed distance from the microphone all the time. Just like if you want to record a very urgent running scene, it requires you to have the breath of running, but the action should not be too big. Therefore, I think that in art-related industries, simple diligence is the most useless. If you don't have talent, if you don't have understanding, it's hard to do this job well. And the exercise of acting skills, it not only relies on diligence, but also comes from the accumulation and growth experience of life. Of course, diligence is the most basic sector of every industry. If you want to succeed, you can't do without a lot of hard work.
03
How to understand the current dubbing industry?
Grape-kun: Many people say that dubbing is a relatively low priority in game projects compared to art, music, etc. How do you understand this point of view? Zhang Qi: Compared with the music and graphics of the game, the proportion of dubbing budget is indeed much lower in many cases, and many works will only release dubbing requirements after getting the version number and confirming the launch in the later stage, resulting in a tight schedule. Projects with more generous funds may be provisioned during the testing phase. When the game content is all ready, confirm that it is ready for the official public test, and then find the actor to record it again according to the lip shape, action and other elements. In general, the dubbing work is basically at the back of the development stage. Sometimes, even if there is actually a problem with the mouth shape, demeanor or screen length of the game, but these things are difficult to adjust in the later stage of the project, they can only say, "Trouble the teacher to work hard, find a way to say it as much as possible." Grape Jun: What is the current supply of talents in the industry? Zhang Qi: There are quite a lot of people, and the voices to choose from are quite rich, but the expressive voices are relatively limited. Again, the voice actor must first be an actor, and if you want to take on some richer roles, you need to have life experience, emotions and other blessings. For example, the new characters in each version of "Genshin" will carry some stories behind them. These complex emotions should not be able to be expressed with a beautiful voice alone. Another example is that in terms of sound alone, the vocal range itself is relatively small, and if you record a teenager with a tragic life, it is difficult to complete it with a young boy alone.
On the other hand, now that the aesthetics of players are constantly improving, they have higher requirements for dubbing, which directly pushes game companies to find more famous and capable head dubbing studios and actors. This has led players to often say that it feels like voice actors come and go in the same people. Grape Jun: How many core voice actors are there in China? Zhang Qi: There are about 100 people in Shanghai, and there should be more people in Beijing. Although there are many game companies in Shanghai, the domestic film and television industry is mainly concentrated in Beijing, so the latter will have more dubbing demand, develop faster, and naturally concentrate core talents. Grape Jun: I noticed that some videos on station B just list the works of voice actors, and they can all receive hundreds of thousands of views. Is it that the public is also slowly starting to pay attention to the work of voice actors themselves? Zhang Qi: More and more people want to understand the actors behind the sound after meeting their favorite characters. Coupled with the promotion of some variety shows, many people also understand what a job dubbing is. Some products even use dubbing as a big selling point, which attracts a lot of attention. However, as the number of fans increases, I also hope that the actors will try not to get lost in this state of popularity. Some voice actors now have a sizable following and a variety of revenue streams. This is undoubtedly a good thing, but in the end, what really supports us to progress and go forward is actually our own work. Grape-kun: So is the dubbing industry slowly getting better? Zhang Qi: Forget it. I have the impression that since the launch of "Honor of Kings", the list of the Shanghai dubbing market has gradually increased, and more and more foreign stand-alone and console games also have the demand for localized dubbing. And in recent years, there have been more and more projects to find dubbing from the early stage. With provisioning and mo-cap coordination, the lip shape, mood, etc. of character performances can often make the final voice acting more accurate and coherent. It's just that in the short term, the industry may not change too drastically. I can only hope that there will be more turnarounds, or milestones, that will slowly push the industry to continue to get better.
Game Grape Recruitment Content Editor,
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