Ye Qing talked about the key word - integration, "The so-called decline of Hong Kong films can be understood in another way, that is, all the film talents in Hong Kong are shining and have a bigger stage." "Just as no one's fate can exist independently of the times, this is true for Hong Kong films and dubbing."
Time Network Special Article TVB Chinese group voice actor Qi Yan, although he does not smoke, but when he examined his body, he was told that there were calcification points in his lungs, which was originally caused by long-term smoking of second-hand smoke in the studio. In the 80s, he ran all day on the set in Hong Kong, and he did not know that his voice was the "Liang Chaowei" in Yao Chen's mind.
If Yan Xiaotao, the dubbing director of "Anti-Corruption Storm 4", did not say, I am afraid that the boys who blushed and watched "Jade Futon" would never know how "engaged" Ye Zilin and Xu Jinjiang were behind the moans of lovemaking, and this scene was "gasped" by 7 female voice actors together.
The internet celebrity song "Calories" has a lyric: Get up first every day, first cheer yourself up. For the early Hong Kong film voice actors, it was every morning to ask themselves, where am I going today? Because only when work is started, there is food to eat.
TVB voice actor Zhang Yi only learned after coming to the mainland to appear on TV shows that his works such as "In Search of Qin" and "Infernal Affairs" are god-level in the hearts of fans, "but for us, after the matching, we forget, it is just a job." ”
Ye Qing participated in the mainland TV show, he was the voice of Andy Lau in "Infernal Affairs"
Videos of Ye Qing's works
Ye Qing, who dubbed "Fantasia" and "2046", still remembers that one year, "Journey to the West", "Citi Shaolin" and "Big Three Yuan" collided with the file, and the voice actors matched "Journey to the West" from 9 am to 6 pm, "Citi Shaolin" from 7 pm to 3 am, and fought again until 9 am the next day with "Big Three Yuan", and the film was completed after several days of rotation.
Behind Liang Chaowei, Andy Lau, Stephen Chow, Aaron Kwok and Maggie Cheung, it is these voice actors who are acting with their voices. In the era when Hong Kong stars had not yet made large-scale visits to the mainland, almost all of their childhood memories came from the "Chinese dubbing".
Qi Yan in the TVB period
In the 1980s, when Hong Kong and Taiwan film and television dramas were prevalent, a TV series was 45 minutes long, and Qi Yan and his peers matched it for only 2 hours, and 5 episodes a day was the basic workload; a movie was completed in 4 working days, that is, 4 8 hours. "If anyone is old, even he himself is embarrassed, basically there is no fishing."
These voice actors interviewed by time network recalled the days of "dark and dark" at that time, which was both funny and bitter.
Liang Chaowei "iron fan" Yao Chen: He is not the voice I remember
Have you ever chased this Liang Chaowei?
What about this one?
Regarding the dubbing of Hong Kong films, Yao Chen told a small story. When she and Zeng Zhiwei cooperated in the "Tens of Billions of Big Movies" to eat a shutdown meal, the dinner was happy, Yao Chen asked Zeng Zhiwei to ask for a signature of Liang Chaowei, Yao Chen is Liang Chaowei's iron powder, when he was a child, even the family flowerpot was pasted on Liang Chaowei's big head sticker.
"Chivalrous" Qi Yan dubbing clip
Zeng Zhiwei was also bold and said, "Do you like Liang Chaowei?" Well, I called him. Especially coincidentally, usually the big star's phone is not very good to dial, that day all at once, Zeng Zhiwei handed the phone to Yao Chen, but her brain has died, do not know what to say, after "feeding" a sound, said a sentence that I regret in my life: "Did you eat?" ”
"Absolute Double Glory" Qi Yan dubbing clip
Fortunately, Liang Chaowei replied very politely: "I ate, but I heard that your side was very lively, are you eating a lot of delicious things?" After answering "yes", Yao Chen said a second sentence that she regretted for the rest of her life: "I grew up watching your movies." The crew is going to fry the pan: "You look so old when you say this!" ”
Looking back many years later, Yao Chen said with regret: "Just one call was not grasped." She almost forgot what the two of them talked about, only remembering that Liang Chaowei's voice did not look much like the impression, and later realized that what had been engraved in her mind was Liang Chaowei's Chinese voice, and she laughed: "The voice of the real person seems to be a little less magnetic." ”
Stills of Liang Chaowei's "Deer Ding"
When a friend relayed this story to Qi Yan, the exclusive voice of Liang Chaowei's TVB period, it was already the most "intimate" distance from the actor for him. Wei Xiaobao, Zhang Weijie, Xiaoyu'er, Zhang Wuji, Shi Zhongyu and other classic roles of Liang Chaowei in the early days were all dubbed by Qi Yan, but he did not have direct contact and communication with Liang Chaowei, which is also a true portrayal of the dubbing industry in that era, because for these behind-the-scenes personnel, dubbing is more like a tool for making a living - if you can start work, you can eat.
Qi Yan, who came from the Jiangxi Provincial Repertory Theatre, moved to Hong Kong with his family in 1978, and the other side of the Xiangjiang River in the 1980s was in the golden age of film and television development. "Hong Kong movies and dramas can be sold to Taiwan, to Singapore, to Southeast Asia, if there is no Chinese version, the other party will not want, so TV stations, film companies will have to find a group of people to dub, slowly formed such a circle."
Qi Yan's early work photos
Qi Yan recently took a photo
How busy was a voice actor at that time? Qi Yan recalls: "I remember the first time ATV tentatively launched Chinese newscast, it was from 7:00 to 7:30 in the morning, when I was an announcer with Yu Xiaohua (the oldest artist among TVB actresses). I wake up at 5:30 every day and rush to ateVIS to finish the news. At 8 o'clock, he transitioned and at 9 o'clock he entered the TVB series. At the end of the day, at 9 p.m., I began to assign Jackie Chan's movie to Jiahe until 3 a.m. Basically go home and take a nap, and then get up again to broadcast the news. ”
A military coat, a cup of tea, and spend more time with your peers than your own wife (husband). This was the state of life of the voice actors at that time. Hong Kong recording studio in the air-conditioned enough, military coat is standard, everywhere there is boiling water, tea brewed well, find a gap upside down to sleep, wait for their turn to play, open their eyes immediately matched, after the matching and then go to squint. Sometimes dozens of people twist and turn, some sleep on the sofa, some sleep on the stool, some sleep in the dubbing room, and the scene is spectacular.
Ye Qing had developed a skill on his own: "I can sleep for a second when I am 'comma'. For example, in a scene, I say a few words, you say a few words, he says a few more words, and then it is my turn. When I am sleepy, I can fall asleep after saying the lines, and when you are finished, it is my turn, pat me, and as soon as I open my eyes, I will say everything below. ”
Zhou Runfa, Zhang Guorong, Dillon, Wu Yusen "The True Colors of Heroes" work photos
When there are many scenes, there are several groups in a dubbing room, some with English, with Cantonese, and with Chinese, big stars like Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau, and Jackie Chan will also appear in the recording room, and everyone is very polite to each other. Once Zhou Runfa dubbed, the sister-in-law waited for him, in order to kill time, he played poker with the voice actors to bet a little money. As soon as Brother Fa finished work, he hugged his wife and asked, "How's it going?" How much do you lose tonight? "Lost hundreds of pieces?" Good, good, thank you for playing with my wife. ”
From the 80s to the dubbing industry, to 1992 when he left TVB for the United States, Qi Yan paired with thousands of movies and thousands of episodes of TV series, in fact, even he himself could not remember; Yan Xiaotao forgot what year it was, she calculated, a total of 104 plays; Ye Qing recalled the busiest days, seventy or eighty hours could not sleep, has been in the recording studio.
The 7 girls finished the bed play between Xu Jinjiang and Ye Zilin together
Qi Yan voiced Andy Lau in "The Legend of Leiluo"
In the early years of the Hong Kong dubbing circle, the master led the apprentice, and the dubbers trained themselves in high-intensity work and achieved qualitative change in the accumulation of quantity. In the 1980s, there were six or seven "hills" in the Hong Kong dubbing circle, that is, six or seven groups of people, and there would be six or seven big foremen (that is, dubbing directors), such as Shaw, Jiahe, New Art City and other companies have fixed Chinese foremen. Each foreman has a group of people and horses, and after the foreman receives the play, he will find actors according to the needs of the play, and there are two criteria for measurement: first, whether this person can be matched; second, the budget is not enough.
Zhou Xingchi's "Gestapo" Qi Yan dubbing clip
"It's not that Andy Lau has to be matched by you, the voice actor has not yet reached that status." Of course, later there was Zhou Xingchi's exclusive dubbing and Jackie Chan's exclusive dubbing, that is the market opened, is the afterword. In the early years, it was basically called who matched whoever matched, and I didn't think about whether it was Andy Lau or Liang Chaowei, it was a job. Qi Yan said.
But there is a point, if it does not work, it is difficult to eat this bowl of rice. At that time, the power of the foreman was very large, like Shaw's foreman is basically a 50-year work experience of the old jianghu, look at it, listen to a few words, you know that the voice actor base is not OK. If anyone wants to mess with his life, what awaits him will be the fate of being replaced.
Stills from Jackie Chan's "Plan A"
Occasionally, self-inflators want to sit on the ground, and the foreman will not be merciful in many cases. It is said that an actor with Jackie Chan asked for a price increase that year and was fired. When the new version of the dubbing came out and the foreman showed it to Jackie Chan, he heard that the voice was not right, and he was furious at the time and exploded. "I made tens of millions of scenes, you save me tens of thousands of dollars dubbing?" In case I smash the pot, I can't sell it, are you responsible? "So, although there are rules for the industry, the market rules are also slowly tapping the dubbing industry."
Looking back on the years in the dubbing room, it is both funny and poignant.
"Jade Futon's Secret Love Treasure Book" Xu Jinjiang stills
Yan Xiaotao remembered that in "The Treasure Book of The Secret Love of the Jade Futon", there was a scene where Ye Zilin and Xu Jinjiang made love, and one shot down, the time was quite long. It was quite exhausting to give leaf frieze gasps and groans, and the voice actor gasped for a while and his brain was deprived of oxygen and his hands were numb. Previous films could not be edited by computer, and if the voice actors broke off, they would have to start all over again. Later, 7 girls sat together in front of the microphone and finished the scene. The first voice actor called for a while, couldn't hold on, and pinched the girl next to him, the second one continued to breathe, and so on.
Stills from Charlie Cao's "Police Story 2"
In the 1980s, just after arriving in Hong Kong from the relatively closed mainland, the bed drama was "a little disgusting" for Qi Yan. However, after a few years, he became a "skilled worker", and the Chinese of Cao Charlie, a yellow student in Hong Kong, was all matched by Qi Yan. Remembering that the little flower Dan Xing Jinsha who dubbed together would not match, and could not make a sound, Qi Yan taught her: "Will you have a stomachache?" Xing Jinsha cried out, "Oops, Oops." Time is money, as soon as it is matched, Qi Yan pinches the arm of his partner, and after the play, Xing Jinsha's arm is purple.
Yang Caini and Wu Qilong, "Liang Zhu"
When Yang Caini was assigned to "Liang Zhu" crying grave scene, only Yan Xiaotao and director Xu Ke were in the recording studio. "After the emotions are completely in, the tears have already stuck the eyes, but no, we have to look at the mouth shape, the mouth shape is not right and you have to cry again, but if people cry like that a few times, they will definitely not be able to support it." 」 So that scene Yan Xiaotao was completed at one time. It's just that after OK, she still can't stop the brakes, crying and crying, Xu Ke doesn't speak, and when she calms down, open the door of the dubbing room, and all the male colleagues turn back together and ask: "Are you finished crying?" ”
Masako Ikeda in Project Flying Eagle
A week before production, Yan Xiaotao was still working. There is a Japanese girl in Jackie Chan's "Flying Eagle Project" who screams all the time, and she is holding her stomach the whole time. "Lame Hao" was also in the same period, Yan Xiaotao with a stowaway, the scream was very miserable, feeling that the child could be born at any time. One senior told her: "Tao'er, you must be careful, we are ready to fight 999 at any time." ”
Guan Zhilin in "Western Chu Overlord" is voiced by Yan Xiaotao
On the seventh day after giving birth, Yan Xiaotao's master Wang Huijun called: "Tao'er, you come." Wang Huijun knew that Yan Xiaotao had just given birth to the baby, "She must have no way, so she asked me to help." I said yes, but two other colleagues said no. The studio is so cold, what if you fall ill when you get older? Let's go talk to her." Later, the play was not done. Half a year later, a few days after Wang Huijun gave birth to the child, the master wrapped himself tightly, showing only a pair of eyes and a mouth, and went to match another play, because there was really no one...
Flowers are not red, and I don't know when it will decay
In "Sweet Honey", Maggie Cheung's voice is Yan Xiaotao, and Ye Qing is accompanied by Li Xiaojun
Yan Xiaotao's work photos
The internet celebrity song "Calories" has a lyric: Get up first every day, first cheer yourself up. For the early Hong Kong film voice actors, it was every morning to ask themselves, where am I going today?
Yan Xiaotao recalled: "At the end of the New Year, the note in our pocket has reached the end of the year. The note is a play to accompany. Around March, the full schedule is full. ”
In 1992, Qi Yan's income had reached 40,000 to 50,000 Hong Kong dollars a month, "starting work every day, at least 1,000 pieces a day." Sometimes two groups a day, two groups of almost one or two thousand pieces. ”
In Hong Kong dubbing, the working hours of "a group" are about eight or nine hours, from 9 am (later changed to 10 am) to 6 pm is a group day shift, 7 pm to 3 am is the evening shift, from 3 am to 6 am is the big night shift.
Even with such hard work, Qi Yan still said, "As long as there is a sound, I will go." He still remembers a sentence said by Shao's foreman Mao Wei (also the teacher of du Yange, the voice actor): "Qi Yan, you remember, our line of work is full of food to prevent hunger." Now the movie seems to be quite vigorous, I don't know when it may all decay all at once, then you have no income. ”
The classic scene of "Infernal Affairs", Zhang Yi with Liang Chaowei, Ye Qing with Andy Lau
Sure enough, the flowers are not red.
In 1993, the annual production of Hong Kong films was still 242, and by the middle of the 1990s, it gradually fell into a depression, from more than 160 in 1995 to 60 in 2005. Although "Infernal Affairs" was rescued in 2002, the overall decline of Hong Kong films was difficult to hide.
Zhang Yi, who voiced Liang Chaowei in "Infernal Affairs", has a personal feeling: his workload at TVB has remained at 800 hours a year for many years; there are obviously fewer job opportunities outside.
In 2003, CEPA (Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement) introduced a policy that allowed mainland and Hong Kong co-productions to enjoy the treatment of domestic films, which opened a life-saving door for Hong Kong films that had fallen to the bottom.
CEPA stipulates that Hong Kong films can be financed from the mainland, and Hong Kong capital can control mainland theaters. Favorable commercial conditions have prompted Hong Kong people to go north. In recent years, as China has become the world's second largest film market, the mainland has repeatedly become the "biggest box office" for many films, and for Hong Kong films that have long adapted to the mixed-race identity, the "Chinese version" has not only become the standard, but also a vital part of reaching the audience.
Stills from "Transformers", the dubbing program of Hollywood blockbusters is completely different from That of Hong Kong films
Chen Zhe, a mainland actor who has voiced Wu Zhenyu many times, introduced that a Hong Kong film from the pre-recording to the post-production of the group, until the final synthesis, is about a month. It is very different from the "quick battle" of Hollywood blockbusters.
Jiang Guangtao, who has voiced "Transformers", revealed a rather cruel status quo: "Where is the time for you to prepare?" What is Global Synchronization? The Film on the American side has not yet been finally done, the picture is sent, China has to do it, do the whole ball together. You can fight, you can win. Twenty or thirty people, lined up, eager for the next teacher to wait outside, give you an hour you can't finish, this time drag a little time, next time you will have nothing to do. ”
"The translation of the film has become a film, and we translated it in order to release it at the same time. But Hong Kong films are different, it is divided into Cantonese version and Chinese version, we belong to the main creator of the sound, to the end of the subtitle. When recording, the voice actor is also equivalent to participating in a creation, even as small as a sentence being cut back and forth. For many filmmakers, even if it is a trailer released before, the sound must be consistent with the positive film, and it is rare for others to take the voice. Chen Zhe said.
Directors such as Lin Chaoxian attach great importance to Chinese dubbing
Many big directors attach great importance to dubbing. For example, Chen Kexin, Lin Chaoxian, Er Dongsheng, Wong Kar-wai, and Liu Weiqiang will follow the scene. In Ye Qing's view, "Paying attention to this part naturally takes more time and energy, and the effect is closer to what the director wants." If the director does not come and lets the dubbing director decide, then he must know the director's intentions very well. There are various situations, of course, there are also some who do not pay much attention to dubbing. ”
Like Yan Xiaotao, who has been a dubbing director for many years, and has cooperated with Du Qifeng and Li Rengang for a long time, it can be said that the two sides have reached a tacit understanding long ago. Ye Qing has also been in contact with Wong Kar-wai since "Fancy Years" and "2046", and in 2016, in addition to continuing to voice Liang Chaowei in "The Ferryman", he is also the dubbing director of this play.
The so-called "decline" of Hong Kong films can be understood in a different way
Stills from "Peerless"
Nowadays, the Hong Kong dubbing circle has long been difficult to find the glory of that year, except for the wireless station will do some training, and invite the mainland counterpart graduates to serve TVB full-time in the past, there are very few local young people engaged in this business.
On the contrary, in the mainland, "the number of voice actors is very large, and the voice is also very rich," Yan Xiaotao said.
In the early years, when mainland voice actors were playing Hong Kong films, there was an unwritten rule that "do not open your mouth". Many voice actors speak with half a mouthful of water in their mouths. Because cantonese pronunciation and Chinese are completely different, the original style of characters is suddenly eliminated, and the voice actors can only grope for themselves.
Later, everyone found that not opening their mouths is not a thing, because the audience can't hear clearly, and they can't always rely on subtitles to understand, right? So they began to pursue the performance of life, trying to relax the state.
Chen Zhe's work photos
Chen Zhe observed that voice actors like TVB Chinese group are "mostly that kind of loose, and it is a cantonese style of Chinese pronunciation", so now if a Hong Kong and Taiwan actor plays a major role in a play, the southern voice actor will generally become the first choice, because the pronunciation system is relatively close.
A well-known Hong Kong actor once complained to Yan Xiaotao: "Why did my film go to the mainland, and as soon as they matched me, they matched me like this?" When working with some Hong Kong directors, the other party will also make a request: "Tao'er, I don't want Beijing dialect." ”
"They think that the right way is the Beijing dialect, and I also explained that this is not how the Beijing dialect is spoken. And many times can not all blame the dubbing, the director also has problems, did not guide. Later, Yan Xiaotao finished talking to the Hong Kong actor and said, "You should learn Mandarin well." ”
"Home and Everything Is Shocking" Wu Zhenyu stills
Now when it comes to voice actors, people always like to bring the word "royal use" of so-and-so, but in fact, in addition to the exclusive dubbing that has been achieved in special eras and market environments such as Shi Banyu, it is rare to have a special person.
A good voice actor has two or three voices. Of course, there are also voices with high fit, such as Chen Zhe's evaluation of Sun Bo's voice in "Peerless" is "Aaron Kwok's own city", but many of Aaron Kwok's roles were not matched by him before. Chen Zhe also began to voice Wu Zhenyu from "The Warrior's Gate", and later with "Home and Everything".
Whether to use A or B is the result of multiple trade-offs, such as whether the sound is suitable, the price is high or low, whether there is a long-term cooperative relationship, and the film is full of dissatisfaction.
Stills from "Fancy Years", Ye Qing voiced Liang Chaowei
As Ye Qing said: "Director Wong Kar-wai never emphasizes that the voice is very good, he hopes that the temperament of your voice is in line with the role." All jobs are in the service of movies. Like Teacher Tong Zirong finished "Zorro", you will still be attracted by the plot and will not always be angry that the voice is Tong Zirong. Because the whole performance of the characters combines sound, storyline, graphics, costumes, etc., all for the same purpose - to let the audience enter the story. ”
Stills from the 2003 co-production "Kung Fu"
From the decline of Hong Kong films in the 1990s to the north in early 2000, after groping, discomfort, struggle and breaking the situation, Hong Kong filmmakers with strong vitality have found a set of their own way of survival in the process of cooperating with the mainland. Today, Hong Kong filmmakers without North China are probably only in single digits.
Throughout his 24-year dubbing career, Ye Qing talked about a key word - fusion.
"The so-called 'decline' of Hong Kong films can be understood in another way, that is, all the film talents in Hong Kong are shining in various fields and have a bigger stage." Just as no one's fate can exist independently of the era in which he lives, for Hong Kong films and for dubbing.