<b>The animated</b> movie "Kung Fu Panda 3" will be released simultaneously on January 29. As a Hollywood blockbuster, it tells a story that not only takes place in "China", with China's national treasure panda as the protagonist, and this time, all the characters will communicate with Chinese for the first time. "Dragon Hero" Ah Bao is going to return to China.
Almost all imported blockbusters will have Chinese dubbed versions when they are released in the mainland, and foreigners speak Chinese on the big screen, which is really nothing new. However, although the voices of foreigners in imported films in the past are Chinese, they still maintain the mouth shape of foreign languages, and the audience who is slightly more realistic will feel awkward.
First add a little knowledge: after the Script, Storyboard and Design Draft of Hollywood animated films come out, the actors intervene in the dubbing, the original animation and scene production are based on the dubbing to make the mouth shape, and the voice and mouth shape of the character can basically be matched. Most of the tv animation and even animated film production processes in China and Japan are different, most of them are only involved in dubbing when the whole film is close to completion, so the lip shape cannot be matched.
For the Chinese dubbing of "Kung Fu Panda 3", Oriental DreamWorks (hereinafter referred to as DreamWorks) not only invited Huang Lei, Jackie Chan, Bai Baihe, Wang Zhiwen, Jay Chou, Yang Mi, Xiao Yang, Zhu Zhu, Wang Taili, Jiang Wu, Zhang Guoguo, Zhang Jizhong, Guo Zirui (Stone), Huang Yici (Duoduo) and many other stars to contribute voices, and all the characters not only spoke Chinese, but also Chinese mouth shapes - DreamWorks deliberately spent a lot of effort to redo the Chinese version of the character lip type.
A few days ago, Time Network interviewed Teng Huatao, the Chinese director of "Kung Fu Panda 3", Zhang Guoguo, the voice actor of Mr. Ping, Ah Bao's adoptive father, and Xu Chengyi, senior creative consultant of Oriental DreamWorks, asking them to uncover the secret behind the Chinese lip-sync dubbing of "Kung Fu Panda 3" for the audience.
<b>Teng Huatao: What I want is the characteristics of Jackie Chan and Jay Chou's voice</b>
Usually the dubbing work of imported films only needs a Chinese dubbing director, but DreamWorks specially invited Teng Huatao, the director of "33 Days of Lost Love" and "Waiting for the Wind to Come", to support the production of the Chinese version of "Kung Fu Panda 3".
Teng Huatao revealed that the Chinese team he led has been involved from the creative stage of the film, and the Chinese version has an exclusive screenwriter and will not copy English lines. The dubbing lineup this time is also carefully selected, and some people are worried about the Mandarin of Jackie Chan, Jay Chou and others, and this is exactly the "feature" of Teng Huatao's favorite voice.
Time.com: How were the Chinese voice actors of Kung Fu Panda 3 determined?
Teng Huatao: It is still based on the character. When we were in the United States, we worked with the entire American team of Kung Fu Panda for a long time. Including when jack Blake went to the dubbing, Jennifer (the producer) took me with me and asked me to listen to how Jack expressed it.
After we came back from the United States, we began to do the selection of actors, basically according to some understanding of the script, some understanding of the character's personality, to determine the Chinese actors I am familiar with.
TIME: Did the process of identifying voice actors go well?
Teng Huatao: It went well, because everyone was very happy to participate in the dubbing of an animated film of such a big brand as "Kung Fu Panda".
In fact, I am not exactly copying the American voice, for example, like the role of "Master", the American voice is Dustin Hoffman, like his age is closer to the master. So when I was fixing Teacher Wang Zhiwen, the Us side felt that this person would not be too young? But I know better how their voices are expressed.
TIME: How long did it take to dub Chinese?
TENG Huatao: 8 months.
Time.com: Where have you spent so long?
Teng Huatao: They have been doing it for nearly 4 and a half years, and we have been involved in it for a year and a half. Because one of the characteristics of animation production is that it will change at any time, the story we talked about more than 4 years ago and the main line of "Kung Fu Panda 3" that was finally presented are consistent, but the specific content has long been completely different from the script 4 years ago. Some of the words that are changed involve the lines and have to be repeated. In fact, we didn't invite some voice actors until the end of November, because we changed it again.
Time Network: This time Chinese lines have a special screenwriter?
TENG Huatao: Absolutely. Chinese version is not a simple translation of the plot, and if you translate it directly, it will not have that effect. It may be fun for foreigners to hear, but we don't feel anything about it. Turn it into a phrase we can understand, or some of the words we often use, and it may have an effect.
Time.com: Would Chinese lines intentionally add some of the more popular words of the moment?
Teng Huatao: No, we also deliberately avoid using too many online language, I see it this way, first of all, although it is not a so-called costume film, but the characters still have a certain sense of this aspect, so I don't like what it says too cross-cutting. Second, I think that for films of this level like "Kung Fu Panda", I still hope that the lines will remain a certain literary in it, and there will not be too many Internet language, which will be a bit depressed.
Time Network: This time the voice actors have people from both sides of the strait and three places, and the accents are very different, will you be afraid that the audience will feel strange?
Teng Huatao: No, because I think most of them are mainland actors, there are only two, one Jackie Chan and one Jay Chou, these two are particularly distinctive people.
"Kung Fu Panda" Jackie Chan has been involved. In addition, in fact, Jackie Chan represents Chinese kung fu, whether for Chinese or for people all over the world, he is now equivalent to a spokesperson for kung fu. So in a movie like "Kung Fu Panda", he should take on a more main dubbing this time, so he is determined to be Li Shan.
When dubbing, I deliberately asked to keep some of the characteristics of Jackie Chan itself, and I think that if he is too deliberate to take care of the problems of biting words, it sounds like, first, unlike Jackie Chan; second, he has lost a lot of emotional treatment.
Jay Chou is the same, he originally did not have many lines, I hope that he can hear that this is Jay Chou with one mouth, so I think it is still more interesting.
Time.com: This time DreamWorks attaches so much importance to the dubbed version of Chinese, will it tilt towards the dubbed version of Chinese in the scheduling?
Teng Huatao: I believe it should be, because I think this is also determined by our market. After all, in such a slot, no matter how small, medium, and small the children in cities, he still has certain difficulties in reading the English version of the subtitles. When everyone watches the movie together, the Chinese version is easier to understand. This time, everyone has put so much effort into the Chinese version, just so that there is no obstacle when everyone watches the movie.
<b>Zhang Guoli: I looked at several paintings to voice Mr. Ping</b>
In "Kung Fu Panda 3", Mr. Ping should be the most entangled character, because Ah Bao's biological father Li Shan came to the door in this episode. Two fathers and a baby, it is inevitable to compete for the wind and jealousy.
Mr. Ping is voiced by the "experienced" Zhang Guoli. Zhang Guoguo, who has participated in the dubbing of many imported animations such as "Taishan" and "Finding Nemo", admitted that he was familiar with it this time, looking at the sketch illustrations or a few paintings and dubbing the sound. In his opinion, in the Chinese world, watching the Chinese version of "Kung Fu Panda 3" is a natural thing.
Time.com: Participating in the dubbing of Kung Fu Panda 3, what are the main reasons for attracting you?
Zhang Guoli: Because I like to watch "Kung Fu Panda 3", my two children in my family especially love to watch it. All along these films in the United States have been looking for me, I also feel very good, used to it, only the last time I was asked to match a villain, my daughter did not want me to go. "Tarzan" and "Finding Nemo", I am involved in the dubbing.
Time.com: Conversely, why did Kung Fu Panda 3 choose you to voice it?
Zhang Guoli: It is a marketing tool for others. The voice actors they find in the United States are also some actors that audiences are familiar with and love. It's different from our previous translations, it's a business model. If it had been in the past, it would have been a natural way to go to the translation studio. But now the way the business model is played has changed. When "Tarzan" came to me to voice it, I was quite surprised, when they said that after a lot of investigation, about the recognition of the sound, they said how many viewers want to hear this voice by you to match.
Through the exchange of translation and production in these years, we have also seen the growth of our domestic animation films. I used to say that we were doing so-called anime bases everywhere, but in fact, the production was all garbage. But in the past few years, you have seen it grow, and it has something to do with our communication.
Time.com: Did you choose to voice Ah Bao's adoptive father, Mr. Ping, in the movie this time?
Zhang Guoli: No, they all studied it themselves. Because I was a very good friend with Teng Huatao's father, Huatao said that he was the first time to serve as a Chinese director. I look at Mr. Ping, do I say more lines? He said not much. I said no more, less, I'll do it, because I'm too busy.
Time.com: How long did it take to voice Mr. Ping?
Zhang Guoli: Two afternoons, two hours at a time, revised once. They are very professional now, we are not seeing the finished film, I have not seen this film so far, we see its sketch illustrations, sometimes it is a few pictures, sometimes it is a few pictures. Unlike the dubbing in the past, see the whole film. They pointed a camera at me, took a picture of my mouth, and then I looked at a few frames of it, or an unfinished drawing, and they said this line, and they went to do it according to our mouth shape.
Time.com: Did you communicate with other actors during the dubbing process?
Zhang Guoli: No, I don't know who deserves whom, I didn't ask, just do my own thing well. But Jackie Chan big brother I heard, said Jackie Chan is coming, I said that big brother go, I also go.
Time Network: "Kung Fu Panda" is released in China in Chinese version, but also in English. Many viewers may feel that the English version is original. What do you think Chinese mean to the audience?
Zhang Guoli: Because we are not an English-speaking world, let's listen to the Chinese version is not the same. And now people have made such a big effort, even the mouth shape is done according to us. And this time is also a joint effort by Oriental DreamWorks and American DreamWorks, obviously, it is for the Chinese market.
<b>Xu Chengyi: DreamWorks is a bit eccentric to Chinese audiences</b>
As the director of "The Secret of the Five Heroes of the World", Xu Chengyi is familiar with the "Kung Fu Panda" series. As a senior creative consultant at Oriental DreamWorks, he himself said that DreamWorks was a little too partial to Chinese audiences this time: as far as he knows, there has never been an animated film in Hollywood that has remade a lip-sync for another country, because it is obviously a rather huge project.
Time.com: Why does Kung Fu Panda 3 attach so much importance to Chinese dubbed version?
Xu Chengyi: I think the most important thing is that this Chinese version is different from the previous Chinese version. DreamWorks, other studios, they do Chinese version, before they are all dubbed, and then added, so there are a lot of voice actors who are actually very powerful, because they will try to set some mouth shapes, and then make you feel that these voices are spoken by them. In the Chinese version of "Kung Fu Panda 3", we re-dubbed and then re-did these things in the animation, not only the mouth shape, but even the expression we re-animated. So when you go to see the Chinese version, you will think that "Kung Fu Panda 3" turned out to be Chinese.
I've been working in the U.S. for so long before, and I've been thinking that the animationS I've been doing are all English-speaking, like monster shrek. At that time, I was still thinking about when I had the opportunity to do animation, which was Chinese version, that is, they said "donkey" not "donkey". Today", "Kung Fu Panda 3" has come true, and they are all said to be Chinese. So I'm really proud.
Time.com: If each character's mouth shape has to be corrected and the expression must be re-matched, this is also a huge project, right?
Xu Chengyi: Yes, the whole project took a long time. As soon as an animation in the United States was finished, it was sent to Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai, and then they were going to start doing it, almost tantamount to doing the animation again. Although these are not as difficult as starting from scratch, they are also very time-consuming.
Time.com: Hollywood blockbusters for overseas markets to make a separate dubbing version, it seems rare?
Xu Chengyi: Yes, as far as I know, there is no other film that has made another dubbed version for another country. So I think DreamWorks is really a bit eccentric to Chinese audiences.