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Smile.. blushing.. Giggling.. being mischievous.. Laughter.. if I have to write this in my mother tongue I would have 10 more names for various shades of one emotion. What goes where…what suits when…endless exploration. That too when you have to follow a time limit and balancing the lip-sync and moreover, matching your entire performance with the mannerism of the character on screen.
“What madness? I have to say so less! This lady is describing a whole lot of things. No way… How to do it? The translated Script is not exactly the same as the visuals. इस में तो ऐसा कुछ भी नहीं है जो इसके बोलने के तरीक़े से fit हो जाए या उसके personality को match करें…
AND….. in such case, the artist keeps aside the script and starts his own delivery. Still everything moves smoothly and fits perfectly. The recordist is looking happy. This is a scene when dubbing is going on in a studio.
Dubbing is entirely a different skill in the world of voice over. And if the artist has the capacity to understand the character in depth or the intensity of the character’s feeling in relation with the situation and in flow with the development of the plot.. whether it’s a serial, movie or a short film… provided he gets a perfect translation of the script in his hand, then we enjoy that “Waw” effect. Rarely one gets everything perfect to perform with. And if everything so perfect then what is left for dubbing artist to explore.
The world of dubbing is wonderful. It is full of fun. One gets full freedom to roam in the sea of expressions. It is beyond the written or translated scripts. The actual fun is when you dub colloquial expressions in the context of the culture of the language in which you are dubbing.
I feel this cannot be developed just with the help of workshop or course of a fix duration. It’s a training throughout to rehearse and rehearse. It’s a harmonious coordination of Eyes, ears and mouth along with your imaginative angle in ‘Switched on’ mode. Its also a better understanding of meter of dialogues or narration which one has to develop.
Translator too plays a big role when he translates a script watching the video clip in other language. Its difficult. Sometimes it is just a common sense that applies and not the dictionary and sometimes it is a real challenge to fill the gap to match the length of the dialogues. Expressions are the worst to translate but the best to experiment, imagine and match. Rather they are sometimes matchless in the destination language.
In this whole experiment of dubbing the recordist’s understanding of the time sync and technical knowledge acts as a big support to the artist.
Of course this is not possible without proper direction and supervision of the dubbing director. Seldom, an artist is reluctant to follow him.
And what comes out as a final output should sound even if not just fit to original then at least much natural.. That’s the success of the entire task of dubbing.
Madhavi Ganpule
