Dubbing filmmaking: Encyclopedia II - Dubbing filmmaking - Foreign films

Dubbing filmmaking - Foreign films

Dubbing is often used to localize a foreign movie. The new voice track will usually be spoken by a voice artist. In many countries, most actors who regularly perform this duty are generally little-known, outside of popular circles such as anime fandom, for example, or when their voice has become indissociable from the role or the actor or actress whose voice they usually dub. Many of these actors also employ pseudonyms or go uncredited due to Actor's Guild regulations or simple desire to dissociate themselves from the role. However, famous local actors can also be hired to perform the dubbing, particularly for comedies and animated movies, as their names are supposed to attract moviegoers, and the entire Hollywood cast is dubbed by a local cast of similar notoriety.

Adding or replacing non-vocal sounds, such as sound effects, is the task of a foley artist.

Subtitles may be used instead of dubbing, as different countries have different traditions regarding the choice between dubbing and subtitling. In most English-speaking countries, dubbing is comparatively rare. In Israel, some programmes need to be comprehensible to speakers of both Hebrew and Arabic. This cannot be accomplished with dubbing, so subtitling is much more commonplace - sometimes even with subtitles in both languages, with the soundtrack remaining in the original language, usually English. The same thing also applies to certain television shows in Finland, where Finnish and Swedish are both official languages. In the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, films and television programmes are shown in the original language (usually English) with subtitles, and only some cartoons and children programmes are dubbed.

In Portugal this has traditionally also been the case, but one terrestrial channel, TVI, dubs US series like Dawson's Creek into Portuguese. In Brazil, foreign television programmes have invariably dubbed in Portuguese, with only a few exceptions, partly because of lower literacy rates, although films shown at cinemas are usually subtitled. However, dubbing in Brazil is of very low quality.

For the German Italian-speaking markets, virtually all films and foreign television shows are dubbed. There are few opportunities to watch Hollywood movies in their original versions, and even in the largest cities there are only a few theatres that screen original versions with subtitles, or no translation at all.

In France, movies are often released theatrically in both dubbed and original versions. Big-budget Hollywood movies are usually available in both versions and art house movies are often available in their original version only. However, the availability of the original versions is often limited to certain districts of large cities.

In Quebec in Canada, most films and TV programmes in English are dubbed into French. This has the advantage of making children's TV series comprehensible to younger audiences, but many bilingual Quebecois prefer subtitling since they would understand some or all of the original audio. American television series are only available in English on DVD, or on English language channels. Most anime DVDs contain options for original Japanese, Japanese with subtitles, and English dubbed, except for a handful of series which have been heavily edited and/or Americanized.

In some countries, such as Thailand and South Africa, the original soundtrack is simultaneously carried or "simulcast" on the radio.

On DVDs with higher translation budgets, the option for both types will often be provided to account for individuals' preferences; purists exist for both types of translation. For small markets (small language area or films for a select audience) subtitling is more suitable because it is cheaper. For films for small children, who can not yet read, or not yet very fast, dubbing is necessary.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Foreign films", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki