Chapter 650: Mobilizing the best soldiers and generals from all over the country to dub A-Gump
"Ronald, I have to say that China's movies seem to have hit a trough now... I don't know how much box office the Fugitive can bring. If this downward trend continues, there will be no movie market here in three years.
, we don’t even know who to sell our account-sharing supervision system to. A satellite-connected box office statistics system is even more impossible. All the box office in a medium-sized city may not be enough to buy this system.”
Michelle Cannold arrived in Xujiahui and chatted with people from the Shanghai Film Translation Studio, only to discover that since the 1990s, the Shanghai Film Translation Studio has entered a very embarrassing situation.
First of all, the film market in China has suffered a cliff-like decline. In 1990, the national box office was still 2.2 billion yuan, but by last year it had dropped by half, leaving only 1.2 billion yuan.
The number of annual moviegoers dropped from 16.2 billion in 1990 to only a quarter of 4.2 billion.
A large number of screening teams and screening points in rural towns and villages have been cancelled. Except for weddings and funerals, there are no movie theaters in the countryside.
The number of moviegoers in several big cities can still be guaranteed to some extent, but the box office is also declining very fast. After being popular in America for more than ten years, the invention of video tape has finally reached the other side of the Pacific.
Moreover, there is a particularly cheap piracy technology that America does not have - ripping.
In America, video recorders produced after 1984 have restrictions on ripping. If you want to rip signals that are not live broadcasts from TV stations, but from other video tapes, the Macrovision copy protection function will be activated. On the new video tape, the picture will be
Constant flickering and changing brightness make the viewing experience very poor.
However, this precedent that Sony won the lawsuit is only valid in America. In East Asia, especially the video tapes produced in Xiangjiang, not only do not have Macrovision copy protection function, but they also focus on the development of ripping technology as a selling point.
Machines produced by Japanese manufacturers such as Panasonic and JVC all have Macrovision copy protection functions. However, there are many talents in Xiangjiang. Someone has developed an illegal tool to prevent copying of the signal. By installing this circuit in the video recorder, it can bypass
Use the Macrovision copy protection chip to directly rip normal images.
For another example, Hong Kong also has imported video recorders assembled with Japanese chips. Local talents have also added a speed recording function in recent years, which can make the dubbing speed between two video recorders double the normal playback speed. Originally, a two-hour movie
, it only takes one hour to rip a new videotape.
In the end, they even omitted this and directly produced a dual-compartment video recorder. There are two video tape compartments in one machine, which can be copied directly.
In this way, an unscrupulous businessman can hoard a batch of dual-chamber video recorders with stenographic functions, and one becomes two, and two becomes four, becoming an underground black workshop for pirated video tapes.
Many of these video tapes were sold to the mainland. As long as they were not returned to the Japanese and American markets, there was no one to supervise them. It turned out to be an industrial chain, wholesale and retail, and even entering the mainland, there were professional players operating it.
It only takes two weeks for movies and videos from Hong Kong and even Hollywood to appear on the mainland market.
Of course, the per capita income in the mainland is not high, and video recorders are still a relatively expensive luxury product. After all, it was only around 1992 that the mainland popularized color televisions with the introduction of color picture tube production lines.
However, this does not prevent mainland audiences from watching the latest Hollywood B-level movies. Unlike America, most of the video tapes in the mainland are shown in a so-called video hall, and audiences can pay the equivalent of a movie ticket.
For the price, watch two or three videos in a row.
Video halls generally use a projector as the screen. Various Mandarin-dubbed movies from Hong Kong, as well as many Hollywood action movies, have been introduced to the mainland. Most of them still use the versions dubbed in Xiangjiang or other places.
This has brought a double impact to the four major dubbing studios in the Mainland, Bayi, Changyi, Beiyi, and Shangyi.
On the one hand, the mainland's box office market has shrunk, and fewer people are watching movies. Relatively speaking, the number of imported movies is smaller, and fewer movies need dubbing. On the other hand, many video halls have imported films from Hong Kong or Hollywood.
Movies have been dubbed into Mandarin in Xiangjiang or other places, so their business will be even less.
To make matters worse, after signing the new agreement, the distribution company took over the dubbing work of all Hollywood branch films.
This is equivalent to saying that it is no longer the tasks assigned under the planned distribution system in the past, but it is also not a system where suppliers with high quality and favorable prices win under market economy conditions. It is a system that mixes planning and market, and is controlled by the head office.
Distribute it according to the situation, and then give a certain "market-oriented" reward.
Since under the old system, assignments were based on assigning planned tasks, so due to its abundant talent, Shangyi Translation Factory would usually assign films from Hollywood, Western Europe, and some Latin America to translate.
Therefore, the first part of the blockbuster "The Fugitive" was handed over to Shangyi. In order to earn a new lease of life for the factory, the entire factory can be said to be full of elites. Yan Chongde became the translation director. Qiao Zhen and Ding Jianhua provided
As for the dubbing of the protagonist, the new generation Shen Xiaoqian, Jiang Yuling, and the older generation Tong Zirong all took on the main roles.
The dubbing effect of the entire movie is very good. Although Michelle Cannold does not understand Chinese, the dubbing actors really gave the character the core. They are not the kind of straightforward reciting lines, but have a whole system to recreate them.
.
Ronald hasn't seen the dubbed video tape yet, but from the names of the actors he mentioned, Ronald knows that the translated version of "The Fugitive" will be very good. Chinese audiences are used to this kind of second creation.
It's a translated film, so it seems that The Fugitive will not be too bad at the box office in the Mainland.
This new type of Hollywood action film combines elements of many Hollywood genre films, stars Harrison Ford, and reflects the scenery and life scenes of the current American city of Chicago. It is very likely to win the recognition of current mainland audiences.
of.
But the problem is that the head office cannot hand over all Hollywood blockbusters to Shangyi for dubbing. Otherwise, Bei, Chang, and Bayi will have nothing to eat.
We are all veteran players in the field of translation and production. If we continue to introduce Hollywood blockbusters as planned next year, we will definitely have to divide the apples. It will definitely not be based on which factory is suitable, but a method of evenly spreading rain and dew to ensure that everyone
There is some business to be done.
"Don't worry about the box office. Once Hollywood movies enter, the box office will be good. Don't worry..." Ronald was amused that Michelle Cannold used Hollywood rules to measure the Chinese film market.
Mainland city residents, because of the language, most of the videos they see are B-level movies, action movies, or special effects films. Really large Hollywood productions that combine both art and business are rarely seen because of the language.
Mainland audiences saw it.
The dubbing studio is this very critical channel. As long as there is good dubbing work, Chinese audiences can also appreciate the emotional transmission of these outstanding movies. There is a reason why these movies are favored by the Oscars.
"Let me tell you, China is different from other places. Dubbed films have a performance component, and some translated films are no worse than the original versions. You can make an analogy with the translated films imported from Italy."
Ronald quickly told Cannold on the overseas phone that Italy is another country that uses dubbing films to re-create. Many foreign films even use stars to dub them. They regard film as a very important art.
What we are dealing with is indeed two countries with long histories.
"It turns out that's the case. I'm relieved. People from the head office told me that they will treat our daydream movie as a key project no matter what. They are ready to mobilize the best talents to translate your movie...
"Forrest Gump" is going to be handled by Bayi Translation Studio. They are very good at handling this kind of movies that express feelings about family and country. And "Speed" is going to be assigned to Shanghai Translation Studio. The effect of this time on the run is
Yes, they have experience in action movies..." Michelle Cannold has to go north to meet with the leaders of the head office to discuss, and they have shown their utmost sincerity to cooperate.
Their leaders took the instructions very seriously and could not have problems in the second year. They must make the Hollywood split-account movie do well at the box office in China...
"What? Why isn't my Forrest Gump translated by the Shanghai Translation Factory? I've already prepared the list. No, no, you have to go to the head office and argue with them. My Forrest Gump must be translated by the Shanghai Translation Factory!
…
"Why? We also allocate the content according to the content of your movies? You don't know that many of the historical movies we imported were handed over to Chang Yi and Bayi. They have rich experience.
... Your Forest Gump is more suitable for them..."
Michelle Cannold arrived at the head office and conveyed Ronald's strong opinions, but the head office did not understand. Shangyi Translation Factory is very good at translating and dubbing commercial films, especially romance films, but Forrest Gump is not.
For a movie that tells the history of America and has a strong sense of reality, Bayi Film Studio is more suitable, right?
Not to mention those movies from the Eastern camp in the past, even after the 1980s, such as the former alliance's "Battle of Moscow" and the Sino-Japanese co-production "Dunhuang", such historical blockbusters were all produced well by the Bayi Film Studio.
"This was personally designated by Director Luo. He believed that only Shangyi Studio could restore the essence of this movie."
As soon as these words came out, the people at the head office were very unhappy. Everyone froze for a while. At this time, a middle-aged man, Vice President Han, who was transferred from Beijing Film Studio to strengthen the head office, spoke:
"Director Luo is an old friend of our Chinese film industry. His persistence in his translated films is also an affirmation of the creative level of our country's translated films..."
These words appeased both parties, and the two sides continued to talk. Vice President Han took the opportunity to ask Michelle Cannold, also speaking to the vice president responsible for assigning translation producers, "Why does Director Luo want to
How about specifying an organization for translation?”
Michelle Cannold didn't understand either. He gave some high-sounding reasons, but they were refuted by the other party's vice president in charge of allocating translations. In the end, he had to call Ronald and ask the author to explain.
"The reason why I want Shangyi Studio to translate this film is not out of commercial considerations, but out of artistic considerations. You may have forgotten that I am not only the chairman of Daydream Studios, but also the
The director of this movie…”
Ronald also expected the difficulty of doing business in China, but for some personal reasons of his own, he still called and communicated with them in person.
"Oh, that's it...Artistic pursuits are indeed very subtle. I wonder what Director Luo thinks about them?" Vice President Han said, "As for artistic pursuits, it's hard for us to say anything."
Come, we can also get some promotional materials. Our translation and production standards have been recognized by famous Hollywood directors, who called us from across the ocean to personally request...
"When I came to Shanghai in the 1980s, I knew an anecdote. Japan's Takekura Takakura always assigned Bi Kejun to dub him when his movies were released in China. This is a profound understanding of character interpretation...
…
When I learned that my Forrest Gump would be a branch movie next year, I was thinking about who would be the best person to interpret the role in my movie. Last week, I also got instructions from your boss. I am thinking about this.
The artistry of the film must be perfect. This is a very important opportunity for the people of China and the United States to enhance mutual understanding. Although I am very busy, I will always pay attention to the dubbing work of this film."
Ronald was also a member of the Huaguotong Group, and he was very skilled at pulling off tiger skins to make the banner work. In this way, several vice presidents of the head office felt that the matter was very important. They not only had to cooperate with Ronald, but also had to work on the dubbing work.
, as this year’s key project…”
"I have another request, Vice President Han..." During the conference call, Ronald also learned who really understands film production and distribution. Vice President Han used to work at the Emei Factory and later came here.
When I arrived at the Capital Factory, I had a very good understanding of the laws of the film industry.
"Director Luo, please tell me..." Vice President Han was very happy. He is still in the secondment stage. If he can be favored by Ronald and take charge of this key project, it will only be good for his future prospects.
"Although Forest Gump is the transliteration of the title of my movie, which is the name of the protagonist, the feelings we Americans have when we see him are different from the feelings audiences in your country have when they see this name.
There is an ancient southern flavor that Chinese people without a relevant cultural background may not be able to see, and will only find the name difficult to pronounce..."
"Director Luo is indeed an expert in film distribution. No wonder he has achieved such a big career in America..." Vice President Han is the so-called sensible person in the head office.
"I remember that when I was watching Director Spielberg filming Empire of the Sun in Xujiahui, I saw one of your movies called The True Story of Ah QQ."
"Aha, this is very appropriate. How about your movie be called Alfred?"
"Well, Forrest Gump is better..."
…
Soon, Forrest Gump was handed over to Shangyi Translation Factory. Ronald was afraid of more interference, so he simply imitated Takakura Ken and designated the dubbing candidates for the main characters.
The adult Forrest Gump is voiced by the younger Shen Xiaoqian. His voice is warm and sincere, which resonates with Tom Hanks. The adult Jenny is voiced by Liu Guangning. Her voice has some complex layers, which is suitable for Jenny.
Forrest Gump's mother is, of course, Su Xiu, the top officer who matches her mother, and Lieutenant Dan is played by the powerful Cheng Yuzhu.
Other minor roles will be decided by the translation studio itself, and the translation director must be an experienced comrade.
Xiao Yan, who rushed back to Xujiahui to supervise the dubbing work, saw the situation and called Ronald again.
"Boss, they only gave the dubbing team 30,000 yuan. This can't be done."
"Thirty thousand dollars is too little..." Ronald told his secretary to get through all dubbing matters.
"What's thirty thousand US dollars? It's thirty thousand RMB."
"What can you do with 30,000 yuan for playing the piano randomly? Just call Vice President Han at the head office and tell him what I said and ask him to increase the money. Forget it, it's hard for him to do it. In this way, you can say that I care about dubbing.
Regarding quality, the big boss is an expert in movies, so it’s not okay if we don’t satisfy him. For this movie, I personally funded the company to mobilize the power of the whole country to dub it, and asked Vice President Han to supervise it. We must ensure the quality.”