After a recent rather serious blog, it’s time to take on a similar subject but in a lighthearted way. I am currently studying for a Masters in Audio Production at the University of Salford and a recent workshop focused on syncing audio to the image. This is something that is a crucial and a important aspect to get right when editing sound. In a documentary where Ben Burt is working with actors in an ADR (Automated dialogue replacement) session, it shows how tricky this is and how it clearly requires particular skill. The idea behind ADR is that actors voices are recorded at a different time to the film with the actors effectively doing voice-overs. When this is done well it is not noticeable, however, when done badly you are going to get some very disappointed audience members.
This is a comical example of how seriously wrong it can be in a scene from Singing in the Rain.
This is from mellow0w on Youtube.
Yes this is a funny and over-the-top example to show the importance of syncing and ADR. At the moment I am currently working on an animation piece and for this we are recreating all of the sound including ADR. This Thursday we are recording the actors and this is the current process we have used for getting this right.
- Watching the animation noting where it doesn’t sync.
- Going over the script, to see where lines do not match.
- Deciding scenes or lines where a new line can be added or replaced.
- When adding new lines checking the mouth movement to make sure it can be matched.
This has been the process so far and after recording the actors we will be working on syncing the dialogue.
Reference
Wikipedia (2014) Dubbing (Filmmaking). Wikipedia. Retrieved 5th November, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing_%28filmmaking%29
Yotube (2013) Star Wars Episodes II Films are not released. They Escape Documentary. Youtube. Retrieved 5th November, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM_V9dqtBug
Media Crush 