Complaining
is probably more popular than creating among internet users because
it's easier to rant than to create. But what happens when the creative
people have something to complain about? It sounds like the dub
directors' panel at Anime Vegas. It was a big group that appeared in
front of fans - Jeff Nimoy, Mike Sinterniklaas, Jonathan Klein, Mary
Elizabeth McGlynn, Mike McFarland, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Laura Bailey
and Lex Lang. It started innocently when the question was raised about
directors playing roles in shows they direct. All of the directors on
this panel have acted, and some like performing in their own
productions more than others. But then the question was changed to the
strange experiences the directors have had with actors, and the sharp
comments followed. Lang: "I've given them direction and they say
`Ho-kay.'" Bailey: "You're giving them direction and then they start
talking before I'm finished." McFarland: "Everyone once in a while, you
have to resort to a line read (where the director reads the line
exactly as he wants the actor to perform it), and the actor says `Wow,
that sounded a lot like a line read, Mike.'" It happened to McGlynn,
who had to coach her husband through a performance on a dub, only to be
met with a "Huh?" Then there are the actors who don't seem to pay
attention, as Klein recalled when he tried to guide an actor through a
line, only to realize the person was still reading the line over and
over again. Second more annoying was the person recalled by
Sinterniklaas; "There's one guy in New York who brings a Game Boy and
plays it between takes." And the universal top annoyance for these
directors are actors who bring phones to recording sessions and try to
use them.
After
the ranting was over, the directors mentioned those annoyances were the
reasons that some actors are cast in dubs over and over again. A
special few - Steve Blum and Dave Wittenberg were mentioned by the West
Coast contingent - have the abilities to match on-screen lip flaps,
give a convincing performance and do it in a minimum number of takes.
To make the actors' job easier, directors like to prepare by learning
as much as they can about a show, but that isn't always possible. "If
you're really lucky, you get to meet with the Japanese producers and
learn where the series is going," said Klein (right), "so you know the
character that briefly appears in episode two is the key character in
the series." But there are other pressures on the directors;
Clinkenbeard noted that series have "brand managers" who often serve as
producers and decide the sound of a dub when they dictate the audience
they expect a series to reach. Most unusual are the cases where a fresh
dub is created to replace an existing soundtrack, as Sinterniklaas
(left) did when rights changed for the epic Giant Robo series.
Sinterniklaas said he listened to the first dub and used it as a guide
to the new dub, retaining some of the voice characterization ideas for
the second dub while making fresh decisions. "There's sort of a
retro-future brave thing going on," he said. "It's a very stylized
piece and we served that well."
Complaining
is probably more popular than creating among internet users because
it's easier to rant than to create. But what happens when the creative
people have something to complain about? It sounds like the dub
directors' panel at Anime Vegas. It was a big group that appeared in
front of fans - Jeff Nimoy, Mike Sinterniklaas, Jonathan Klein, Mary
Elizabeth McGlynn, Mike McFarland, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Laura Bailey
and Lex Lang. It started innocently when the question was raised about
directors playing roles in shows they direct. All of the directors on
this panel have acted, and some like performing in their own
productions more than others. But then the question was changed to the
strange experiences the directors have had with actors, and the sharp
comments followed. Lang: "I've given them direction and they say
`Ho-kay.'" Bailey: "You're giving them direction and then they start
talking before I'm finished." McFarland: "Everyone once in a while, you
have to resort to a line read (where the director reads the line
exactly as he wants the actor to perform it), and the actor says `Wow,
that sounded a lot like a line read, Mike.'" It happened to McGlynn,
who had to coach her husband through a performance on a dub, only to be
met with a "Huh?" Then there are the actors who don't seem to pay
attention, as Klein recalled when he tried to guide an actor through a
line, only to realize the person was still reading the line over and
over again. Second more annoying was the person recalled by
Sinterniklaas; "There's one guy in New York who brings a Game Boy and
plays it between takes." And the universal top annoyance for these
directors are actors who bring phones to recording sessions and try to
use them.
After
the ranting was over, the directors mentioned those annoyances were the
reasons that some actors are cast in dubs over and over again. A
special few - Steve Blum and Dave Wittenberg were mentioned by the West
Coast contingent - have the abilities to match on-screen lip flaps,
give a convincing performance and do it in a minimum number of takes.
To make the actors' job easier, directors like to prepare by learning
as much as they can about a show, but that isn't always possible. "If
you're really lucky, you get to meet with the Japanese producers and
learn where the series is going," said Klein (right), "so you know the
character that briefly appears in episode two is the key character in
the series." But there are other pressures on the directors;
Clinkenbeard noted that series have "brand managers" who often serve as
producers and decide the sound of a dub when they dictate the audience
they expect a series to reach. Most unusual are the cases where a fresh
dub is created to replace an existing soundtrack, as Sinterniklaas
(left) did when rights changed for the epic Giant Robo series.
Sinterniklaas said he listened to the first dub and used it as a guide
to the new dub, retaining some of the voice characterization ideas for
the second dub while making fresh decisions. "There's sort of a
retro-future brave thing going on," he said. "It's a very stylized
piece and we served that well."
