Dubbing in drama
Dr. Gauti Kristmannsson
University of Iceland
Reykjavik
The Filmic Text in Drama
• Film is a polysemiotic text that makes
simultaneous use of various signs.
• Structurally these texts are divided into acts,
sequences, scenes, beats and dialogues.
• Words in dialogues, on scene texts and
captions are the object of translation within
the total original.
Dialogue
• Words in dialogues, on scene texts and
captions are the object of translation
within the whole of the original.
Hermeneutic procedure
• analytic steps from words to phrases to
sentences, dialogues, scenes,
sequences, acts and the film as a
whole.
Parts and the whole
• absorb the whole in its parts, make sure
of having understood each part and
then reconstruct the whole from the
same parts. In translation this means
one has to tackle each micro
component with the macro in mind.
• analysis takes this into consideration
Structure
• a selection of events from the
characters’ life stories that is composed
into a strategic sequence to arouse
specific emotions and to express a
specific view of life.
Events
• A story event creates a meaningful
change in the life situation of a
character that is expressed and
experienced in terms of value.
Values
• Story values are the universal qualities
of human experience that may shift from
positive to negative, or negative to
positive, from one moment to the next.
Conflict
• A story event creates meaningful
change in the life situation of a
character that is expressed and
experienced in terms of a value and
achieved through conflict.
Basic Film Structure
• beats
– A beat is the smallest element of structure
and shows an exchange in behaviour in
action/reaction. One by one these
changing behaviours shape the turning of a
scene.
Basic Film Structure
• scenes
– A scene is an action through conflict in
more or less continuous time and space
that turns the value-charged condition of a
character's life on at least one value with a
degree of perceptible significance. Ideally,
every scene is a story event.
Basic Film Structure
• sequences
– a sequence is a series of scenes-generally two to five--that culminates with
greater impact than any previous scene.
Basic Film Structure
• acts
– an act is a series of sequences that peaks
in a climactic scene which causes a major
reversal of values, more powerful in its
impact than any previous sequences or
scene.
Definitions: Beat
• A beat is the smallest element of
structure and shows an exchange in
behaviour in action/reaction. One by
one these changing behaviours shape
the turning of a scene.
Definitions: Scene
• A scene is an action through conflict in
more or less continuous time and space
that turns the value-charged condition of
a character's life on at least one value
with a degree of perceptible
significance. Ideally, every scene is a
story event.
Definitions: Sequence
• A sequence is a series of scenes-generally two to five--that culminates
with greater impact than any previous
scene.
Definitions: Act
• An act is a series of sequences that
peaks in a climactic scene which
causes a major reversal of values, more
powerful in its impact than any previous
sequences or scene.
Story
• A series of acts, one master event.
• Plot navigates through the story at the
author’s choice
Different plots
• Archplot
– classical design around an active
protagonist who struggles against external
forces in pursuit of his or her desire
through continuous time and causally
connected fictional events and with að
closed and irreversible ending.
Different plots
• Miniplot has, for example, an open
ending, an internal conflict of the
protagonist, multi-protagonist or a
passive protagonist.
Different plots
• Anti-structure is based on coincidences,
nonlinear time, inconsistent realities etc.
Closed ending
• A story climax of absolute, irreversible
change that answers all questions
raised by the telling and satisfies all
audience emotion.
Open ending
• A story climax that leaves a question or
two unanswered and some emotion
unfulfilled is an open ending.
Protagonists
• One or more
• Active or passive
Time
• A story without flashbacks and arranged
into a temporal order of events that the
audience can follow is told in linear
time.
• A story that either skips through time or
blurs temporal continuity is told in
nonlinear time.
Causality and conincidence
• Motivated and unmotivated actions
– interconnectedness
– fragmentation
Film structure and drama
• Act one---Act two---Act three---Act four---Act five
• ----------+-----------------------------------------------------
• Inciting incident, what starts the
dramatic conflict.
• Each act has its minor climax, where
there is a reversal of fortunes, a kind of
new inciting incident.
Action
• action combined with dialogue makes
the drama move on
• classical example: boy meets girl in The
Titanic
Theoretical issues
• The subtext and speech acts
• Questions of deixis, or pointing
• Questions of pragmatics such as:
– the act of “reading” the “text”
– the whys and wheres of a text
The subtext
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what do people really say?
what is the purpose?
what do they really want?
what expresses what they want?
Speech acts
• Austin and Searle are the main
propagators
• The main premise is that behind an
utterance lies a desire to affect the
world in some way, but that this is not
always expressed directly
An example
• A: It’s a bit chilly in here, don’t you think?
- B can do a few things a) go and cose the
window and perform the act expressed by as
an illocutionary act.
- or b) agree and do nothing reversing the
illocutionary act
- or c) say no and reverse the illocutionary act
by asserting one of his/her own.
Deictic Problems
of Film and TV Translation
• As film and TV translation does not
replace the original, but operates within
it, as either an addition (subtitles) or
partial replacement (dubbing, voice
over) problems of deixis may be the
most difficult to solve.
Definition of deixis
• The act of pointing through verbal or
non-verbal expression.
• More exact: The characteristic or
function of an expression that defines
the relation of the expression or its
speaker to others, space, time and
place. They can function within and
without the „text“.
So what’s the problem?
• What makes deictic expressions remarkable
and in need of added interpretation is the fact
that on their own they can in many cases not
be proved or disproved.
• „It is cold outside“ may be applicable to this
time and place, but not in July. Without a
context this expression is meaningless.
What do they do then?
• Deictic expressions are always
dependent on the context and have the
function to put speakers and objects
into „place“.
The deictic centre
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i) speaker
ii) time of speaker’s expression
iii) place of speaker’s expression
iv) discourse within which the speaker
expresses him-/herself
• v) social position
Types of deixis
• Speaker-deixis refers to the speaker’s
relation to others participating in the
communication (as adressees or
viewers). In film and TV translation we
may have many problems here, as
many relations of this sort are part of
the viewers background knowledge
which is taken for granted in the
expression.
Types of deixis
• Place-deixis refers to the place in which
the expression takes, places which are
referred to from this centre and places
beyond the centre of expression: It is
not hot here; Brussels is not far from
here; the cathedral is only 20 meters
from the Museum. Again, background
knowledge is of prime importance.
Types of deixis
• Time-deixis can be divided into
expressions that refer to „real“ time on
the calendar or the watch, or more
„deictic“ expressions that refer to past,
present or future without being
measurably defined. In film, time is very
often referred to through visual
elements such as costume and
equipment.
To complicate things
• To complicate things there is a division
between the time of expression and
reception. This can of course happen at
the same time, as now when I am
saying this to you; in texts, however,
and in films especially, this is much
more complicated.
Dubbing drama
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specific problems of dubbing
translation procedure
dubbing texts
synchrony
accents and dialects
paralinguistics
The dubbing studio
See overhead
Translation procedure
• rough translation
• dubbing script
• recording
Dubbing texts
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what kind of a text is the dubbing text?
written to be spoken
acted to fit the foreign lips and acting
heard not seen
Changes made for lip sync.
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omission of words
pronouns used instead of full name
omission of clauses
phrase reformulated
Changes made to improve
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correct or better collocations
less formal vocabulary
correction of context reference
avoidance of anglicisms
more idiomatic language
closer to the spoken language
Main characteristics
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many mistakes
high frequency of anglicisms
tendency to a written formality
stylistic uneveness due to unmotivated
switches from formal and
informal language.
• cohesive factors neglected
Problems
• Replacing an original creating an
illusion of it at the same time
• adapting language to the lip movements
of a foreign language
• reacting a scene with different talents
and voices
Definition of equivalence
• an adequate relation between source
and a target text that fulfills the same
communicative function on the same
level in the respective culture
Lip synchrony
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off- and on-passages
length of utterance
labial cononants /b/, /m/, /p/
labiodental fricatives /f/, /v/
open vowels /æ/, /eI /, /aI/, /i:/ in SL
English
• /ou:/, /y:/, /u:/, /o:/, /ø:/, /i:/, /a:/, /a:/ in SL
German
Types of synchrony
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quantitative lip synchrony
qualitative lipsynchrony
synchrony related to speech tempo
synchrony related to articulation
synchrony related to gestures
nucleus synchrony
Accents and Dialects
• Usually accents and dialects are
dubbed into the standard language.
Terminology
• Variety (national and/or social AmE or
RP)
• dialect (regional, social)
• accent (pronunciation only)
Social meaning
• 1. Regional marker
• 2. Social marker
• 3. Ethnic marker
Dialect as a marker
in German
• High German has more prestige, and
dialects have stereotypical
connotations. Standard is the
"appropriate variety" although no one
speaks "Bühnendeutsch".
Problems of Equivalence I
• Equivalence through variety, accent or
dialect is considered difficult.
• Most dialects and many accents as well
serve as regional and/or social markers.
Problems of Equivalence II
• Loss of atmosphere or character fidelity
where accents or dialects play a role.
The problem is common in:
• in situation comedy
• when dialect reflects characters position
in the plot
• when language is a subject
Possible equivalents:
• verbalise the origin of the speaker
• switch the register according to situation
and social position
• use voice quality to hint at e.g. a refined
upper class or crude working class
(i.e. stereotypes)
• personality markers; competence vs.
incompetence (swift speech or stutter)
Paralinguistics
• what is it?
• do non-verbal elements of speech have
meaning?
• how do they combine with verbal
elements of language?
Characteristic paralinguistic
features
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speech tempo
pauses
volume
pitch span
articulatory precision
gesture, body movement
Elements of meaning
• affective meaning
• modulation
Paralinguistics and culture
• Paralinguistic phenomena are culturally
determined
• Hence an attempt at paralingustic
equivalence (or compensation) can be
at odds with paralinguistic synchrony,
especially when it comes to the nucleus
stress of the utterance
Paralinguistic problems
• speech tempo -» too much text
• pitch span -» monotonous German
• pauses -» very often not motivated due
to demands of lip synchrony
• physical expression and gestures -» do
often not coincide with the nucleus
stress of the utterance; lack of nucleus
synchrony
Voice quality
• equivalence needed for informative and
indexical features such as:
• biological (age, size, gender, etc.)
• psychological features
• social features
Choice of dubbing actors
• is intuitive (based on experience) after
auditions
• likeness of voice not a primary criterion
• the voices are generally accepted
• voice as a personality marker
• of the technical conditions (takes, lip
synchrony etc.)
Dubbing Theory
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inherently linked to translation theory
considers practical problems of:
drama
translation of dialogue in context
practical constraints
Synchrony and equivalence
• two central elements of dubbing
• texts are defined by both demands
Equivalence levels in dubbing
• Text sense and meaning
• Synchrony
• Text function, in which the dubbed film
is taken as a whole
The End
Ende
Einde
Fin
Tiedostonloppu