In filmmaking, dubbing or looping is the process of recording or replacing voices for a motion picture. The term is most commonly used in reference to voices recorded which do not belong to the original actors and speak in a different language than the actor is speaking. "Dubbing" can also be used to describe the process of re-recording lines by the actor who originally spoke them. This process is technically known as additional dialogue recording, or ADR. Film production on location in Newark, New Jersey. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as...

Although dubbing is most common with film, television series are sometimes dubbed as well (mostly popular Hollywood series and serialized Japanese anime that have received foreign distribution). Foreign-language films and videos are often dubbed into the local language of their target markets to increase their popularity with the local audience by making them more accessible. A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... ... The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) Anime ) (IPA pronunciation: in Japanese, but typically or in English) is an abbreviation of the word animation. Outside Japan, the term most popularly refers to animation... A target market is the market segment which a particular product is marketed to. ...

Automated dialogue replacement / post-synch

Automated dialogue replacement (ADR) is a film sound technique involving the re-recording of dialogue after photography. It is called post-synchronisation (post-sync) in the UK. Also referred to as "Additional dialogue recording".

In conventional film production, a production sound mixer records dialogue during photography, but several uncontrollable issues, such as traffic or animal noise, during principal photography can cause the production sound to be unusable. The production sound mixer is the member of a film crew responsible for recording all sound on set during the photography of a motion picture. ...

When the film is in post-production, a Supervising Sound Editor or ADR Supervisor reviews all of the dialogue in the film and rules which actor lines will have to be replaced using the ADR technique. This is an article about the film crew member known as a sound designer. ...

ADR is recorded during an ADR session. An actor, usually the original actor on set, is called to a sound studio equipped with video playback equipment and sound playback and recording equipment. The actor wears headphones and is shown the film of the line that must be replaced, and often he will be played the production sound recording. The film is then projected several times, and the actor attempts to re-perform the line while watching the image on the screen, while an ADR Recordist records the performances. Several takes are made, and based on the quality of the performance and sync, one is selected and edited by an ADR Editor for use in the film.

There are variations of the ADR process. ADR does not have to be recorded in a studio, but can be recorded on location, with mobile equipment; this process was pioneered by Matthew Wood of Skywalker Sound for The Phantom Menace. ADR can also be recorded without showing the actor the image they must match, but only by having him listen to the performance. This process was used for years at Universal Studios. Matthew Wood is an American filmmaker who is currently the Supervising Sound Editor (2003) employed at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California. ... Skywalker Sound is the renowned sound effects, sound editorial, sound design and music recording division of George Lucass Lucas Digital motion picture group. ... Film poster for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 film by George Lucas starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Jake Lloyd. ... The current Universal Studios logo Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the major American film studios that has production studios and offices located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County between Los...

Although actors are trained to sing, few are of professional quality. Therefore, if a character must sing well in a movie, ADR is usually used to redub their singing. This technique was used by, among many others, Billy Boyd and Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings. Billy Boyd appearing at Comic Con 2004 Billy Boyd (born 28 August 1968 in Glasgow) is a Scottish actor most widely known for playing Peregrin Took in the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) and Barrett Bonden in Peter Weirs film Master and Commander: The... Viggo Mortensen at the world premiere of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, in Wellington, New Zealand. ... The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. ...

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 Screen Actors 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. Localization can mean any of the following: Generally, localization is the determination of the locality (position) of an object. ... A voice actor (or voice artist) is a person who provides voices for computer and video games, puppet shows, amusement rides, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, stop motion, and animation works (including cartoons, animated feature films, animated shorts), and radio and television commercials. ... The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) Anime ) (IPA pronunciation: in Japanese, but typically or in English) is an abbreviation of the word animation. Outside Japan, the term most popularly refers to animation... The Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) is the labor union representing over 120,000 film actors in the United States. ...

Adding or replacing non-vocal sounds, such as sound effects, is the task of a foley artist. Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of movies, video games, music, or other media. ... The Foley artist on a film crew is the person who creates and records many of the sound effects, (thesedays many often associate the Foley artist with the job of capturing the natural/everyday sounds leaving the the role of special (audio-) effects to the Sound_designer. ...

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. A subtitle can refer to one of two things: an explanatory or alternate title of a book, play or film, in addition to its main title, or textual versions of a film or television programs dialogue that appear onscreen. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... The Arabic language ( ), or simply Arabic ( ), is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ...

In the Netherlands, Flanders and the Nordic countries, films and television programmes are shown in the original language (usually English) with subtitles, and only cartoons and children movies and programs are dubbed, such as the Harry Potter series, Finding Nemo, Shrek, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory etc. Cinemas usually both show a dubbed version and one with subititles of this kind of movies, with the subtitled version later in the evening. Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) has several main meanings: the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; some prefer to call this the Flemish community (others refer to this as the Flemish nation) which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians... Overview map of the region. ...

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 are invariably dubbed into Portuguese, with only a few exceptions, although films shown at cinemas are usually subtitled. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Dawsons Creek was an American serial television drama aimed at teenagers, which aired in hour-long episodes from 1998 to 2003. ...

For the German or Italian-speaking markets, virtually all films and foreign television shows are dubbed. There are few opportunities to watch foreign 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. Italian ( , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 70 million people, primarily in Italy. ...

In France, movies and tv series are always released with a french dub. Films are usually released theatrically in both dubbed and original versions in large cities main street theatres, and a theater showing a subtitled movie typically has a sign on the poster warning the moviegoers the movie is not dubbed. Art house movies are often available in their original version only due to limited distribution.

In Slovakia, virtually all foreign films and television programmes are dubbed, often by well-known actors. Most movies reach the same quality as the original ones, sometimes even surpass the original, as in the case of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame where the dubbing actors were arguably better singers than their English counterparts. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (also known as The Bells of Notre Dame in some countries) is the thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ...

In Spain, practically all foreign television programmes are shown dubbed in Spanish, as are most films. Some dubbing actors have achieved popularity for their voices like Constantino Romero, who dubs Clint Eastwood and Darth Vader. This article refers to the actor/producer/director. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and be more accessible to a general audience, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In Spanish-American countries, all foreign language programmes, films, cartoons and documentaries shown in free aired TV channels are dubbed into Neutral Spanish, while in cable and satellite panregional channels are both dubbed or subtittled. For theaters, only the films made for children are dubbed into Neutral Spanish and sometimes dubbed into local Spanish for major markets like Mexican and Argentinean ones.

In Greece, all films are released theatrically in their original versions and contain subtitles. Only cartoon films (e.g. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles etc.) are released in both original and dubbed versions, for children that cannot yet read fast or at all. Foreign TV shows are also shown in their original versions except for most cartoons. For example The Flintstones is always dubbed, while Family Guy is subtitled and contains the original dialogue, since it is mostly for adults rather than children. Finding Nemo is an Academy Award-winning computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. ... The Incredibles is an Academy Award-winning Pixar Animation Studios animated feature film. ... The Flintstones, an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, is one of the most successful animated television series of all time. ... Family Guy is an American animated comedy created by Seth MacFarlane for FOX in 1999. ...

The same is true for Finland, where the country's bilingual status also makes subtitling more practical. Cartoon films and other films for children are usually released dubbed in Finnish, with the dubbed version from Sweden being made available at certain cinemas, and later on video/DVD.

In Quebec, Canada, most films and TV programmes in English are dubbed into Quebec 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. Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor Linné) Tree Yellow Birch Bird Snowy Owl Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of... A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ... DVD (Digital Versatile Disc, often incorrectly explained as Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) Anime ) (IPA pronunciation: in Japanese, but typically or in English) is an abbreviation of the word animation. Outside Japan, the term most popularly refers to animation...

In Thailand, foreign television programmes are dubbed, but the original soundtrack is often simultaneously carried or "simulcast" on the radio. This was also commonplace in South Africa, when programmes were dubbed in Afrikaans, but this has declined as a result of the reduction of airtime for the language on SABC television, and the increase of locally produced material in Afrikaans on other channels like KykNet and MK89. Look up Wiktionary:Swadesh lists for Afrikaans and Dutch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... SABC is an abbreviation for either South African Broadcasting Corporation - in South Africa or Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council - in the United Kingdom ... KykNet is a South African television channel, which broadcasts in Afrikaans. ... MK89 is an Afrikaans music channel, launched in mid 2005, that is part of the DSTVbouquet of satellite channels owned by MultiChoice/M-Net, based in South Africa. ...

In India, where "foreign films" are synonymous with Hollywood films, dubbing is done mostly in some regional languages and the finished works are released into the towns and lower tier settlements of the respective states (where English penetration is low), often with the English language originals being released in the metros of the same. In all other states, the English originals are released without a dub.

In Vietnam, foreign-language films and programs are dubbed on television, usually with just one voice actor. Programs aimed at children might have multiple voice actors. Chinese-language series available on DVD or for rent are dubbed with multiple voice actors, done by overseas Vietnamese. Subtiting is rarely seen.

In Brazil all foreign films and TV programmes are dubbed into Portuguese for TV broadcasting. At theaters, the opposite occurs: most often only children's movies are dubbed, the remainder is subtitled.

On DVDs with higher translation budgets, the option for both types will often be provided to account for individuals' preferences; purists often demand subtitles. 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. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc, often incorrectly explained as Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... A purist is one who desires that a particular item remain true to its essence and free from adulterating or diluting influences. ...

Other uses

Dubbing is occasionally used on network television broadcasts of films which have dialogue that the network executives or censors have decided to replace; this is usually done to remove profanity. In most cases, the original actor does not perform this duty; instead, an actor with a similar voice is called in. The results are sometimes seamless, but in many cases the voice of the replacement actor sounds nothing like the original performer, which becomes particularly noticeable when extensive dialogue needs to be replaced. Also, often easy to notice, is the sudden absence of background noise during the dubbed dialogue. Among the films considered notorious for using substitute actors that sound very different from their theatrical counterparts are the Smokey and the Bandit and Die Hard film series as shown on broadcasters such as TBS. A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Look up Profanity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 movie starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams, and Mike Henry. ... Die Hard is a Hollywood action film released in 1988, written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman, William Atherton, and directed by John McTiernan. ... TBS also stands for Tokyo Broadcasting System, a Japanese television network. ...

Dubbing is commonly used in science fiction television as well. Sound generated by effects equipment such as animatronic puppets or by actors' movements on elaborate multi-level plywood sets (e.g., starship bridges or other command centers) will quite often make the original character dialogue unusable. Stargate and Farscape are two prime examples where ADR is used heavily to produce usable audio. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... An activated Stargate, the central object of the fictional Stargate universe, here depicted in the SG-1 television series. ... Farscape (1999 – 2003) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ...

Since most anime series contain some extent of profanity, the studios recording the English dubs often re-record certain lines if a series or movie is going to be broadcast on Cartoon Network, removing references to death and hell as well. Some companies will offer both an edited version and uncut version of the series on DVD, so there is also an edited script in case the series is broadcast. Other companies also edit the full-length version of a series, meaning that even on the uncut DVD, characters say things like "Blast!" "Darn!" in place of the original dialogue's profanity (Bandai Entertainment's English dub of G Gundam is infamous for this, among many other things). Cartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. ... For other uses, see Death (disambiguation). ... Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell, according to many religious beliefs, is a place or a state of pain and suffering. ... This article is about the Japanese toy manufacturer. ... After Mobile Suit Victory Gundam finished airing in Japan in early 1994, Bandai celebrated Gundams 15th anniversary by trying something new: free the franchise from the continuity of the Universal Century (and sell more model kits). ...

Although there are many fans who prefer the series dubbed in English, there are still many people who would prefer the undubbed version to air on TV, only with subtitles.

Dubbing into a foreign language does not always entail the deletion of the original language; in some countries, a performer may read the translated dialogue as a voiceover. This often occurs in Russia and Poland, where "lektories" or "lektors" read the translated dialogue into Russian and Polish. In Poland, a single person reads all parts of the performance, both male and female. However, it is almost exclusively done for the television and home video markets, while theatrical releases are usually subtitled. Though, as of recently, the amount of high-quality, fully dubbed films has increased, especially for cartoons and children's movies. If a quality dubbed version exists for some film, it is shown in theaters (however, some films, such as Harry Potter or Star Wars, are shown in both dubbed and subtitled versions varying with the time of the show) as well as on TV (although some channels drop it and do standard one narrator translation) and VHS/DVD. In other countries, like Vietnam, the voiceover technique is also used for theatrical releases. The Harry Potter books are an extremely popular series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling. ... The cover of the 2004 DVD widescreen release of the revamped original Star Wars Trilogy. ...

In Russia, the reading of all lines by a single person is referred to as a Gavrilov translation, and is generally found only in pirated copies of films and on cable television. Professional copies always include at least two actors of opposite gender translating the dialogue (some titles in Poland have been dubbed this way, too, but this method lacks public appeal so it is very rare now). Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyright material in a manner that violates one of the original copyright owners exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or Media:Example. ... Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. ...

On special occasions, such as film festivals, live translation is often done by volunteers. See also dubtitle. A film festival is a festival in one or more movie theaters with a special program showcasing many films. ... One Brick volunteers help at a soup kitchen. ... A dubtitle is a subtitled program where the subtitle track is a transcription of the dialogue spoken on the dubbed soundtrack. ...

Criticism and defense of dubbing

Dubbing has been criticised in several ways, patricularly in countries where it is not common practice.

Those who dislike dubbing sometimes claim that it devalues films or TV programs, as original soundtracks are closer to what the director intended. In some cases dubbing can make the film or programme less authentic. (For example, Nazi officers in WWII movies can be distracting to some if not speaking German). In addition, significant part of actor's performance consists of their vocal inflections. Very often, memorable lines from popular films are frequently quoted, not for their substance, but for the way they were spoken; a good example is a famous sentence, uttered by Jack Nicholson, in the film A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!". For these reasons, many may feel they are denied part of film's artistic value when they watch an award-winning film dubbed by anonymous actors. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... This article refers to the actor. ... A Few Good Men, a play by Aaron Sorkin, was acclaimed on Broadway and was subsequently made into a successful film in 1992. ...

Also, lip synchronisation is normally lost when dubbing, even with quality dubbings between closely related languages. There are examples which have been reshot or reanimated to remedy this problem.

In countries with illiteracy in the television movies' audio language (whether dubbed or not), it can be argued that subtitling in the same language as the audio would increase the literacy rate by acting as ongoing spelling and informal language education.

Defenders of dubbing maintain that subtitling interferes with the visual experience, as it obscures part of the picture. Some people also find that the act of reading itself is distracting. Some viewers who understand both the original language and the language used in the subtitles say they find that it is confusing and distracting to mentally process the dialogues in both languages at the same time.

In many European countries, Hollywood movies are regularly dubbed and some people maintain that a creative translation (not necessarily faithful to the original English words) can bring more fun and depth to films, so that the supposedly more demanding European audience will not find them as tedious. In Hungary it is common for translators to create the Hungarian text to rhyme for comedies and cartoons with well-known local actors providing their voices to read it. The most famous example is perhaps the The Flintstones, with its entire Hungarian text in rhymes. The Flintstones, an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, is one of the most successful animated television series of all time. ...

In the case of languages with large communities (like English, Chinese, German, Spanish or French), a single translation may sound foreign to some groups, or even all of them. This is why a film may be translated to a certain language more than once: for example, the animated movie The Incredibles was translated to European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish and Rioplatense Spanish. However, people from Chile and Uruguay clearly noticed a strong porteño accent from most of the characters of the Rioplatense Spanish translation. The Incredibles is an Academy Award-winning Pixar Animation Studios animated feature film. ... Mexican Spanish is the form of the Spanish language spoken in Mexico by over 99% of the population. ... Venezuelan Spanish is a dialect of the Spanish language spoken in Venezuela. ... Main urban centers of Rioplatense Spanish. ... Porteño is the Spanish demonym for those born in the Argentine city of Buenos Aires. ...

The many martial arts movies from Hong Kong that were imported under the unofficial banner, Kung Fu Theater were notorious for their seemingly careless dubbing which included poor lip sync and awkward dialogue. Being that the results were frequently unintentionally hilarious, this has become one of the hallmarks that endear these films to part of the 1980s culture. During the 1980s, many martial arts movies appeared on North American syndicated television nationwide. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

New technology

It is now becoming possible to overcome some of the problems associated with dubbing using new technology. An application developed at New York University, known as Video Rewrite, uses computer animation to match lip movements with the new voice track. In a video clip made using this technology, John F Kennedy appears to be saying "Video Rewrite gives lip-synced movies". New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ... JFK redirects here. ...

Similarly, a company in Israel, Voice Imitation & Recognition Ltd, has a Vocal Imitation application to replicate voices. This can then be used to make the new voice track sound more authentic, as the actors will appear to be speaking a different language in their own voices.

External links

• How to film with non-synchronized cameras and dub
• Dubbing in Poland