Question:
Hi Folks,
I'd appreciate some opinion on a problem I'm experiencing with a DVD I have just purchased ("Once Upon A Time In America", 1984)
In some of the dialogue scenes, the speech seems a little out of 'synch' with what the actors are saying. Could this be a faulty disk, poor mastering, or does this happen with some films, perhaps as a result of overdubbing in the original film.
Any advice or comments welcome!
Regards
Stephen Edgar
You'd have to be more specific about which actual scenes - but it's highly likely to be a problem with the actual film rather than the transfer.
Virtually all Italian films up to surprisingly recently (well after 1984) were essentially shot silent and the soundtrack assembled in post-production - so even if the film was shot in English (as was the case here), you're still not going to get perfect lip-sync.
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your very quick response to my posting. Your comments about the soundtrack being assembled in post-production make sense. My description of the dialogue being 'ou-of-synch' might now be better described as sounding as if it had been added at a later date.
Thanks again for your insight about Italian films. I've learnt something this evening!
The sure way to tell is look at the sync throughout. If it drifts, it's the dubbing. If it's constant, it's more than likely a DVD transfer fault that'll be on all discs until and if it is corrected on future pressings.
Other countries that heavily rely on post-synched dialogue are India and Hong Kong - for the simple reason that it's infinitely cheaper: you don't have to worry about microphones getting into shot or making sure that there's no extraneous noise when shooting, and domestic audiences are totally used to the obvious post-synching, as 95% of the films they've ever seen would have been like this.
In fact, Italian film-makers would often cast English actors and make every actor who could speak the language deliver their lines in English purely because Italian audiences wouldn't care if they were dubbed but English/American audiences would!
As a bit of mindless but strangely interesting trivia, Clint Eastwood didn't dub the English version of <I>A Fistful of Dollars</I> until three years after it had been finished and released in mainland Europe (it was held up in English-speaking territories due to a lawsuit from Akira Kurosawa, who thought that Sergio Leone's "homage" to <I>Yojimbo</I> was rather closer to a blatant rip-off) - and when he came to dub the film, he had to try to work out what he was saying through lip-reading, as there was never an "official" English-language script! (He thought the original English script - written by Italians - was appalling, and heavily altered his lines throughout the shooting - Leone didn't speak English so he wasn't the least bit bothered).
Orson Welles' Othello also has pretty dire synch problems, thought that's because the film was made for pennies and so the funds and options weren't there to be meticulousness. It still won the Palme D'Or at Cannes though.
A restoration of the film took place in the early 90s, in an attempt to sort out these problems, and it just about did. You can get the unrestored version on a Criterion laserdisc box set (http://dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=22029) (which is an amazing edition) or the restored version on R1 DVD (http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/index.cgi?html=y&id=reviews/other/othello.html).
I've experienced out-of-synch dialogue with a few discs, most of all 'SPACED - series 1'. It seems to occur a few episodes in, and is noticable as a new episode starts.
I can always rectify it by simply Pausing for a second, and then continuing...
Just my 2 cents.
I'd appreciate some opinion on a problem I'm experiencing with a DVD I have just purchased ("Once Upon A Time In America", 1984)
In some of the dialogue scenes, the speech seems a little out of 'synch' with what the actors are saying. Could this be a faulty disk, poor mastering, or does this happen with some films, perhaps as a result of overdubbing in the original film.
Any advice or comments welcome!
Regards
Stephen Edgar
Answers:
You'd have to be more specific about which actual scenes - but it's highly likely to be a problem with the actual film rather than the transfer.
Virtually all Italian films up to surprisingly recently (well after 1984) were essentially shot silent and the soundtrack assembled in post-production - so even if the film was shot in English (as was the case here), you're still not going to get perfect lip-sync.
Answers:
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your very quick response to my posting. Your comments about the soundtrack being assembled in post-production make sense. My description of the dialogue being 'ou-of-synch' might now be better described as sounding as if it had been added at a later date.
Thanks again for your insight about Italian films. I've learnt something this evening!
Answers:
The sure way to tell is look at the sync throughout. If it drifts, it's the dubbing. If it's constant, it's more than likely a DVD transfer fault that'll be on all discs until and if it is corrected on future pressings.
Answers:
Other countries that heavily rely on post-synched dialogue are India and Hong Kong - for the simple reason that it's infinitely cheaper: you don't have to worry about microphones getting into shot or making sure that there's no extraneous noise when shooting, and domestic audiences are totally used to the obvious post-synching, as 95% of the films they've ever seen would have been like this.
In fact, Italian film-makers would often cast English actors and make every actor who could speak the language deliver their lines in English purely because Italian audiences wouldn't care if they were dubbed but English/American audiences would!
As a bit of mindless but strangely interesting trivia, Clint Eastwood didn't dub the English version of <I>A Fistful of Dollars</I> until three years after it had been finished and released in mainland Europe (it was held up in English-speaking territories due to a lawsuit from Akira Kurosawa, who thought that Sergio Leone's "homage" to <I>Yojimbo</I> was rather closer to a blatant rip-off) - and when he came to dub the film, he had to try to work out what he was saying through lip-reading, as there was never an "official" English-language script! (He thought the original English script - written by Italians - was appalling, and heavily altered his lines throughout the shooting - Leone didn't speak English so he wasn't the least bit bothered).
Answers:
Orson Welles' Othello also has pretty dire synch problems, thought that's because the film was made for pennies and so the funds and options weren't there to be meticulousness. It still won the Palme D'Or at Cannes though.
A restoration of the film took place in the early 90s, in an attempt to sort out these problems, and it just about did. You can get the unrestored version on a Criterion laserdisc box set (http://dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=22029) (which is an amazing edition) or the restored version on R1 DVD (http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/index.cgi?html=y&id=reviews/other/othello.html).
Answers:
I've experienced out-of-synch dialogue with a few discs, most of all 'SPACED - series 1'. It seems to occur a few episodes in, and is noticable as a new episode starts.
I can always rectify it by simply Pausing for a second, and then continuing...
Just my 2 cents.
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