- 2 years ago
Movie, series viewing more relatable due to Filipino dubbing; Dubbing industry ready for challenge presented by proposed measure
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00:00 For some movies or streamed series become more relatable if the characters speak in the native tongue
00:05 instead of merely reading the subtitles of dialogues, which often distract the viewer
00:10 and sometimes even rob the scene of the intended mood it wants to elicit.
00:15 Enter foreign movies or series dubbed in Filipino, which for several years have become an accepted,
00:21 nay, sought-after feature that draw many audiences and keep them hooked to whatever is playing on screen.
00:28 For those who have been in the industry, dubbing has not only become a means of living,
00:33 but also a passion they are willing to fight for,
00:36 which they may have to if a measure being proposed by a lower house solon
00:40 which seeks to ban the dubbing of foreign movies or series in the native tongue is approved.
00:45 And with us tonight are Pocholo Gonzalez, voice master and founder of Creative Voices,
00:53 and certified voice artist, Philippines Incorporated,
00:56 and Ralph Ernest Franscha, head dubbing director of Creative Voices and Tagadub TV,
01:01 to help us navigate this, to say the least, very perplexing issue.
01:06 Good evening, Pocholo and Ralph. Thank you for coming by to up-close the PGP News tonight.
01:10 Thank you guys for coming.
01:11 So, very interesting topic today.
01:14 Can you tell us more about the dubbing industry?
01:17 And how does one go through the preparations of making sure that you are,
01:23 your emotions match whatever script is prepared and whatever scenes are being asked of you?
01:27 Pocholo, you've been here for a while?
01:29 For almost 30 years.
01:31 Well, basically voice acting or, I mean, dubbing is part of voice acting industry.
01:38 So, voice acting is a very wide industry, especially in advertising, radio drama,
01:45 and ADPs, and many more, especially, we're also doing animation and computer games.
01:52 So, dubbing is only like a small portion of voice acting industry.
01:58 So, Ralph Namann, how would you prepare for any scene that the director or client would give you?
02:07 How do you prepare your emotions to match the scene?
02:10 Well, as acting is the art of becoming, so you need to become the character.
02:17 We say that dubbing is actually the easiest form of acting because it's already there.
02:21 You see the images on the screen and you just need to copy whatever they're doing.
02:26 Make it sound as if you're the one who's on screen.
02:30 You're the one who's saying those lines only in your native tongue.
02:33 Okay. So, what do you think is the most important thing to consider when you're recording or dubbing?
02:38 Is it practice makes perfect?
02:40 Is it to watch similar kinds of, say, cartoons or movies that the client is sort of adapting the script to?
02:48 It depends on the character you're portraying.
02:51 Because we're in the industry, we're just a few.
02:56 And for the longest time, there's no school in voice acting until I created the voice works or basic voice acting workshop since 2005.
03:07 So, it created a lot of voice artists, dubbers, DJs, and many more voice actors in the country.
03:14 So, I can say almost 80% of the new voice talents started from our school.
03:21 So, this is an actual school. Do you need to go to the studio?
03:25 Yes. For the past 15 years, every Saturday, we do voice acting workshop.
03:30 I'm with Danny Mandia. He's also known as the father of modern dubbing industry.
03:36 And Neil Tolentino and some other voice director who teaches them how to voice act, dubbing.
03:43 So, basically, it's a very general school for voice acting.
03:47 But now, since the pandemic, we stopped doing voice acting workshop face-to-face.
03:54 So, I established the certified voice artist program since July 2020.
03:59 So, so far, we have 24 batches.
04:02 Wow. And this started what year?
04:04 2020.
04:05 2020. With 20 batches.
04:07 The voice acting workshop, the Voice Acting Academy Philippines started in 2005.
04:12 Wow.
04:13 So, we have more than 50, I mean, 50 batches since then.
04:17 So, and I can also say that one of the first, and the first blind dubber in the world started from the certified voice artist program.
04:28 That is great.
04:29 So, if someone would like to join and be a part of the upcoming batch, they would just have to go to your Facebook page?
04:38 Yeah, we have a Facebook page.
04:40 You just have to look for certified voice artist program.
04:43 And how long is this program?
04:45 This is every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
04:49 Four weeks?
04:50 Yeah, four weeks.
04:51 It's a four-week program.
04:52 Yeah, and we have six batches every year.
04:55 So, would you say that you're also able to help your graduates sort of give them, you know, next jobs?
05:02 We don't promise that.
05:04 Even without any other school.
05:06 You still need to audition for the role.
05:07 Right, right, right.
05:08 But it's a step up, you know?
05:10 But most of the dubbers now started from our school.
05:13 Okay.
05:14 I can say that most of the recording studios are using most of our graduates.
05:19 That's great.
05:20 And I think it's really important that you mentioned, Paciolo, that dubbing is also kind of a foundation point for voice acting as well.
05:29 And you did mention that there are also DJs and others.
05:34 Even broadcasters.
05:35 Yeah, broadcasters.
05:36 One of your broadcasters also is our student, Miss Tiburcio.
05:43 Oh, okay, okay.
05:44 That's great.
05:45 That's great.
05:46 So, how about you, Ralph?
05:47 Are you part of one of the batches?
05:49 Yeah, I was part of the primary batches for the Certified Voice Artist program.
05:55 I was in the fifth batch.
05:57 I was supposed to be the fourth batch, but then people got sick, so I laid back for a bit.
06:03 And then come the fifth batch, my whole heart joined the program.
06:08 I was actually a scholar of Sir Paciolo's program.
06:12 Wow, English.
06:13 So, even though it's a school that people need to pay to get in, I got in free and I'm working for it now.
06:19 So, you have scholarships.
06:21 Yeah, most of my scholars are PWD, deaf-blind, and also senior citizens.
06:27 But our goal is to promote voice acting as an art form and to use our voice to create positive change.
06:34 Okay, I like that.
06:35 I like that.
06:36 Okay, so voice dubbing is the topic today.
06:39 So, you guys know that samples are going to be done tonight, right?
06:43 Yeah, it's part of tonight.
06:46 So, you guys aren't going to leave this interview without giving us a little bit of samples.
06:50 Okay, we can start with you, Paciolo.
06:52 You can do whatever, sample dubbing?
06:55 Basically, I'm also known as the voice master of the Philippines because I'm the one teaching and also the man behind.
07:01 A thousand voices, but I can do voices too.
07:03 The man behind a thousand voices?
07:05 Not with a thousand, the man behind.
07:08 Okay, because with a thousand voices, that would mean something else.
07:11 Yeah, but there's someone who can do that.
07:14 Okay.
07:15 But one of the most recognized voices that I have done is Bubu Chacha and Cyber Kuro-chan.
07:23 It's an anime.
07:24 All right, let's hear it.
07:25 So, Kuro-chan sounds like this.
07:27 Hey, get ready for me. I'm Cyber Kuro-chan. I'm going to beat you up.
07:32 And Bubu Chacha.
07:33 Good day to you. I'm Chacha, Bubu Chacha.
07:37 And the father of Sunshine in Meteor Garden.
07:39 Good day to you. You're so beautiful.
07:42 I'm Sunshine's father.
07:44 Sunshine looks like you.
07:46 And also some commercials like,
07:48 "Papi, bibo, bagong bibo."
07:50 What's the secret of the new bibo?
07:52 Try it.
07:54 And many, many more.
07:56 Wow, wow, wow. That's great.
07:59 I was just taken back to the story.
08:02 Whatever these characters were, I was just taken back there.
08:05 Thank you, Ralph. Show us your stuff.
08:07 Amazing.
08:09 Welcome to the Amazing Digital Circus.
08:13 I'm Kane, your ringmaster.
08:15 I'm going to show you the best circus in the world.
08:18 Actually, that's his voice in one of the most famous YouTube animations,
08:23 which is the Amazing Digital Circus.
08:25 I see.
08:26 It has more than 300 million views so far.
08:29 278 million.
08:32 That's amazing, Ralph. Great job.
08:34 And it all started thanks to your school and being able to be taught properly.
08:39 They were also featured in NHK World Japan.
08:42 Okay.
08:43 And we are seen in more than 180 countries.
08:48 That is amazing.
08:50 We put Filipino voice artists on the map of voice acting in the world.
08:54 Okay.
08:55 So here's a question that I think a lot of other voice dubbers or artists
09:00 may have some difficulty.
09:02 It's being able to voice for the opposite sex.
09:05 Do you voice for women?
09:07 Do you voice for women?
09:09 That's a no-no.
09:10 That's a no-no?
09:11 If you're a girl, you just do a girl.
09:13 Okay.
09:14 But there are some people who can do a female voice,
09:17 but we don't recommend that.
09:19 Okay.
09:20 Just wondering, because, you know,
09:21 just wondering if the thousand voices included some female voices.
09:25 But anyways, so voice acting and voice dubbing,
09:28 I know that it does not come without its difficulties and challenges.
09:32 What are some of the, I would say,
09:34 challenging moments that you have experienced maybe starting the school
09:36 or starting out?
09:37 You did say you're one of the pioneers here, so let's talk about that first.
09:40 Basically the most challenging is to get into the business.
09:44 Because for the longest time there's no school for voice acting.
09:48 You know, what I mean is there's only a few people who's in the industry.
09:52 So if you're not part of it, you don't know them,
09:55 you don't have a connection.
09:56 You can't get in.
09:57 You can't get in.
09:58 But if you get in, everything is easier.
10:02 But what we did, we created a school for voice acting so that they will know
10:08 how to not just get into the industry,
10:10 but how to use their voices in just creating character voices
10:16 and how to audition, how to record, and all the nitty-gritty things,
10:22 do's and don'ts, we teach that.
10:24 Okay.
10:25 How about you, Ralph?
10:26 The hardest part for me is I think the production itself
10:29 because mainly let's say English or whatever the language or the country is,
10:36 they have their own culture.
10:38 So it's hard to explain the culture of foreigners to us.
10:43 So let's say U.S., for example, they have their own idioms.
10:48 Akin na tagalogin.
10:50 Yes.
10:52 There was a scene in an animation that we did before,
10:55 and it's called Murder Trones.
10:59 The line was saying, "I took her out of her misery."
11:05 So context, she or he unalived her.
11:11 And then when I saw the script that was translated, it said,
11:15 "Nilayo ko siya mula sa pagkakalad mo," which is a literal translation of the word.
11:21 So it's hard to convey the message if you're translating it word per word.
11:28 So you have to know the context.
11:30 You have to know what they're trying to say.
11:33 Sometimes you don't need to get what they're trying to say
11:35 but what the scene is all about.
11:37 Once you get what the scene is about, then you get to know--
11:42 you get these ideas that you can put and what can be replaced as such as the lines.
11:47 Yes, that's exactly what I was going to say
11:49 because sometimes there is really no exact translation for English and Filipino or vice versa.
11:55 You need to come up with what the essence is all about,
11:57 which brings us to our recent topic.
12:01 Recently, a lawmaker, Negros Occidental representative,
12:05 Jose Francisco Benitez, filed House Bill 9939,
12:10 which seeks to ban Filipino dubbing of English programs.
12:14 What are your thoughts about this and how do you think it would affect the industry if approved or not?
12:20 First of all, we were surprised.
12:22 So I've asked some of my friends in the voice acting industry,
12:26 especially those who are really famous in dubbing,
12:30 and they were also surprised.
12:33 But I think for me, the congressman should have some dialogue first
12:40 with the people who are involved in this kind of industry.
12:46 So I think there's a lot of things to talk about first.
12:51 And it's not our responsibility to teach people how to speak English.
12:56 It's for the educational system.
12:59 And we are just an option because some of the people don't really understand how to speak English
13:07 or understand different languages.
13:10 So I think it's better for the congressman to talk with us first so we can have some dialogue.
13:19 Okay. How about you, Ralf?
13:21 Well, in my case, since the internet happened, we were given a lot of options.
13:29 So kids nowadays can watch stuff online and filter out how they want to listen.
13:36 They can listen in English. They can listen in Tagalog.
13:39 Sometimes they don't even know how to change a language and they had to listen in English.
13:42 So I think it's a bit off saying that it's because of what children are watching.
13:47 That's why they don't know how to speak English fluently or confident to speak English nowadays.
13:52 Because actually, they do say that the backing point is that 90% of children nowadays,
13:58 they say, according to studies, no longer have the comprehension
14:03 that they need to be able to truly understand what it is they're reading.
14:07 More on textual comprehension.
14:09 Yes, because I think what they're doing is they're just basically mimicking whatever they're hearing.
14:13 They don't understand what they're trying to say.
14:16 Personally speaking, I have that kind of experience because I have a nephew who watches YouTube a lot.
14:23 And then I hear him say English all the time.
14:26 And then I ask him, "Do you even know what you're talking about? Do you even know what you're saying?"
14:31 Hindi.
14:32 So he's just parroting the words.
14:34 He's just parroting. And then I try to explain, "This is what it means.
14:36 Don't say that like that because this is what it means."
14:39 And then nowadays, he's just doing it for fun.
14:42 He's just trying to get a knack out of it and just try to imitate people in front of me.
14:49 So in other words, you guys are not of the opinion that this bill, if approved,
14:55 will actually help children and Filipinos in general become more proficient in speaking English.
15:00 Maybe the congressman has a point, but for me, in my case, my son speaks English fluently with American accent.
15:08 I just teach him how to do that.
15:11 But at the end of the day, it's not my responsibility to.
15:15 Like my accent is Filipino, so I don't have American accent.
15:20 Bottom line, what is your intention in speaking in English?
15:26 For me, it's still very important to learn your own language first.
15:31 Because if you're good at English, you can't express yourself in the right way.
15:37 It's useless.
15:39 There are a lot of English speakers, you won't understand them.
15:43 I actually think it's more of a tragedy to translate Filipino movies into English in the country.
15:50 It depends on who translates.
15:54 Sometimes, some projects are being bastardized.
15:59 Especially for the sake of production.
16:02 Bastardized in what sense?
16:04 Translation is too literal.
16:08 They don't have any quality control.
16:11 They just want to put it out there.
16:13 Get the script out there, get the story going.
16:15 Get the thing over the done way.
16:17 And the people watching are so confused what the story is really all about.
16:21 Some audiences are also purists.
16:24 They want to read it in a subtitle rather than translate it in Filipino.
16:31 So they don't really care how the dubbing is done.
16:34 Interesting question for you both.
16:38 Being in the voice acting and dubbing industry,
16:41 if you were to make a law that would help Filipino students
16:46 perhaps become better speakers in English and more proficient in writing English,
16:52 because that seems to be the main problem.
16:55 Helping students be able to connect and jumpstart their careers in other countries,
17:00 what kind of law would you craft?
17:03 Basically, for me, you have to focus on educators first.
17:07 If the educators are not good, what would you expect from the students?
17:14 Same as when I was in elementary and high school.
17:18 I learned English when I was in college.
17:22 So for me, it's important to teach them in primary.
17:27 And also, don't forget our national language, which is Filipino.
17:32 Because if you can't speak Tagalog correctly, how can you speak other languages?
17:37 Right. How about you, Ralph? Any thoughts about that?
17:40 Two points. I'm all for it for change and wanting to be competent when speaking English.
17:45 But I think the approach is somewhat drastic.
17:49 If I'm going to implement that kind of law, let's say, to improve our children,
17:54 our students in speaking English, I might as well make a case study first.
17:58 Let's say, grab a school that could show you,
18:02 "Okay, this batch has been watching English all the time,
18:06 and this batch is watching variety, Tagalog, Filipino, whatever they want to watch."
18:11 And then at the end of the month, let's say, see if there's any big difference
18:15 in how they express themselves in English. That could work.
18:20 And my other point is, with regards to the law on my own,
18:27 I think what could work is -- because when I was in grade school,
18:33 we used to watch these shows, Raya Manuari, Bayani, Sineskwela, Epol-Apol.
18:41 And those programs paved our ways into focusing on what we want to focus on,
18:51 science, math, matinig, math, English.
18:54 And then we are given 30 minutes or an hour to watch that and then just only focus on that.
19:01 And we know how we can use English conversely with other people.
19:07 We know how we can use science and math to even express ourselves in our daily lives.
19:12 So I think that's a big help that allowed me to speak how I speak today.
19:19 Okay. Wow. These are great thoughts.
19:22 I'm very excited about the future of creative voices and the future of Tagadab.
19:27 And I would say all aspiring voice actors and dubbers out there,
19:32 can you please give us perhaps some tips and tricks for people to get started
19:37 and tell us also about the goals and coming advocacies of creative voices in your group?
19:43 Basically, to all people who want to hear their voices,
19:48 you can join the Certified Voice Artist Program.
19:52 It's being held every Saturday.
19:54 So we are now on our 24th batches.
19:59 And we are also inviting those who are PWD and senior citizens.
20:04 Come and join us because this is fun.
20:08 These are your childhood dreams that you will now fulfill through the Certified Voice Artist Program.
20:14 Basically, we want you to use your voice to create positive change
20:19 because we believe our voice is a gift from God and it's how we use it that's our gift back to God.
20:25 Ralph?
20:26 So if you want to join us, you can go to Facebook and look us up.
20:30 The Certified Voice Artist Program, so that's CBAP.
20:33 We just call ourselves CVAP to make it easier.
20:36 And then online, you can look it up on the website, certifiedvoiceartist.com.
20:42 And then you will see what projects that we have and how to contact us
20:46 if you are interested in joining our program.
20:50 And of course, we do all of this because we always believe that someone out there needs to hear your voice.
20:56 Thank you so much for expressing your thoughts tonight and saying what you feel and expressing your voices today.
21:02 Thank you so much, Pachalo Gonzalez and Ralph Ernest Francho for your time.
21:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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