Dubbing, a practice in the spotlight

Barcelona (CNA).- Dubbing has always been very popular both in Spain and Catalonia. All films and series are dubbed and only very few cinemas offer the original version with subtitles. However, in recent times voices have been raised against dubbing defending the original version as a key to learning foreign languages. In Catalonia the situation is even more controversial. Catalonia has its own dubbing industry which, along with the Catalan Public Television Broadcaster, has helped to normalize the use of Catalan language. That is why the Catalan Government protects it. In 2010 a controversial law was approved, which implied that 50% of the films premiering in Catalonia had to be dubbed or subtitled in Catalan. Furthermore, dubbing is a very difficult job that requires both technique and interpretation. The studies are not official and students who try to move into this profession find it to be a very closed world. However, there are some opportunities. Two outstanding figures of the dubbing industry tell CNA about their successful careers.

Catalan dubbing appeared for the first time in the early 1930s. During Franco’s dictatorship it was forbidden but in 1983 it experienced a boom thanks to the appearance of the Catalan public television channel TV3. Nowadays, the main industry comes from TV3, but there is also dubbing in Catalan for cinema and television or DVD films.

However, over the last two years the amount of dubbing hours that TV3 has ordered from studios has decreased by 48% due to budget cutbacks and the reduction of advertising. Meanwhile, DVD dubbing has increased and cinema figures have stabilised.

The crisis has therefore also hit the Catalan dubbing industry. In 2010 only 260,000 spectators went to watch cinema dubbed in Catalan, half the audience of 2004. To encourage this, in 2010 the Catalan Parliament approved a law that forced the cinema industry to exhibit 50% of the films premiering in Catalonia dubbed or subtitled in Catalan. The law included the exception of European films having Spanish as their main language. The law was not well received by the major producers, which claimed there was not enough of an audience. Finally, in 2011, the Government and producers reached an agreement but in 2012 the European Commission declared that the law was discriminatory because Catalan dubbing/subtitling was compulsory for European films but not for productions in Spanish, which discriminated EU productions in other European languages.

Back to the Golden Age

People from different sectors of the dubbing industry to whom CNA has talked to agree that the dubbing industry has worsened over the years. From its Golden Age in the 1970s, as Joan Pera the Catalan voice of Woody Allen says, dubbing has “industrialised”. Back then, the average rate of dubbing production was one job per month, whereas now it is 15 per week, and wages have dropped by 20%. “Dubbing has gone from being almost a literary work to being a service”, explains Joan Pera with a nostalgic gaze.

Josep María Oliva Hurtado, producer from Soundub studio, complains that twenty years ago dubbing was an easy business. “Nobody discussed prizes and salaries, everybody earned a living because video stores sold a lot of copies”, he says. However, films and cinema consumption have changed and this is the real reason why dubbing has had to speed up, which has led to a clear loss of quality. “Demand for original version films has not influenced this decision”, remarks.

Dubbing vs. original version

Recently, voices against dubbing have been raised in favour of the original version as a key to promoting the learning of foreign languages, as happens in northern European countries. Regarding a Eurostat study from 2010 that said that Spaniards had scarcer knowledge of foreign languages compared to most of the European countries, the relation between education failure and dubbing came swiftly from intellectual and political figures. The former Minister of Education Ángel Gabilondo or former General Director of the Institute of Cinematography and Audio-visual Arts of Spain, Ignasi Guardans, suggested revising the dubbing industry and reducing it to 60% of the total.

Members of the industry, however, do not understand the problem with dubbing. According to Joan Pera, subtitles are not a good option because they distract viewers from the image, which is the essence of a film. Moreover, there is no reason, he says, why literary translations have never been questioned while dubbing has been an object of discussion in a place where it has been done very well.

The Director of the Catalan School of Dubbing, Iolanda Ledesma, defends dubbing as another service as well as the original version. “We don’t force anybody to watch dubbed films”, she says, “and on television people can choose as well”. But most of all, “in Catalonia there is also a language that has to be taught, and there are a lot of kids that learn Catalan through television”, she declares.

Learning how to dub

There is no easy path to entering the dubbing industry. Nowadays there are schools of dubbing, but there are no official studies. Moreover, studying at a school does not guarantee getting a job. According to Iolanda Ledesma, director of the Catalan School of Dubbing (ECAD), the best way to get a job is to go to dubbing studios and watch how professionals work. Once there, maybe a director will give you the chance to prove yourself, and that is your only portfolio. Iolanda argues it is not a “closed world” but a very difficult one because there is no time for learning and making mistakes.

Dubbing requires a speaking technique, good pronunciation, synchrony, rhythm and a wide knowledge of the language, and all this has to be combined in ten seconds. Nevertheless, the most important thing is to be an actor. “Technique alone does not work, if there is no natural talent, dubbing will look fake”, explains Iolanda. That is why most of the pupils in the Catalan School of Dubbing come from artistic fields such as singing, theatre or music.

At the school, students learn how to respond to the music of the language to make it sound oral and natural. “Dubbing does not have to stand out in a film”, she adds. For example, Catalan tends to end down while Spanish or English tend to go up. Also, Catalan is very monosyllabic and that implies very short sentences.

Joan Pera, the voice of Woody Allen

Joan Pera is a well-known comedian and theatre actor in Catalonia, but in the dubbing industry he stands out as the voice of Woody Allen both in Catalan and Spanish. He started dubbing in the 1970s thanks to a friend that introduced him to the world. “Directors liked me because I was an actor”, he assures, “not that I had a great voice”. That is why Woody Allen himself chose him to dub his character after the death of the previous dubbing actor Miguel Ángel Valdevieso. “I sought for a more performed approach, my own way of speaking that is funnier than his own, and that is why people liked it so much”, explains Pera.

After having dubbed over 20 Woody Allen films and having met him in person, Joan Pera has become an expert. “Allen breaks the sentences in the middle and makes a pause where there is no coma. He also speaks very quickly.” However, Joan Pera recognises he has an extraordinary ability to understand what he wants to express in each moment. “It depends very much on the sequence”, he says.

Despite his success, Joan Pera affirms that dubbing for him has only been a service. Moreover, he stopped dubbing after becoming Woody Allen’s voice because he was too recognisable. “If I hadn’t dubbed Woody Allen I would have been the same Joan Pera as I am now, I haven’t received anything special for that”, he admits with a certain detachment.

Masumi Mutsuda, the Catalan Potter

Masumi Mutsuda is a 27-year young talent who has worked almost all his life as a dubbing actor. He started at the age of six by chance and has become one of the most popular teenager’s voices in the dubbing industry, not only for the eight Harry Potter films he has done as Harry. It all started one day when Sonoblock producers came to his school Virtèlia, which used to combine music and regular studies, in order to recruit children to dub the Lion King. He and another kid were chosen to do a voice test, but at the end they didn’t choose him because his voice seemed too young. However, the studio kept track of him and from then on calls for jobs have barely stopped.

That is why his way of learning has been so particular. The first jobs were for him like individual classes with professional directors. “I repeated like a parrot”, he says. It was not until five years ago when talking with his friends that he realized the technique he used intuitively. Dubbing has been half of his life. “It is the first thing I do and comparing it to other jobs, everyday is a challenge”, he assures.

Regarding his work as Harry Potter, the character is like family to him. “He is always worried and terrified, his expressions need a lot of air”, explains Masumi. However, like Joan Pera, he admits that he has never given much importance to the role he plays. “I make the same effort whether it is famous or not”, he says.