all actors except dubbing actors have
the luxury of rehearsing before they go
in and record or shoot something we
don't we just do it we just go in and we
do it that's hard hi i'm sara natachany
i'm an actor and i'm the voice of ash
ketchum on pokemon as well as the voices
of blunirie and russellia and miss
mergers as a voice actor i spent a lot
of my career dubbing which is the
process of taking a foreign language
piece of content film or tv show and
reinterpreting it in english like this
hope you had fun ash
sure did we went diving with a sharpino
saw lots of pokemon i've never seen
before yeah
but dubbing is not as easy as it may
look so today i'm going to be breaking
down the techniques i've used to help me
master my craft
[Music]
there are two main types of foreign
language dubbing animation dubbing and
live action dubbing animation dubbing
gives actors a lot more freedom because
the animated faces aren't quite as
nuanced as human faces so actors get to
convey all that nuance through their
vocal performances while staying true to
the animation animation dubbing is being
done all over the world because children
aren't reading subtitles so the lion
king that we grew up with in america
isn't the same lion king they grew up
with in germany they grew up with a
german lion king and it is spectacular
live action dubbing is much harder to do
a great live-action dubbing actor fully
embodies and imitates the actor on
screen to make it a believable dub you
have to capture every little eye roll
every every flourish every tiny little
nuance that a human being can make and
is making on that screen you have to
imitate it regardless of what type of
dubbing you're interested in here are
some techniques that have helped me get
to where i am today learn to imitate
performances on the fly without having
to watch it too much all actors except
dubbing actors have the luxury of
rehearsing before they go in and record
or shoot something
we don't we just do it we just go in and
we do it it's hard when you're imitating
a performance you have to look for
absolutely everything that actor is
doing if they're turning and kind of
like looking over their shoulder
they might strain a little bit so you
got to capture that strain if they're
kind of like
doing that you have to capture that if
they're whispering you have to be very
attuned to the volume of their voice and
the power behind what's coming out for
example check out this film clip you
didn't know david was going to kill you
you didn't know how i pleaded with him
how i begged for your life
you didn't know how i convinced him that
sending you to prison would serve just
as well
you thought i was against you like all
the rest
so as you can see in the clip at the end
there she has a really interesting
emotional shift where she seems almost
kind of sneaky and she takes a few
little breaths that you have to match
you thought i was against you an actor
could make the mistake of making this
too dramatic so the key to a good dub on
this is matching her energy let's watch
how i dub it into russian
by imitating the actor on screen rather
than just saying the line whichever way
i want to say it i'm producing a much
more believable dub and that's the goal
so take a little piece of a movie or tv
show take one line and start imitating
it play it imitate it play it imitate it
get every little breath every little
nuance and if you can do that you're on
your way to being a good dubber another
thing i recommend is performing material
that requires a lot of movement without
moving too much you're in a small booth
with a microphone so even if your
character is running or falling into an
abyss or making love these are all
things that you have to feel in your
body without moving
your feet at the very least you can't be
running around if your character is
running around not only is it impossible
to stay on mic if you're doing that
you're also going to be making noise
with your feet so your feet have to be
planted on the ground while you're also
running
it's it takes some practice the worst
thing you can do is dub over a character
that's being really active and sound
like you're sitting down in a four by
five booth that's a bad dub so to get
into an active scene say my character is
running i'll start running before i even
do anything i'll actually take my feet
off the ground before we do the take and
i'll start running in place and i'll get
a little bit out of breath because i
don't actually work out that much and
then beep beep beep and then i plant my
feet and i'm already kind of out of
breath and i start talking as if i just
ran into something or as if i'm still
running and that's kind of that's kind
of how you do it
falling into a pit you can't really
prepare for that because the character
doesn't know it's going to happen so you
guys are the mic right and i'm like i'm
i'm fall i'm walking over the edge
you got to say i'm like but feel in i
feel it kind of in my torso i feel like
off balance but i'm not full i'm not
falling over obviously you don't want to
fall over in the booth it's weird so i'm
doing as much of the action as i can
while also making sure that the audio
isn't affected here's a cool tip just
watch great dubs you'll be able to see
how the actor is connecting to the
original actor and what they're doing to
make everything feel seamless and
natural here are some of my favorite
dubs uh animation wise ernest and
celestine was nominated for an oscar
absolutely beautiful funny film i highly
recommend it
mirai is an anime that was also
nominated for an oscar mfkz is
sick just watch it my three live action
recommendations are money heist dark and
the rain
they're really good netflix has reported
that up to 85 of viewers are watching
dubs over subs and one thing you should
know about subtitles um they're not that
authentic a lot of people say this and a
lot of people are gonna yell at me in
the comments but hang on a second just
stay with me for a minute
subtitles are truncated subtitles have
to fit on the screen and subtitles take
you away from the picture above they
make you keep reading so your eyes are
constantly shifting so you're not
picking up everything that there is to
pick up that's why dubs are preferred
and they're preferred all over the world
there are actually laws in france that
prohibit the import of foreign films
without dubbing them into french and
other countries which have been dubbing
for a long time they're dubbing actors
are very famous and they have dubbing
awards a certain dubbing actor will
actually be the voice of an on-camera
actor throughout that actor's career so
the actors who play robert de niro in
their local languages play robert de
niro through his entire career it's new
in america because we export a lot more
than we import but now with the new
streaming services we're importing a lot
of foreign content that's very exciting
now that we're importing we have to be
certain not to make a dub to dubby if a
dub is dubby that means that there's
jarring diction and awkward phrasing and
translation and just a bad sync so it's
hard to produce a great dub but when
they're done well
that's the best way to watch something
from a foreign country the next piece of
advice is super important trust your
director dubbing is the only type of
acting where you're not directly working
with your scene partner in animation
and live action in
in every other form of acting in theater
you're playing off another actor and
you're free to make those choices in the
moment and that's where a lot of the
magic comes from
but in dubbing it's quite a bit more
strict so that's why you have to trust
your director because they know what
your partner is going to do they know
what the other actors sound like you may
not even know who the other actors are
so when your director tells you to do a
certain
read just trust them be cool
and for my next tip practice being a
wide array of characters the more
characters you can believably do
the more you're gonna work because every
producer wants to hire an actor that can
cover four or five characters rather
than just one in dubbing in an animation
playing 30 characters is pretty common i
play about 30 characters on pokemon
chansey chinchu baniri burme badu
esper diglet uh starly star after
sauravia roselia rose raid a wingle
uh
many others beniri did i say that one
beniri's my favorite one how can you
practice getting into all these
different characters do some impressions
find some great characters great actors
and start doing impressions of them even
if you do a bad impression you might
come out of there with a character just
discover your range discover your lowest
point discover if you can talk like that
for a long time and it was your really
throny lines and see what's in there use
your really nasal noise and see what's
in there discover your comfortable range
and discover your uncomfortable range i
have some characters that are kind of in
this range and that's something that i
can sustain for a whole season or three
seasons of work but if i go up here
or maybe i just discovered that i can i
don't know
if it hurts don't do it don't do it at
all even if it's just a tiny little
character in a certain thing because you
could injure your voice and that is
going to hurt your career possibly
forever it's also interesting to note
how personalities can affect different
voices i was in production on two shows
i was playing twinkle one of the leads
in super four and marion one of the
leads in robin hood at the same time and
these two characters sit in the same
place in my range baby dragon slobber oh
no
it's getting worse and worse they have
almost the same voice what sets them
apart is their personalities and the way
they relate to other characters so
understand that sometimes you're gonna
play characters that sound alike but
it's okay watching shows with captions
on watching shows with captions on is
very helpful for an actor because you're
basically watching the script go by as
you're watching the performance at the
same time and this makes it easier to
understand all the choices an actor is
making in the moment when you walk into
a dubbing studio you haven't seen the
material probably and you definitely
haven't seen the script you have to be
able to pick up a performance and all
the nuance of that performance like that
the more attuned you are to the tone
power and intent behind a performance
the better you'll be at dubbing and this
is also why i actually don't remember
the plot points of certain shows because
i'm just watching for performance i
think watching things with captions is a
masterclass in acting here's the biggest
tip i can give you for dubbing take
acting classes you are not getting in
the dubbing door unless you're an actor
you're competing with people who have
been acting their entire lives who are
trying to get in the dubbing door you're
going to need to know how to do an
original performance just as well as
you're going to need to know how to
imitate one and that's what acting class
is for to control your emotion to summon
emotion to to understand how you're
moving to understand the space around
you
to be hyper aware of your body and your
mind
that's what you're going to learn in
acting class and that is what is
absolutely imperative to dubbing also a
lot of people who are taking acting
classes are going to want to rush right
into producing a demo and getting jobs
and getting in there
be careful don't rush your demo don't go
without any practice or without any
education rush to a demo producer and
say let's make it and start sending it
out to studios because it is very
specialized and if you make a demo
that's not that great it's going to take
a while for studios to look at you again
like yours here's my last piece of
advice
be grateful and know your rates know
your worth know the worth of the job
that you're doing a lot of new actors
don't realize their worth and the value
that they're adding to the projects that
they're doing let me give you an
analogy i make you a sandwich you eat
the sandwich you don't really think
about the sandwich ever again i make you
a tv show you're watching it every
single week you're showing it to your
family to your kids you're dressing up
on halloween as these characters the
work that you're doing will outlive you
and the influence that you have will
outlive you you're not doing that with a
sandwich
so that is why i'm saying this know your
worth it is your job to understand the
scope and usage of your work before you
start doing the job and if there's any
hint if that if that studio has projects
that have gone to
to big networks or to big streaming
platforms that's your hint to say hang
on a second where is this going and how
will i be compensated when it lands on
those networks we all know the
expression everybody's got to start
somewhere right and you are going to
start as a non-union actor and that's
great and that's fine and you are so
welcome and encouraged to do projects
that are going on youtube channels that
don't have millions of subscribers small
projects have at it have fun do great
work put it on your reel if it's really
great and submit that to studios but
once you start doing work that's for
broadcast or streaming services that
stuff's got to be union you got to be
protected that is a professional tier of
work and you should be compensated for
that fairly if you have any questions
there are many facebook groups devoted
to answering your questions voice actors
of nyc on facebook is a great resource
you don't have to be an nyc if you don't
have an agent ask the group they will
always have something to offer
ultimately the key formula to being a
great professional actor is being great
yes but also knowing your worth and not
working for free just because you love
it so those are all my dubbing tips
these help me along my journey it's not
the easiest business to get into and
stay in but i hope these little tidbits
can help you along yours
[Music]
hi pikachu i love you that's your cat
i'm guessing he sure is hi i'm sarah
natashani and i'm the voice of ash
ketchum and this is my buddy pikachu
bye i love you