One of my actors never got back to me about coming back to redub some of his lines. If he doesn't come back, should I try to find a person that imitate his voice or something like that? I basically need him to shout out one line and do some grunts and screams, during a fight scene. I hope I don't have to redub all his lines, and would like to find another solution. I hear that sometimes in movies you can manufacture words being said in certain cases. What should I do? Thanks.
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How should I handle this ADR problem?
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
It's an all or nothing proposition - either he does those few lines or you'll have to have someone ADR all of his dialog. You should contact him again and let him know that someone else will be doing ALL of his dialog if he doesn't come in for those few lines.
Yes, you can 'manufacture" words and even the occasional line from other dialog, but you don't have the tools or the skills; I have ten years of professional dialog editing experience behind me, and it's not an easy job even for me, even when I have plenty to work with; I succeed about 10% of the time and the results are only fair.
You may be able to get a few grunts and groans from another actor with a similar voice to work as long as you bury them in the Foley and sound FX.
Yes, you can 'manufacture" words and even the occasional line from other dialog, but you don't have the tools or the skills; I have ten years of professional dialog editing experience behind me, and it's not an easy job even for me, even when I have plenty to work with; I succeed about 10% of the time and the results are only fair.
You may be able to get a few grunts and groans from another actor with a similar voice to work as long as you bury them in the Foley and sound FX.
Yeah I've tried manufacturing words, and I have been able to get a couple of them right, but most just comes out sounding robotic. I thought about burrying another voice in Foley, and is a last resort, but I feel it may take away from the moment. I will message him and tell him that I guess, but I want to remain on his good side too.
Technically I did, but it's not like I have the financial power to defend that contract, right? I already did the ADR but want to redo just a few parts. The actor kind of overacted some, and underacted some.
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But I saw a tv show where they did it in five minutes on a laptop!
Seriously though, I can't imagine even WANTING to try that. Way too many factors to balance without diving head-first into the uncanny valley.
I agree that you should find someone else to do the ADR, but I disagree that you need to have them redo all the dialogue. If what you're describing (as far as what has to be dubbed) is accurate, just find someone to dub those things. That's been done millions of times for tv edits of movies and such...
As far as saying the actor overacted in some takes of previous ADR and underacted in others, keep that in mind, because that's bad directing. You need to convey to your actor exactly what you need so you can avoid this kind of problem...
As far as saying the actor overacted in some takes of previous ADR and underacted in others, keep that in mind, because that's bad directing. You need to convey to your actor exactly what you need so you can avoid this kind of problem...
Yeah I know. I didn't realize it was overacting, till I played it back with the footage. In person I bought it for some reason. I could try to find someone else but finding talent that sounds like other talent may be hard. But I will put adds out. I want to get a finished edit done to show the other actors, so I will finish it with the overacted takes, then redub later, as soon as I get an actor that can match him. A lot of it during the fight scenes is just mostly breathing noises and grunts though. Maybe I can try mimic breathing noises myself.
How do the "over the top" performances sound with the Foley and sound FX. Once it's buried in the mix with all of the other audio elements and the score they may fall into place.
I am in the process of putting it all in and getting it done and will see. Thanks. I was told that when it comes to fight scenes though, that they are usually over-acted a little anyway, so the audience will buy it, so maybe mine isn't too bad.
This is one of the reasons that when I'm on set, I like to get different "levels" of a read on the scene. From very flat and subdued to completely over the top and active... different paces as well. I like to let the actors do their thing on the first and the last takes as well so they get in an initial read, then they get to blend all of the previous takes they've worked through... in the end, I have tons of editing choices.
Well in my case I've hard time finding a possible match. The actor has an accent from Asia, and I can't find anyone that can do that accent. Hopefully buried in Foley, the audience might not notice that a different accented man is doing it, if it comes down to that. But not much Foley happens in that scene. The only noise you hear is a guy walking mainly.
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Very strange indeed! If you're going to disagree with someone who specialises in the field, you better be damn sure you know what you're talking about.
It's difficult enough to match ADR with the same voice, let alone a different one. Alcove was absolutely correct, if using a different voice, all the dialogue will have to be replaced. There have been a few occasions professionally where just some parts of an actor's dialogue has had to be dubbed with another voice. In every instance a very highly paid impersonator had to be engaged and still the results are usually of dubious quality. Your statement that it's been done millions of times, don't be ridiculous!
My own experience aside, here is a quote for you:
"Obviously, you realize that the actor's performance is always better in production than in an ADR booth." - Randy Thom
If the world's top actors and directors can't produce a matching performance in ADR, what chance does a no budget production have? I can't quite figure out why you would deliberately post such utterly incorrect and misleading advice. You must either really hate the OP or .....
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That's another problem, is that the actors' performance in ADR is just not near as good usually. Why is this? What is it about actors that they need a camera in front of them to do a great job, but are bad with a mic only?
Most of my dialogue is fine, accept for a few lines and words, but I can't boom an actor while in fight scenes when their heads are constantly flying all over the room, and the camera is moving with them, making it hard to keep the mic out of the shot. How do I get a good performance then? They don't sound near as convincing on heavy breathing, grunts, and screams if doing it ADR, as oppose to when they are being filmed while fighting. I know I was told to dub those sounds after to get recorded right, but they couldn't get their voice performances near as good as on set. Is there any way to capture those sounds during the fight on set fight for future projects?
Most of my dialogue is fine, accept for a few lines and words, but I can't boom an actor while in fight scenes when their heads are constantly flying all over the room, and the camera is moving with them, making it hard to keep the mic out of the shot. How do I get a good performance then? They don't sound near as convincing on heavy breathing, grunts, and screams if doing it ADR, as oppose to when they are being filmed while fighting. I know I was told to dub those sounds after to get recorded right, but they couldn't get their voice performances near as good as on set. Is there any way to capture those sounds during the fight on set fight for future projects?
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Dialog performances are much better during production because the talent has "nothing" to worry about except giving the performance. When doing ADR they have to match the pacing of the previous performance. They now have to concentrate on something other than giving a passionate performance, which detracts from the performance itself.
One offs - grunts groans, breaths, yells and the like - can be done (for the most part) without watching the screen or having to be in perfect sync (as long as you have great editing chops). I'll just turn off the video feed and let the recorder run. I'll even get in the room with them and squeeze them, "punch" them, make them run in place for five minutes, lay them on the floor and sit on them... whatever it takes to get what I need.
If it needs to be in sync the same as above applies but with a long loop with the visuals.
I'll give the talent a break, do some quick performance checks and perhaps a few sync checks using Vocalign, then either make them do it some more or move on depending upon what I hear.
Once again, this is an experience thing; my experience tells me when things will or will not work.
One offs - grunts groans, breaths, yells and the like - can be done (for the most part) without watching the screen or having to be in perfect sync (as long as you have great editing chops). I'll just turn off the video feed and let the recorder run. I'll even get in the room with them and squeeze them, "punch" them, make them run in place for five minutes, lay them on the floor and sit on them... whatever it takes to get what I need.
If it needs to be in sync the same as above applies but with a long loop with the visuals.
I'll give the talent a break, do some quick performance checks and perhaps a few sync checks using Vocalign, then either make them do it some more or move on depending upon what I hear.
Once again, this is an experience thing; my experience tells me when things will or will not work.
Yeah since I don't have something like vocalign right now, I have to sync it up later, and see if it works later before calling them back. But even on grunts and breathing, they didn't have to watch the screen, but still the performance was not as good.
This is something that takes a while to learn, if you ever do. This is not a slap at you, some folks just don't have the knack. As I say repeatedly, I just don't have the knack for visuals even though my wife (we're coming up on our 34th in a few weeks) is very visually oriented and has been pointing things out to me forever. Some of us have it, some of us don't.
It takes quite a bit of ear training. Once you've finished this project do some ADR of your own on well known films. It's very hard, even when doing it to material with which you are familiar. It teaches you that it's MUCH harder than it seems, and will hopefully help you to communicate better with the talent.
It takes quite a bit of ear training. Once you've finished this project do some ADR of your own on well known films. It's very hard, even when doing it to material with which you are familiar. It teaches you that it's MUCH harder than it seems, and will hopefully help you to communicate better with the talent.
Yeah. And thanks for the help, I know it's not a slap at me or anything. I'll also just tell my actors the truth, that I had a sound guy, and audio engineer that said he would do it all from the beginning of the project, then dropped out just before shooting and I haven't been able to find someone else.
I am suppose to show the actors the final edit this month but ever since I asked them to do some ADR only one wanted to. The rest didn't get back to me, over a month ago. It's almost as if they hate ADR, cause they had seemed to be all looking forward to the final product before, and stayed in touch. (shrug)
I am suppose to show the actors the final edit this month but ever since I asked them to do some ADR only one wanted to. The rest didn't get back to me, over a month ago. It's almost as if they hate ADR, cause they had seemed to be all looking forward to the final product before, and stayed in touch. (shrug)
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