Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1509: Mobilizing the best soldiers from all over the country to voice Forrest Gump

"Ronald, I have to say that Chinese movies seem to have hit a low point right now... I don't know how much box office revenue The Fugitive can bring in. If this downward trend continues, there will be no movie market here in three years, and we won't even know who to sell our revenue-sharing and monitoring system to. A satellite-connected box office statistics system is even more impossible. Even if all the box office revenue of a medium-sized city were taken, it might not be enough to buy this system."

Michelle Cannold arrived at Xujiahui and talked with people from the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio. He discovered that after entering the 1990s, the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio had entered a very embarrassing situation.

First, the film market in China experienced a cliff-like decline. In 1990, the national box office was 22 billion yuan, but by last year it had been halved to only 12 billion.

The annual number of moviegoers has dropped from 90 billion in 162 to just a quarter of that at 42 billion.

A large number of projection teams and screening points in towns and rural areas have been cancelled. Except for weddings and funerals, no one can be seen showing movies in rural areas.

The number of moviegoers in some major cities was still somewhat guaranteed, but the box office was also declining very quickly. After being popular in America for more than a decade, the invention of videotapes finally arrived on the other side of the Pacific.

Moreover, there is a particularly cheap piracy technology that is not available in America - ripping.

In America, VCRs manufactured after 1984 have restrictions on dubbing. If you try to dub a signal from a videotape other than a live TV station, the Macrovision copy protection function will be activated, and the image on the new videotape will flicker and change brightness, making the viewing experience very poor.

However, the case in which Sony won the lawsuit was only valid in America. In East Asia, especially in Hong Kong, videotapes produced not only did not have Macrovision copy protection, but also focused on developing dubbing technology as a selling point.

Machines produced by Japanese manufacturers such as Panasonic and JVC all have the Macrovision copy protection function, but Hong Kong has a lot of talented people. Someone has developed an illegal tool to remove the anti-copying signal device. By installing this circuit in the VCR, it is possible to bypass the Macrovision copy protection chip and directly copy normal images.

For example, Hong Kong also has video recorders assembled with imported Japanese chips. Local talents have also added a speed recording function in recent years, which can make the copying speed between two video recorders twice as fast as normal playback. A two-hour movie can be copied into a new videotape in just one hour.

Finally, they even saved themselves the trouble and directly produced a dual-decker VCR, which had two videotape decks in one machine and could copy directly.

In this way, an unscrupulous businessman could hoard a batch of double-decker VCRs with shorthand functions, and then turn one into two, and two into four, thus becoming an underground black workshop for producing pirated videotapes.

Many of these videotapes were sold to the mainland. As long as they did not flow back to the Japanese and American markets, no one supervised them. They actually became an industrial chain, with professional players operating wholesale and retail, and even entering the mainland.

It only takes two weeks for Hong Kong and even Hollywood movies to appear on the mainland market.

Of course, the per capita income in the mainland was not high, and VCRs were still a relatively expensive luxury. After all, it was only in 1992 that color televisions became popular in the mainland thanks to the introduction of color cathode ray tube production lines.

However, this does not prevent mainland audiences from watching the latest Hollywood B-movies. Unlike in America, most videotapes in mainland China are shown in places called video halls, where audiences can watch two or three videotapes in a row for the price of a movie ticket.

Video halls usually use a projector as a screen, and various Hong Kong-dubbed Mandarin movies, as well as many Hollywood action movies, have been able to enter the mainland. Most of them still use the versions dubbed in Hong Kong or other places.

This has brought a double impact to the four major dubbing studios in the mainland: Bayi, Changyi, Beijing Translation Studio, and Shanghai Translation Studio.

On the one hand, the mainland box office market has shrunk, and fewer people are going to the movies. Relatively speaking, the number of imported movies is also small, and even fewer need dubbing. On the other hand, many Hong Kong or Hollywood movies imported by video halls have already been dubbed into Mandarin in Hong Kong or other places, so their business has also decreased.

To make matters worse, after signing the new agreement, the distribution company took charge of the dubbing of all Hollywood co-production films.

This means that it is no longer a task assigned under the planned issuance system of the past, nor is it a system in which suppliers with high quality and favorable prices win under market economy conditions. Instead, it is a system that mixes planning and the market, with the head office allocating tasks according to the situation and then giving certain "market-based" rewards.

Since the old system was based on the issuance of planned tasks for allocation, the Shanghai Film Translation Studio, with its abundant talent pool, was generally assigned to translate films from Hollywood, Western Europe, and some Latin American films.

Therefore, the first blockbuster "The Fugitive" was given to Shanghai Film Translation Studio. In order to give the studio a new lease of life, all the elites in the studio were brought in. Yan Chongde became the dubbing director. Qiao Zhen and Ding Jianhua dubbed the protagonists, and the new generation Shen Xiaoqian, Jiang Yuling, and the old generation Tong Zirong all took on major roles.

The dubbing effect of the whole movie is very good. Although Michelle Cannold does not understand Chinese, the voice actors really gave the characters a core. They did not just read the lines in a straightforward manner, but had a whole system to re-create them.

Ronald hadn't seen the dubbed videotape yet, but from the names of the actors he mentioned, Ronald knew that the dubbing of The Fugitive would be very good. Chinese audiences were used to this kind of dubbed film, so it seemed that The Fugitive would not have a bad box office in the mainland.

This new style of Hollywood action film, which incorporates elements of many Hollywood genre films and stars the big star Harrison Ford, is coupled with scenery and life scenes that reflect the current American metropolis of Chicago, and is very likely to gain recognition from current mainland audiences.

But the problem is that the head office cannot give all Hollywood blockbusters to Shanghai Translation Studio for dubbing. Otherwise, Beijing, Changchun, and Bayi will be out of business.

We are all experienced players in the dubbing film field. If we continue to introduce Hollywood blockbusters as planned next year, we will definitely have to share the apples. It is definitely not based on which studio is suitable, but a method of sharing the spoils equally to ensure that everyone can do some business.

"Don't worry about the box office. If a Hollywood movie is released, the box office will naturally be good. Don't worry..." Ronald found it funny that Michelle Cannold used Hollywood's rules to measure the Chinese film market.

Due to language barriers, most of the videos that mainland urban residents watch are B-level movies, action movies, or special effects movies. The real Hollywood productions that combine art and business are rarely seen by mainland audiences because of language barriers.

The dubbing studio is a very critical channel. As long as the dubbing work is good, Chinese audiences can also appreciate the emotional delivery of these excellent films. There is a reason why these films can win the favor of the Oscars.

"Let me tell you, China is different from other places. Dubbed films have performance elements, and some dubbed films are not worse than the originals. You can refer to the dubbed imported films from Italy for an analogy."

Ronald quickly told Cannold on the overseas call that Italy is another country that uses dubbed films for re-creation. Many foreign films even hire celebrities to do the dubbing. They all treat film as a very important art form, worthy of being two countries with a long history.

"So that's how it is. I'm relieved. The people at the head office told me that they will make our Daydream movie a priority project no matter what. They are ready to mobilize the best talents to translate your movie...

"Forrest Gump" is going to be handled by the August First Film Translation Studio, they are very good at handling this kind of family and country sentiment film. And "Speed" is going to be assigned to the Shanghai Film Translation Studio, the effect of "The Fugitive" was good this time, they have experience in action films..." Michelle Cannold will also go north to meet with the leaders of the head office to discuss, they have already shown their utmost sincerity to cooperate.

The instructions from the top leaders made them pay great attention to it and they couldn't let it go wrong the next year. They had to make sure that Hollywood's co-production movies performed well at the box office in China...

"What? Why isn't Forrest Gump translated by the Shanghai Translation Studio? I've prepared the list. No, no, you must go to the head office and argue with them. Forrest Gump must be translated by the Shanghai Translation Studio!
……

"Why? We also distribute according to the content of your film. You don't know that many of the historical films we originally introduced were given to Changyi and Bayi. They have rich experience... They are more suitable for your film Forrest Gump..."

Michelle Cannold went to the head office and conveyed Ronald's strong opinion, but the head office did not understand. Shanghai Film Translation Studio is very good at translating and dubbing commercial films, especially romance films, but Forrest Gump is a film about American history with a heavy sense of presence, so it is better to go to the Bayi Film Studio, right?

Not to mention the Eastern Bloc movies of the past, even after the 1980s, for example, the former Union's "Battle of Moscow" and the Sino-Japanese co-production "Dunhuang", these historical blockbusters were all produced by the Bayi Film Studio.

"This was designated by Director Luo himself. He believed that only the Shanghai Film Translation Studio could restore the essence of this film."

This statement made the people in the head office very unhappy. Everyone froze for a moment. At this time, a middle-aged man, Vice President Han, who was transferred from the Beijing Film Studio to strengthen the head office, spoke:

"Director Luo is an old friend of our Chinese film industry. His dedication to his dubbed films is also a recognition of the level of dubbed films in our country..."

This remark appeased both sides, and the two sides continued to talk. Vice President Han found the right opportunity to ask Michelle Cannold, who was also speaking to the vice president in charge of assigning dubbed films, "Why did Director Luo ask for a designated unit to dub the film?"

Michel Cannold didn't understand either. He gave some high-sounding reasons, but they were all refuted by the vice president in charge of allocating dubbed films. Finally, he had to call Ronald and ask the real person to explain.

"The reason why I wanted Shanghai Film Translation Studio to dub this film was not out of commercial considerations, but out of artistic considerations. You may have forgotten that I am not only the chairman of Daydream Film Studio, but also the director of this film..."

Ronald also anticipated the difficulty of doing business in China, but for some personal reasons, he still called and communicated with them face to face.

"Oh, so that's how it is... Matters concerning artistic pursuits are indeed very delicate. I wonder what Director Luo thinks?" Vice President Han chimed in. "As for artistic pursuits, it's hard for us to say anything. In this way, we can get some promotional materials. The quality of our dubbed films has been recognized by a famous Hollywood director, who called from across the ocean to personally request...

"When I came to Shanghai in the 1980s, I heard an anecdote. Ken Takakura from Japan always designated Bi Kejun to dub his films when they were shown in China. This is a profound understanding of the interpretation of the characters...

When I learned that my movie Forrest Gump would become a co-production movie next year, I started thinking about who would be the best person to interpret the role in my movie. Last week, I also received instructions from your top leader that I must demand perfection in the artistry of this movie. This is a very important opportunity for the Chinese and American people to enhance mutual understanding. Although I am very busy, I will always pay attention to the dubbing work of this movie. "

Ronald is also an expert in China, and is very skilled at using the tiger's skin to make a big banner. After hearing this, several vice presidents of the head office felt that the matter was very important. Not only did they have to cooperate with Ronald, but they also had to make this dubbing work a key project this year..."

"I have another request, Vice President Han..." Ronald also learned in the conference call who is the person who truly understands film production and distribution. Vice President Han previously worked at Emei Film Studio and later came to Capital Film Studio. He is very familiar with the rules of the film industry.

"Director Luo, please go ahead..." Vice President Han was very happy. He was still in the secondment stage. If he could be noticed by Ronald and be in charge of this key project, it would only be good for his future prospects.

"Forrest Gump is the transliteration of the name of my movie, which is also the name of the protagonist, but the feelings we Americans have when seeing him are different from those of your country's audience. This name has an ancient Southern flavor, and Chinese people, who do not have the relevant cultural background, may not be able to see it, and will only think that the name is difficult to pronounce..."

“Director Luo is indeed an expert in film distribution. No wonder he has achieved such a big career in America…” Vice President Han is the so-called wise man in the head office.

"I remember that when I watched Spielberg's Empire of the Sun in Xujiahui, I saw one of your movies, called The True Story of Ah QQ."

"Ahaha, this is very appropriate. How about your movie be called The Story of Ah Fu?"

"Well, Forrest Gump is better..."

……

Soon, Forrest Gump was handed over to the Shanghai Film Translation Studio. Ronald was afraid of further interference, so he simply imitated Ken Takakura and designated the voice actors for the main characters.

The adult Forrest Gump is voiced by the younger Shen Xiaoqian, whose voice is warm and sincere, just like Tom Hanks. The adult Jenny is voiced by Liu Guangning, whose voice is rich in complex layers, which is suitable for Jenny.

Of course, the role of Forrest Gump's mother is played by Su Xiu, who is the best match for the mother, and Lieutenant Dan is played by the powerful Cheng Yuzhu.

Other minor roles will be decided by the Shanghai Film Translation Studio itself, and the dubbing director must be an experienced old comrade.

Xiao Yan rushed back to Xujiahui specially to supervise the dubbing work. After seeing the situation, he called Ronald again.

"Boss, they only gave the dubbing team 30,000 yuan, there's no way they can do this."

"Thirty thousand dollars is a little too little..." Ronald had instructed his secretary to get through all the dubbing matters.

"What do you mean by 30,000 US dollars? It's 30,000 RMB."

"It's just nonsense. What can you do with 30,000 RMB? Call Vice President Han of the head office and tell him what I said, and ask him to pay more. Never mind, it's difficult for him to do it. So, just say that I care about the quality of the dubbing. The boss is an expert on movies, and we have to make him satisfied. I will personally fund this movie and ask the head office to mobilize the whole country to do the dubbing. Please ask Vice President Han to supervise and make sure the quality is guaranteed."