GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

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LSD Jellyfish
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GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Thanks to Gmatt to accidentally exposing this to me in the "first exposure to Gamera" thread. I had no this existed prior, and it's incredibly. Produced by Arrival Films, this dub replaces large amounts of the soundtrack with vibrating techno music. You can see snippets of it here:


And watch the full thing here:


Absolutely astounding.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Mon Nov 15, 2021 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

Post by Mac Daddy MM »

Lol. I think this gif sums everything up nicely.

Image


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Re: GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

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LSD Jellyfish wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 11:15 pm Thanks to Gmatt to accidentally exposing this to me in the "first exposure to Gamera" thread. I had no this existed prior
You didn't even know this dub was included on the Arrow Blu-ray release(s)?

Anyway, like I said on the aforementioned thread, this was how I first saw GOTU so the dub will hold a specific place in my heart, even if the music choices are questionable.
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Re: GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

Post by MaxRebo320 »

The best part is how all of the song titles and artists are listed in the credits, meaning you can look them up and go ape to those boss surf sounds.
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Re: GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

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(Not my transcription.) From SFX issue 29 (September 1997 issue):
THE GAMERA NEVER LIES!

Dubbing a Japanese movie into English is a tricky business, especially when your star is a 60-foot turtle, writes MJ Simpson.

Gamera, the mighty, giant, flying, rocket-powered, radioactive, city-trashing, turtle-monster-thing, having made pretty short thrift of Tokyo, has now transferred his attention to… Shepperton! The quiet Surrey village - and its incumbent film studio - quakes as the mighty beast stomps down the main street, pounds the local post office into dust, raises its head to the sky and lets out an ear-splitting, high-pitched roar…

Well, no, clearly that's rubbish.

In fact, Gamera is in Shepperton because his critically acclaimed 1995 comeback feature is being dubbed into English. Last issue we reviewed the subtitled version of Gamera - Guardian of the Universe (SFX28, A) which recently opened at the Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square. Although this was warmly welcomed by Britain's small-but-devoted army of kaiju eiga fans, Arrival Films know that in order to give the film a chance of a wider release, a dubbed version is vital.

British-dubbed Japanese movies, a common sight in the '60s, are now something of a lost art. The few oriental films which do get released in the UK, such as the two Tetsuo features, tend to get treated as art cinema and shown subtitled. A few years ago, the anime tape Catgirl Nuku Nuku became the first British dub for quite some time, but obviously matters are easier with animation, where movements are more stylised and out-of-synch lips less pronounced.

So today, seven people (plus SFX journo and photographer) are crammed into DRS, a tiny recording studio behind a small shop on Shepperton High Street, to participate in the first British dubbing of a Japanese monster movie for two decades. Jim Hurst is the studio manager and John Buckley the dubbing mixer/sound engineer. James Shanks is officially ADR director, Neil Craske is his assistant, Oliver Ronicle is generally "in charge" and Lara Clancy is, well, doing a voice. When Arrival Films chairman Clinton Montague turns up, the tiny room gets significantly crowded.

The English script from which Clancy is reading was written by Shanks, adapted from an English translation of the Japanese script, supplied by the film's producers, Daiei Co.

"It has to be changed a bit as we're recording so that my lines are as long as those spoke on screen," says Lara, who's playing the female lead, Nagamine, currently leaning out of a helicopter to take photos of the giant Gyaos birds. "Where my character says 'Yes', I might have to say, 'Yes, we must,' to fit the lip movements. I can hear the Japanese actress's voice on my headphones."

A series of four beeps in her "cans", spotted onto the film by John, provides Lara's cue. The film plays on monitors in both the mixing room and studio itself, and is constantly run back and forth, with anything up to ten takes in each line.

"The dubbed version is going to be aimed more at young people who may have never actually seen a Japanese monster movie before," explains Ronicle, "so we're replacing the original music with a techno soundtrack. It'll feature some big names, but under pseudonyms, and will be released on CD. We're also beefing up Gamera's roar, which is a bit high-pitched. New audiences are going to be expecting something meatier.

"We know purists will disapprove of the dubbing and these other changes, which is why we're also releasing the subtitled version. And it's worth stressing that we're only altering the soundtrack - we're not re-editing the film in any way."

The entire dubbing procedure takes approximately eight weeks, employs the talents of 20 actors, often recording individually.

"There are four leads and three major supporting roles," says Shanks. "Then there are all the extras who only have a few lines. We use, on average, one actor for every five characters, and stagger their roles through the film, so they should never be in a scene with themselves. I get to be the director because, well, because I've got a beard and a hat!"

"I've been making Super-8 films since I was about eight. Last year I finished my first feature, Devil's Harvest, which hasn't been released yet. It stars Brian Blessed and Julie T Wallace. Lara is in it too, as are most of the British Gamera cast, because for this we wanted actors we could trust. It's a supernatural thriller - sort of Fatal Attraction meets The Amityville Horror."

James has now seen Gamera - Guardian of the Universe about 100 times, although Clancy has never seen it before today. In fact, she's recording each line as she goes along, and is now intrigued to find out what happens to her character in the end.

"I've always loved Godzilla and other Japanese monsters," says Shanks, "and although I knew of Gamera, I'd never actually seen one of his films until this came along."

Which isn't so surprising considering that no Gamera film has ever been shown on British TV or released on video. Until recently, the only way to get to know the turtle's oeuvre was to make frequent trips to America or know a good bootleg dealer. Hopefully, all that's going to change now Arrival Films have acquired the rights to Gamera's back catalogue, under the watchful eye of Clinton Montague, who saw Gamera at Cannes two years ago.

"Other people were also interested in Gamera," explains Ronicle, "but Clinton got it because he knew what he wanted to do with it. He wanted to release it as a good, fun, monster movie, and Daiei liked that. We've got first option on the sequel, Gamera 2 - Attack of Legion, which is even better.

"A lot of money is being spent on this, because if the dubbing is bad, it sticks out a mile - especially on the big screen. So often in the past, films have been badly dubbed because the recording has been rushed. We're spending a lot of time on this making sure we get it right!"

Both dubbed and subtitled versions of Gamera will be released on video next year, to coincide roughly with the cinematic release of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's Godzilla. This will be followed by video releases of the original '60s films.

"As with the 1995 movie, we'll be working from the Japanese masters and recording our own dubbed soundtracks," says Ronicle, "so our versions will be different to the ones people might have seen on American tapes or bootlegs. But we won't be releasing subtitled versions, because it's far too expensive, and anyway the old Gamera movies are more obviously aimed at young children."
I'm not certain what they're referring to by marking this the "first British dubbing of a Japanese monster movie for two decades." As far as I can tell--and frankly, I know quite a bit about this subject, lol--the only Brit-dubbed kaiju movies prior were Sandy Frank's Gamera and Gamera vs. Zigra, both approximately 1985. Obviously there were tons of films dubbed in Hong Kong with some British voices, which might be what they were referring to.
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Re: GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

Post by Angilasman »

You know, some of the moody electronic music actually works well here - but what really throws me off is when they take music from the original score and put it where it doesn't fit. I guess being so familiar with the original does that.

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Re: GOTU UK "Techno" Dub by Arrival Films

Post by G-Matt »

Angilasman wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 6:23 pm You know, some of the moody electronic music actually works well here
I agree. My favorite has always been the track that's played when the military is getting ready to attack Gamera at Mt. Fuji. I wish I could find that track.
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