MYP8 Language A Dubbing contest

MYP8 (1) Jessica Goh

MYP8 had its first Language A Chinese dubbing contest last Wednesday on October 30th this semester. 4 Groups of contestants from all 4 classes of MYP8 could either choose to dub an excerpt from the movie based on Shakespeare’s famous script Merchant Of Venice or Chinese comedy Lost In Thailand.

Dubbing, also known, as re-recording is a step used in film making for additional recording after the original recording. Dubbing could include dialogue replacement, where the actors dub the audio segments.  The dubbing contest that we MYP8 held refers to the substituting the voice of the actors shown on the movie screen into the contestant’s voice, adding our own interpretation of the emotion needed in each scene. The emotion and tone of the recorder could influence the audience and their interpretation towards the movie. It is extremely important in attracting the audience’s attention.

The first group that dubbed was Ada Hu’s group from class 8-2. They chose a humorous excerpt from the Chinese comedy Lost in Thailand. It is clear that they were fully prepared. Being the first group on stage, they attracted the audience’s attention fairly well and made the audiences laugh in quite a few scenes.  One of the contestants even included a Thai accent to make the scene more realistic and interesting, bringing the audience closer to the original movie.

The second group that dubbed was Isis Zhuo’s group from class 8-1. This is the only group from the entire 8th grade contestants to choose an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice. They boldly chose the scene the climax of the whole play where Portia baited Sherlock to punish Antonio, making Sherlock believe that he is sure to win the case. In a group of 4 ladies and where 3 of the characters are male, this group tried hard to make their tone convincible and firm, but the biggest disadvantage was the dubbing didn’t really match the movie despite their effort to make it match.

The third group came from class 8-3, and is Hanna’s Lee’s group. They also chose the a few excerpts from Lost In Thailand, where they also successfully included a few Thai Accents and Chinese jokes. This group even put in the effort to add a few audio effects. One of the contestants even smacked a book on the microphone to produce the effect of a falling phone in the movie. They were the only group to add in audio effects. This made the dubbing more alive and relatable.

The last group that participated was Sam’s group from 8-4. With only a group of 3, they also produced the dubbing effect fairly well. One of the male contestants was dubbing a voice of a lady, making the whole theatre roar into laughter. This group captured the emotions and tone of the original actors fairly well, making the whole dubbing experience humorous and successful.

The first dubbing contest ended successfully after a humorous and interesting afternoon that made the whole grade burst into laughter, it sure did interest a few more young “dubbers”.