Rand Unwrapped (4 page)

While living in Hawaii, I also learned how to dub both animated and live action characters. I needed money to pay my education expenses just like any other student so I started looking for a job. At first I did the usual type of college jobs working at the school and then later at one of the Waikiki hotels. As you could imagine, there weren't very many acting jobs in Hawaii that one could be hired in exchange for acting services. So landing an acting job like this was not easy. My girlfriend at the time and fellow graduate student was part of a women's group of writers and heard about the dubbing of a live action Japanese show
Ultra 7
into English. She got me an audition and I got the part. While I had no actual experience in ever voicing a character in a live action or animated film, I did have some experience in performing Japanese Kabuki and Peking Opera on stage in New York. I thought at the time, (wrongly so) that I could utilize Asian theatre acting techniques to create the characters in this Japanese show. The show featured a lot of action martial arts sequences so I figured I had it covered. I quickly learned that live
stage acting techniques for Kabuki or Peking Opera were of little use in this early dubbing session. Though years later, I would rely on some of my knowledge of Kabuki in getting cast in an ABC Television pilot called
Camp Grizzly (1980)
. I played a riding instructor from New York City who knew nothing about horses or riding. You would think that would be funny enough on its own. But I added a sort of
Kabuki dance
when I auditioned. The producer and network liked it at first, then changed their minds and recast the entire show. I also used Kabuki in creating Rand for
Robotech
but will talk more about that later. But at that moment in time, when I showed up the first day to voice the
Ultra 7
series, I knew in my heart that it was going to be a
learn as you go
experience for me. But I thought to myself, “Everybody's got to start somewhere!”

The cast of
Ultra 7
collectively had little or no experience in voice acting, dubbing or writing ADR. Some of us, (including me) were graduate students at the Drama School at the university, others were well known local actors that were mainstays within the Honolulu theatre scene. These were the actors that got all the lead roles anytime a local theatre company produced a play there. They were, by no means, well known outside of that universe. But within, the Hawaiian universe, they were well known and respected. We were all learning as we went along which made the
Ultra 7
dubbing process challenging. The producer assured us that all would go smoothly and that the production company had all the scripts written in English and ready to record. All the voice actors had to do was use those English translations and create individual voices for each character in the series. However, once we started recording, we all learned that that was not the case. The English language scripts we worked from were all written in Japan and were literal translations from the original Japanese dialogue. We found out very quickly that literal translations, although perhaps accurate, were often not written in sync or conversational. For example, in one scene, a truck driver trying to cross a bridge blocked by another car wanted the driver to move out of the way so he could pass. The trucker's line read something like, “You better move your car pal! Or I'll beat you to many pulps!” Not only was this line
not
in sync, it was also
not
conversational. When we came upon these literal lines (and there were many) we had to stop the recording and re-write the script to sync. Back in those pre
Robotech
days, none of us had any idea of what kinds of sounds fit specific types of lip movements. So we kind of eye balled it the best we could. Steve Kramer in later years would teach me about
fricatives
and
plosives.
There were also the cultural challenges of creating a conversational dialogue that would be believable to an American audience within the framework of what was already shot live in Japanese. Whenever my character Planet Man Dan would answer a ringing phone, the English translation, in order to be in sync with picture, would always say, “Hello, Hello!” The reason for this is purely cultural. The original Japanese dialogue spoken by Planet Man Dan when a phone was picked up was
“mushi mushi”
or
“moshi moshi”
which means hello. However, to get the original Japanese dialogue to match the lip movements when converted to English, we would have to say “Hello, Hello” quickly (one Hello following the other) in order to get the sync right. As I recall, my character spoke on the phone often and I got very good at saying “hello hello” to fit
“mushi mushi”
in sync and making it look like that was a normal thing to do for an American audience. Years later, I used this same
“mushi mushi”
skill in a movie called
Godzilla 1985.

In
Godzilla 1985
, one of the characters that I voiced was a solitary solider on guard duty standing on a coastal bridge outside of Tokyo. In the distance, coming out the ocean,
Godzilla approaches. Without warning, the monster's head rises ominously out of the ocean then the full body until the soldier spots Godzilla coming out of the water. He runs into his guard shack, cranks up his phone and holding the receiver with two hands, puts it up to his mouth as he cringes in horror:

The hard part about this little piece of dialogue was that the “mushi mushi/hello hello had to be in perfect sync. Then, it was followed by the word Godzilla that was actually spoken by the guard (well almost) as “Gojira” which in Japanese is a cross between a Gorilla
(gorira)
and a whale (
kujira).
The line had to be right on the mark and match the lip movements of the guard. Then, as if that weren't enough, the Japanese guard also says the word “Tokyo” in Japanese that had to be hit right on the mark as well. A moment later, Godzilla spots the little guy and before the guard can say another word, he's vaporized. But, not before letting out one very loud death scream. You might be thinking that's a lot of effort to voice a frantic bridge guard who has one line and a death scream. But the truth is, that each one of these little scenes is part of a larger mosaic and must be done as realistically as possible. When we did
Godzilla 1985
, we tried to make what we all thought was a boring script, funny whenever possible. I think I improvised one or two takes of my bridge guard and made him say something like, “Hello Hello – Godzilla's here and he refuses to pay toll,” something like that.

And as the guard is vaporized, I said something like, “Didn't say may I!” But the producer wanted a true to life depiction of the monster gone wild as a result of the world's use of nuclear weapons. So, we just voiced the lines that were in the script. But I digress, back to
Ultra 7
.

The majority of the scripts for
Ultra 7
that were sent from the producer in Tokyo (although in English) made no sense within the scene or had no sync. When this happened in the studio, the lines had to be rewritten on the spot and I had to come up with lines that made sense and were in sync. It was truly
trial by fire
. You might come up with a great line that would work well within the context of the scene but was slightly out of sync. With that said, remember that old cliché' “almost only counts in horse shoes and the hand grenades.” When it's out of sync, even if it's a flap, it's
out
of sync which undermines the reality of the scene. Instead of being into the reality of the characters and situation, the audience is reminded that the work is dubbed. This is not a good thing. When
Ultra 7
was recorded into English, it was done in an ensemble format. All of the actors sat on tall stools in a circle. At the head of the circle was a large screen with time codes running on the top or bottom spaces. Each actor had his or her own microphone and marked script. During the recording process, the actors performed single lines or an exchange of several lines of dialogue with multiple characters within a scene. The entire episode was done in chronological order from first page to last. I'd like to note that the
Robotech
series was not done this way. Usually, the principle actors in
Robotech
would perform their lines alone within a particular session working with one script at a time. We might work on several episodes but only one voice and character at a time. When I completed the lines of my character in one episode, we would then move on to another episode. More than often, we would never see the other actors within the series who voiced the characters we were talking to. During the
Robotech
series, I came into the studio just to voice my own
character and didn't see any other actors unless they were just leaving or just arriving. Also, if you were early on in the recording process, you might not have a line of dialogue or a cue to listen to when recording your lines. All this meant was that lines were not yet recorded. In other instances, there were lines already recorded by other actors that could act as an auditory cue for the line that I had to say. Having the line there that was before yours was also helpful to set the tone, tempo and volume of your response. The
Robotech
experience was built more upon the relationship of the writer, director and voice artist. The
Ultra 7
process was more of a collective ensemble experience. It was a different process all together.

During the recording of
Ultra 7
, it was an ensemble effort and when we got to a section of the script in which a given line or section didn't make sense or not in sync, everything stopped. The actors either took a break while the line was rewritten or collectively the line was rewritten on the spot with everyone's input. This ensemble process was great because you were able to get a collective energy for the characters and episode but it was also very slow. To try to address the issue of slowness, the producers decided that the Japanese translations of the scripts should be reviewed and rewritten (where needed) before the voice actors went into the studio. The idea was to make the scripts more conversational than the literally translated versions they were getting from Japan and make sure the individual character lines were all in proper sync. I was asked to become part of this pre-record process and reviewed scripts for sync, sense of lines and conversational quality. I did rewrites on many of the scripts and it was a great way to learn how to write sync. The truth of it was, I had no interest in sync and was more focused on character and story. But, I did rewrite many of the scripts for appropriate sync even though I hated doing it. Once this new procedure was put in place, the recording sessions went faster and drastically reduced those instances where we had to rewrite dialogue in the studio during recording. I realized then how writing a dubbed script, as tedious as it was, could positively influence my ability to create character voices on future projects. If you want to learn how to create a voice, in sync within a dubbed format, writing scripts really gives you a sense of how everything fits together. But just when things started to fall nicely in place during recording each episode, the producers of
Ultra 7
had a new challenge for the voice actors to overcome. They asked us if we could voice characters during a live stage presentation.

When
Ultra 7
was aired in Hawaii, it was an immediate hit. To capitalize on this success and to raise ratings, the producers wanted to develop a live action show based upon the series that was to be presented at the historic Waikiki Shell. The idea was to use live action costumed character actors (from Japan) to physicalize the characters on the stage while the (English speaking) voice actors did the dialogue. The producers felt that the audience was familiar with our voices and could connect more readily with the action on the stage. When the
Ultra 7
live shows premiered at the Waikiki Shell, they were an immediate sell out. The
Ultra 7
fans filled the 2,400 seat open air Waikiki Shell and the adjacent Kapiolani park. We were happy we had such a large turn out but really weren't sure if dubbing a live show would work. On the surface it was simple. Our job was to provide character voices during the live action sequences that took place on the stage. Actors dressed in show character and monster costumes performed vigorous combat sequences with martial arts and acrobatics. The voice actors sat in a sound booth above the stage and later on the side of the
stage and provided the dialogue and reactions as the actors performed on the stage. The idea and its ultimate execution were quite different. The problem was that the Japanese actors playing the characters didn't speak English and had no idea what was being said as they jumped around the stage. So, in no time at all, no matter how much rehearsal we had, the scenes started to drift and the action on the stage had no connection to the dialogue that was being spoken. The scenarios that the producers had created of what was supposed to take place on the stage went out the window almost immediately. We spoke most of the dialogue while the Japanese actors pantomimed action. So it had to be improvised on the spot. In that situation, I did what I thought might be funny to the thousands of mostly young children in the audience. I also, whenever possible, went for the comedy in each situation by adding local Hawaiian references. When these lines landed with the audience and connected with the physical action, there were lots of laughs. The actors playing the action characters where in full body costumes which more than often covered their heads and mouths so there was no sync to worry about. We used the same voices for each character that we used in the series on television but the live scenarios were always different for each show. We would base what we said upon the physical actions of the actors on the stage. The Japanese actors, who did not speak English, were not aware of what we were saying. But somehow, to our surprise, it all worked out. To say the least, it was an interesting collaboration between a voice actor and a truly “live” action character. Because the live shows were never the same from performance to performance, it forced the voice actors to really hone their improvisational skills. However, I think the audience liked it that way. Whatever we said (no matter how absurd) accompanied by the action on stage was always met with a tremendous applause and the live show was a complete success. Little did I know that these improvisational and technical skills acquired in Hawaii, would be used later
Robotech.
But I had a few more stops to make first.