Sharing an interesting blog by Amitabh Bacchan on the technical aspect of filmmaking i.e. dubbing. Dubbing .. a process to correct the sound in film if there is disturbance and external sounds during the time of the shoot .. sync sound is quite common on shoots these days ; a process where extreme caution is taken to create a sound system on the premises of the shoot when all is quiet ! Difficult at times but many a production has been able to achieve this through a most rigorous exercise, using personnel of the production stationed at various portions of the perimeter of the shooting making sure that there is absolute silence, during the timing of the shot. It is by far a most tedious process ! Recereating the same atmosphere, mental and physical conditioning as at the time of the shot, in a sterile individual recording studio, is tough .. Many an artist prefer not to dub because it is almost impossible to get the right tone of the performance in a solitary changed atmosphere. But such are the requirements of cinema, that is has become a necessity .. Many an artist actually prefer to dub .. it is that one moment for them to improve upon the performance they may have given during the shot .. any correction of word pronunciations, inaudible sound of dialogue, and many other aspects .. For me personally I would prefer a system of sync sound ; an atmosphere when the artist can actually hear within what they are expressing and not be disturbed by either the sound of the camera whirring, or any traffic or external sound … The Arriflex camera when it came out was lighter and more portable than the Mitchell camera , which was extremely large, and a physical burden to operate .. but the Arriflex made a lot of sound as the film ran on the reel inside the loaded reel .. a ‘blimp’ was then devised which ws worn by the Arriflex as a cap and which reduced the sound to a negligible amount .. With the Arri camera sound artists had to speak louder than normal, in order for their sound to be recorded, and in turn help in dubbing later .. if the sound track during the shoot is bad, then lip syncing the dialogue was another pain .. Of course now with advanced sound technology, the absence of film, the doing away with those large camera machines, resorting now to the chip loaded inside digital cameras, where the duration could run for hours .. life has become a lot easier .. otherwise in the early parts of the film industry most shoots were kept in Studios after midnight, when most of the city slept and the noise pollution was very limited .. a normal day in the life of an artist therefore invariably began by the late afternoon or evening .. because they would finish by sunrise and then got back home to rest and get their night sleep, in the day .. For long, artists were blamed for not being available in the morning hours, for normal meetings or social domestic events .. why .. because they only got to rest and sleep after the sun had risen - they being at work the entire night .. due to the recording of the sound factor .. Till the early years of my time, if the shoots were to be conducted outdoors, and the recordist wished for sync sound without any disturbance, production would actually programme the shots after ascertaining what time flights took off near by, or train passings were monitored, for their sound would drown the dialogue delivered .. even now at time we have to wait for a flight to go by or a train to pass, before we can register a take .. BUT .. to get back to dubbing .. it is an art by itself .. Different procedures are followed. Many artists prefer to stand and dub, many wish to sit and dub .. many insist that in whatever physical condition the shot was taken, sitting or standing they would want the same condition inside the dubbing studio .. place ments of the mike, closeness of the face to the microphone or away from it is all dictated by the recordist .. you may wish to be at a distance that is comfortable for you, but if the recording is not right context to the mike, the dub shall be negated .. So how does one dub emotional scenes ?? they are a measure of the capability of an artist .. you may have lived the scene at the time of its shooting .. there were other artists present, a scenario conducive to the scene was present to put you in the correct emotional mood .. but in the studio .. nada .. nothing .. one has to imagine the entire process all over again and give the best dis connected emotional take .. and the tragedy is that this is the take that shall be judged as your performance, not what you gave originally .. nah .. The portion to be dubbed is run on a screen in front of you, in silent mode .. the audio track of the sound of that scene is provided for you in earphone which you wear to get an idea of the words and the sound, and then as you start taking the spoken words need to fall in sync with the lip movements and the emotion of the scene running silently in front of you on screen .. There are some very accomplished artists ! They just put on the ar phone, never look at the screen to see if their lips are matching or not, and simply are able to give a audio take absolutely in connect with the lips and the emotion .. them I admire most .. there are others even more accomplished .. they ask for the shot to be dubbed to be run with audio sound on the screen in front of them, ask the recordist to cut the sound and just go ahead merely looking at the silent screen and have the ability to synchronise the sound to the picture … !!! I have none of these abilities .. so I seek forgiveness with my director and beg him not to dub a particular scene that requires dubbing, because I shall be unable to recreate the same effect .. Case in point : the mirror scene in Amar Akbar Anthony, the drunk scene in Satte pe Satta .. and many more .. Technology has made our lives a lot easier .. sync sound is quite prevalent even in noisy streets now .. efficient miniature microphones are stuck inside your being, your shirt your jacket discreetly, unknown or unseen by naked eyes, or the eyes of the camera, batteries that run them are placed even more discreetly inside trouser pockets or clipped onto the back of your garment .. and we are on .. these mike marvels have the ability to pick up sound from distances as also your most intimate breathing .. becomes a bit embarrassing when we forget that the mike is on 24 hrs , so after the shot is over whatever you may be uttering is getting recorded as well .. hmmm .. even more embarrassing when you forget to switch it off for a toilet break .. !!! Ahhh .. the vagaries of film making .. However even after you have given, in your estimate, the perfect sound for a scene in the dub .. it is the sound designer that has the last word .. he will finally mix the film with sound and background music and effects, and your own dubbed sound, which eventually could turn out to be a thousand times better or worse .. according to your standards .. which invariably are never acceptable to the sound designer .. for he has to keep in mind its reproduction in the theatres which have different sound systems .. and a universal sound track has to be made for them .. different theatres produce different sounds, depending on what sound system they use and the acoustics of the theatre .. Welcome to a mere small section of film making .. next lesson another day .. GN .. love, Amitabh Bacchan

Edit of En*joy is complete. Next step is ADR.

Happy New Year to you all! May this year be filled with joy and happiness! En*joy!

Hi friends, please check out the teaser of our short film En*joy – pleasure paradox. Hope it intrigues you to watch the film! https://youtu.be/Jd5Af7v1dX4

Watch out for the teaser of En*joy! Coming soon! #enjoy #joy #indiefilm #short #arthouse #film

Merry Christmas to all!

Any audio engineers interested in mixing our film? Plz get in touch!

En*joy- our next short film coming soon!

Transcripts & scripts folder of the film "Father Spirit" nearing completion. A story about a son and his terminally ill father on their last epic adventure.

The characters- Janvi and Rahul in the film En*joy.