Shoot a feature in German or English?

Shoot a feature in German or English?

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
Postmaster

Postmaster

Dark Side of the Camera
I´m really undecided.

Got a feature coming up and it is aimed to the international market.
Actually I would love to shoot in German and than do an English dubbing for the rest of the world.

Now everyone and his kid brother keeps telling me, that it is much easier the other way round.

I don´t know. Problem is that all the German actors would be able to do it in English, but most of them will have some sort of accent.

Then I thought, wait a minute - this film takes place in Germany in the 1020s and 30s, so why not even emphasize their accent, including some local dialects, instead to have them talk like a CNN anchorman?.

Do you guys think that this is cheesy or awkward, or would you rather say it would ad some authenticity?

Thanks, Frank
 
I´m afraid that would limit my chances at foreign box offices (especially the US market).

That´s why I thought to emphasize the accent and sell it as a feature.

Frank
 
I hate dubbed films. IMHO, they never look anything but cheesy. getting the quality of the acting necessary on the dubbing stage would be very difficult.I would much rather hear the original language, with the tone and inflection of the original actor, and get the understanding of the words from subtitles. I think that reflects the original intent of the film. I am a native English speaker, but I watch a lot of foreign language films. Every now and again I run across a dubbed film. I can't watch them.

However, I see your dilemma. I think that shooting in English, with the German accent would probably be the best compromise for English language audiences. That way they get the flavor of it being a German film (Albeit only through a filmic convention) and won't have to work that hard watching the film (which is how a lot of folks describe watching subtitled films). I hate to suggest that, as I would much rather see it in German, with subtitles (Yellow with a black border, thank you), but I realize that my preference is not shared by most of the mass audience.
 
Voted for the English with German accent, but feeling the need to mention that the Dutch viewers (all of us) have a love for the original language with subtitles. You'll sell less to us with dubbed voices, and you'll loose appeal with the English accent approach. If you keep a original German version with subtitles available that would be much better for the Dutch market. (But we're a small country, so I can understand we aren't representable for the average global viewer.)


Jasper
 
it's not a voting option, but if you go with German language, subtitle it in english. not sure how many of you have kids, but i have watched everything on tv with captions ON for the last 5 years. and i like it.
 
Chris Light said:
it's not a voting option, but if you go with German language, subtitle it in english. not sure how many of you have kids, but i have watched everything on tv with captions ON for the last 5 years. and i like it.
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Let me ask Chris, why would you do that? I don't have kids, but I don't get it.

I do watch a lot of English English films (like from the UK) with the captions on. I am a big fan of British films from the '60s (The British New Wave, or "Kitchen Sink Dramas") and trust me the captions help. I also didn't get half the dialogue from "Train Spotting" until I watched it with the captions on. :huh:
 
Dubbing is very common in Germany. Your German audience won't have a problem if they German version is dubbed.

Dubbing is very rare in English speaking countries, so having the English version dubbed could cause a lot of frustrated viewers.

I'd shoot English if you are at all looking for an international market; and then have the same cast dub to German for the domestic release.


- Mikko
 
I agree with the above, that if the whole cast is comfortable with english, then shoot in english, and dub with the original cast. I don't know how close the grammar is, but dialogue could be finessed with the dub in mind. Another idea, depending on your budget, schedule would be to to shoot both versions, English and German for every dialogue set-up. This is not uncommon for french canadian TV movies that will be shown in english. But again it is the English audience that doesn't like dubbing and subtitles, For the rest of the world this is the norm.
 
I'd say English with German accent, because there are more people in the world that speak English than German and if your aim is the international market, then that would be better. Also, what may be really cool is if you started the film in German (them speaking in German) and then gradually go to English, like after the first 5 or 10 minutes. That would make the transition of the German accent alot smoother. I've seen it done in a few movies and it was cool. That way you kind of have the best of both worlds.

Good luck!
 
My son worked in a well known video store for years and so many customers missed out on brilliant 'foreign' films because they refused to watch subtitles. He rarely persuaded customers to try! Such a shame . So, if this is a commercial venture it would perhaps be wise to shoot with the (rapidly expanding) English-speaking population in mind.

Referring to a comment above - I think 'Valkyrie' started out in German then switched to English if I remember.

I personally have no problem with subtitled films (recently watched Michael Haneke's 'The White Ribbon'), but people that I know cannot be bothered with subtitles. It is their loss.

Regards
 
Your actors won't be accent free anyway. You can't fool a native speaker.

This leaves you with option A and C. I vote for C. Mikko Explained it best. Germany doesn't care about a dubbed version, but the rest does. And if you shoot in english with accent, it can later be dubbed in proper english if needed. Most important thing are the mouth moves.
 
PaulWM said:
....Referring to a comment above - I think 'Valkyrie' started out in German then switched to English if I remember....
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I would do it Valkyrie/The Hunt for Red October style. When done well, this "switch" device is very linguisti-cool.
 
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Do what Polanski did on "The Tenant". He shot in both English and in French. It's a great movie, btw., a masterpiece. You shoot in German, and in English. It's easy, unless you only do one take shots. If you do more than one take, ask you actors to do one take ENGLISH and one GERMAN. Easy peasy. Look, if you were to do it in English, you would have to get all actors who speak English anyway, right? So there's really no difference from the actor point of view. There, I've just solved your little problem. Good luck!
 
It seems to me that the foreign films that do best in the U.S. are art-house films, which to my knowledge are almost always shot in the native language, then subtitled. The art-house crowd would be insulted by dubbing, and the average U.S. viewer is NOT going to go see a foreign film.

That said, I'm speaking only for the U.S.. I know there are a lot of other elements to the world market, and so that may come into play for your decision.

I just bet if you made the actors speak English, the acting will be awful, unless they are Christoph Waltz quality actors.

My vote is D. Shoot in German, subtitle in English, perhaps offer dubbed version for the DVD
 
'The Message'. 1976.

Two movies, one set. Arabic Take, print, come on guys your turn, English take, print. English and arabic actors talking in between takes. The arabic guys will catch any screw-up due to translation, the director speaks both languages, was very tight I think. I can't decide which is more authentic, the english version or the arabic one.

I say go German. Mustafa Akkad did two versions of the same movie though, it could work. It has before, but that was monumental.
 
greymog said:
'The Message'. 1976.

Two movies, one set. Arabic Take, print, come on guys your turn, English take, print. English and arabic actors talking in between takes. The arabic guys will catch any screw-up due to translation, the director speaks both languages, was very tight I think. I can't decide which is more authentic, the english version or the arabic one.

I say go German. Mustafa Akkad did two versions of the same movie though, it could work. It has before, but that was monumental.
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wow Grey...just might have to track that one down. thanks man, fun facts.
 
I would guess this might be best decided by the type of film you're making and the intended audience. If it is more of an art house film, then you will probably want to shoot in German and then subtitle. In France, where most foreign films are dubbed, the art house/small cinemas nearly always show the version original with sub titles. I suppose a lot could be down to how the story is dependent on the dialects and the subtle nuances that go with them.
 
Just came back from a weekend trip. Thanks for your opinions gentlemen.

I had forgotten to mention, it´s a film on a famous racing driver (see my signature) - so no art house material here.

Doing two takes would be one option - thou I´m not exactly comfortable with that.
That leaves me to shooting in German and have the same actors overdub in English or vice versa.

For the DVD/Bluray release it is no problem at all, one can switch between German and English plus any subtitle he wants or no subs at all.

So it is only a theater thing. I guess actors act better in their native language, but I may be wrong. They where shooting "The Red Baron" in English, than the same actors overdubbed them selves in German. Did anyone saw that? How did you like them acting in English? My lead actor gonna be the same one,as in Red Baron.

Frank
 
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