Postrecordings

Yesterday, we used the whole afternoon for choosing the songs to be used in the film. No matter how great the work is in itself, if it does not fit the film, the situation of the scene, the tone of the image, the rhythm of the editing etc., the two will ruin each other. Although I cannot describe it with only a few words, the relationship between images and sound is woven together with extremely delicate senses. For that very reason, when the two come together at the ideal point, a mutual effect excelling what was imagined is created. So for that reason, we also put in a tremendous amount of energy into the selection of music.

The day before yesterday, Lee Tae Sung, and yesterday, Lee Suk Yeon came to Japan. They had come to participate in today’s postrecording session. Postrecording is the process of re-recording some sounds for certain scenes when we want a clearer sound – like when it was not possible to cut off the unwanted sound at the location site (such as the chirring of cicadas) or for use in monologues or recitation of letters.

Lee Tae Sung and Seo Jae Kyeong were both experts. They immediately recalled the subtle nuance of the scenes, and recreated the lines at one try.

Now, Marky was another matter. Obviously, this was going to be her first postrecording because she was new to the world of acting.

But frankly, she surprised us.Though she struggled on her first try to get the feeling of postrecordings, that was the only time she needed direct coaching. In a matter of two hours, she mastered even the most difficult scenes in just a few rehearsals, and was able to complete them keeping time with Lee Tae Sung. Marky just turned a year older on the 23rd. She is such a promising actress.
Through the process of recording lines and monologues, I was strongly provoked to think about the difference of the two languages. Although Japanese and Korean have many things in common such as grammar and vocabulary, I became more aware of the cultural differences behind the pronunciation. More than anything, there is a definite difference in the speed of conversations.

If we were to create a dialogue of the same length, conversations in Korean would carry the story one and a half times faster than that in Japanese.
For example, suppose there is a scene which lasts for a minute. If we were to insert a Japanese dialogue in the scene, it would be typical for it to contain approximately 800 letters worth of information.

However, if this was in Korean, it would be normal to have 1.5 times as much in content.
In other words, a line that takes “3.5 seconds” to say with feeling at normal speed in Japanese, the same nuance could be easily delivered in “2 seconds” in Korean.

If an actor was to take more time saying it, I was told that it would only sound like he was trying to say it in slow motion. Moreover, the nuance itself would become different.
This is probably true for people of any race, but people who speak rapidly and people who speak slowly are different in character. Plus, because people speak in various speeds according to situations and emotions, the speed of a conversation is a crucial matter.

Each language possesses a unique speed – that alone makes us realize the difference among cultures.
The difficulties of a multi-cultural collaboration ….. who would have thought that we would encounter it in such a situation.

(originally posted in Japanese on August 31.2006)