How would you make a video game into a movie?

[Mirai Gen]

That kinda matches DoA but it was too many wires to be believable.

If DOA wasn't so-bad-its-horrible it was actually heading in the right direction. Hey, everyone's on this island in the fighting tournament, but there's a super secret something else happening too! Throw in a blatant reference to Itigaki in there and you're gold.

The problem was they layered on so much goddamn cheese it was just painful.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by CelesJessa

As far as the voice actors translating to live actors - maybe if they don't translate well, and you can't find a damn close replacement, maybe you could have them do voice over for the actor playing the role. Do some realistic lip syncing.

That- There-

CJ, there are so many things wrong with that. I know they used to do it a lot in the classics when people couldn't sing worth beans, but the real singer was always another Hollywood star they probably pulled from the next building over for a minute to record. There's a difference between voicing a role and essentially having your voice torn out for a role Little Mermaid-style. Remember Powerhouse Rock? I mean, sure, they'd get paid for it, but it really wouldn't be fair to anyone, since you'd be depriving the face actors of their voices and the voice actors of their dignity in making them hide in the shadow of another real person who's probably a lot more rich and famous than they are. If you CGed the movie, it would be different, but voicing an entire live-action role just strikes me as degrading to everyone involved.

(Obviously, I can't really speak for anyone, but I'm sure at least some portion of the acting occupation would agree, and I can't help but think the decision would get heavily mixed reactions.)

Originally Posted by Jagos

Once you're typecast as a VA, it's harder to find other work. Think about the voice of Piccolo for anime or even the Scout (Nathan Vetterlein) for games. Granted, there's always gonna be a Mustafa among them. It just gets harder once everyone knows your voice for a certain role.

That's actually what I think the draw would be, in that you'd get the same voice FOR the role, provided they fit the part or could be dressed up to do so (Hollywood has makeup, after all). So long as people would accept them in the role, I really see no problem if they don't. It would also mean the cast was already familiar with the story and characters, which is a plus, as I listed, and with those motivations and personalities already known by people on board, you'd become aware of things that didn't mesh well right away.

[CelesJessa]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

That- There-

CJ, there are so many things wrong with that. I know they used to do it a lot in the classics when people couldn't sing worth beans, but the real singer was always another Hollywood star they probably pulled from the next building over for a minute to record. There's a difference between voicing a role and essentially having your voice torn out for a role Little Mermaid-style. Remember Powerhouse Rock? I mean, sure, they'd get paid for it, but it really wouldn't be fair to anyone, since you'd be depriving the face actors of their voices and the voice actors of their dignity in making them hide in the shadow of another real person who's probably a lot more rich and famous than they are. If you CGed the movie, it would be different, but voicing an entire live-action role just strikes me as degrading to everyone involved.

(Obviously, I can't really speak for anyone, but I'm sure at least some portion of the acting occupation would agree, and I can't help but think the decision would get heavily mixed reactions.)

Uh. What? How is it any different from what they do regularly? And it's not making them hide in the shadows because they're some hideously deformed person, it's just because they don't look like the character. Like if it was a little boy who was voiced by a woman in the game, cast a little boy and have the woman do the voice over. I don't get how it's any more degrading than being completely replaced by an actor voice and all? If I was a voice actor and they were making a movie with my character in it, I would rather have some part in the character than none at all.

And no, I don't remember Powerhouse Rock, I never saw it.

Besides, I was just talking hypothetically geesh. Sorry I said anything.

[Mirai Gen]

Blues, sometimes you have a character who has the right voice but not the right look, or vice versa. It isn't common, but it happens, and there's nothing wrong with it.

[bluestarultor]

I'm just going to throw a big "meh" and say that now that I'm more awake, no, it doesn't seem as bad as I initially thought. On the other hand, I have yet to think of any movie where an actor's voice was totally replaced by another person's, and it still strikes me that most actors wouldn't want theirs to be.

Actually, that's a lie, because the dude in the gold underpants from Rocky Horror Picture Show didn't have a single line where he used his own voice, and I'm pretty sure he outright said later that he wasn't happy about it, among other things (like how he felt doing the movie ruined his entire career).

Still, yeah, if the voice actors would be able to work with so little leeway on the lip synch (in most cases, the mouths are either cartoony enough to be forgiving or in higher-budget productions are actually changed to fit their sound bits whenever possible), and it wouldn't come off as completely silly, I guess a case could be made for it. The VA community can always use more work. I just really don't see it happening that way under any kind of budget.




CJ: Powerhouse Rock was a song done by an artist who wasn't "marketable," so they took her performance and had a model lip synch her music video. Needless to say she was quite pissed about it and I think she may have sued. It was back in the 80s.

[Osterbaum]

Blues, sometimes you have a character who has the right voice but not the right look, or vice versa. It isn't common, but it happens, and there's nothing wrong with it.

The voice is a big part of the actors performance. I am strictly against all kinds of voice overs, that includes dubs of 'foreign language films'. But that's just me.

[Lumenskir]

On the other hand, I have yet to think of any movie where an actor's voice was totally replaced by another person's, and it still strikes me that most actors wouldn't want theirs to be.

Star Wars, with James Earl Jones's voice replacing the Austrian bodybuilder guy stuck inside Vader's suit. Of course, he also was under the impression that his voice would appear on film, and I remember an interview with Carrie Fisher where she admitted that the rest of the cast and crew sort of pitied him for thinking his heavily accented speech would make the cut.

But other than that (and, I guess, the plot of Singing in the Rain) I personally can't think of any other case. It just adds another layer of complexity (what with having to ADR every scene with the character(s)) that probably isn't worth the money and time while making the movie.

[Mirai Gen]

CJ: Powerhouse Rock was a song done by an artist who wasn't "marketable," so they took her performance and had a model lip synch her music video. Needless to say she was quite pissed about it and I think she may have sued. It was back in the 80s.

I think you might be referring to Gonna Make You Sweat, as the woman who did the ever-famous "Everybody dance now" was actually like 300 lbs.

She did sue, and she won too.

I have yet to think of any movie where an actor's voice was totally replaced by another person's

That's because its expensive. Nobody does it because you're hiring two actors to play one role. Especially considering the focus Hollywood these days has been placing on big-name actors; you get a thousand times more moviegoers the minute you put Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt into a movie.

CJ was just saying hey, you know, if we're hoping for game-to-movie accuracy, lets get some dubs up in.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Mirai Gen

I think you might be referring to Gonna Make You Sweat, as the woman who did the ever-famous "Everybody dance now" was actually like 300 lbs.

She did sue, and she won too.

Apparently. Now I just have to figure out where the hell I got "Powerhouse Rock" from.

[Archbio]

Star Wars, with James Earl Jones's voice replacing the Austrian bodybuilder guy stuck inside Vader's suit. Of course, he also was under the impression that his voice would appear on film, and I remember an interview with Carrie Fisher where she admitted that the rest of the cast and crew sort of pitied him for thinking his heavily accented speech would make the cut.

David Prowse is English, so you might be remembering the accent thing wrong as well.

Late Breaking Edit!

From the Wikipedia article on Prowse, which I won't even bother linking this time:

In the 2004 documentary, Empire of Dreams, actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia Organa in the original trilogy films, quipped that they nicknamed Prowse "Darth Farmer" because of his un-intimidating West Country accent.