The Language of Film: da Prospero’s Books all’Ultima tempesta.

1. The Language of Film: da Prospero’s Books all’Ultima tempesta. Christopher Taylor Università degli studi di Trieste

2. What is cinema? (Cinema is) “telling stories through the projection of moving images” (Paul & Wells cinema patent, 1895)

3. Visual Grammar For the first time, pictures succeeded one another, creating patterns of occurrence and repetition that resembled the linear flow of speech. The innovation that cinema provided is to be seen in this visual grammar (Kress & van Leeuwen), allied to the verbal grammar.

4. Verbal and Visual Grammar Both these channels have their lexicogrammar: the verbal channel has its words and syntax; the figurative channel has its lexical units in the images of characters and objects and its grammar in the organisation of the images;

5. Features of transmitted language (i.e. produced by technical sound reproduction): • 1. No shared context of senders and receivers • 2. Unidirectionality of the communicative act (absence of feedback) • 3. Multiplicity of senders (collective message production) • 4. Heterogeneity of receivers (mass destination of message) • 5. Distance between the time of text preparation, the time of its execution and that of its reception • 6. Simulation of spontaneous speech • 7. Presence of technical apparatus for the preparation and transmission of the message.

6. APS The flow of images is created by film directors, cameramen, set designers, etc. in the construction of an artificial situation. Similarly the language (and grammar) of film is a scripted construct created by writers, altered by directors and actors, in the creation of an “artificially produced situation” (APS)

7. Silent Films The early silent films were not actually wordless; ‘intertitles’ were used, firstly on placards and later inserted into the film itself. Often they were, by today’s standards, farcically artificial.

8. Intertitles: ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ 1927 Phineas outwits the slave traders Eliza escapes across the river on floating ice Rocky Pass. Reunion of Eliza and Geo. Harris Moonlight bathing the old Kentucky home in radiance – romance in the winged and perfumed breezes of the night

10. Talkies But with the talkies, the level of artificiality did not drop. Film language remained theatrically influenced.

12. The Big Trail 1930 • A silent film slowly being adapted to sound. • Along the way the actors were allowed to leave the stilted, theatre-like acting; • Marguerite Churchill very much looks like a typical early silent movie heroine at the beginning of the film, but at the end is allowed finer expressions. • BUT …

13. John Wayne • "No great trail was ever blazed without hardship...and you gotta fight! That's life..and when you stop fightin', that's death."

14. Who writes a film? A film is a team effort, with a consequent downplaying of its paternity. The ‘authors’ of a film (and its translated version) consist of: screenplay writers, directors, cameramen, editors, actors, translator/adaptors, dubbing directors, dubbing actors, subtitlers, producers... … and of course, in this case, Shakespeare.

15. An open text It is an open text: written to be acted and synchronised with the visual. A film lacks a single text of reference (unlike theatre and radio discourse), in that various transpositions succeed one another (subject, script, dialogue list, transcription)

16. Written text components • There is a co-existence of written language features (no hesitation, repetition, self-correction, unarticulated sounds, overlapping speech, etc.) and spoken discourse (eg. recourse to para and extralinguistic elements).

18. Translation process • Subject • treatment • screenplay • script [written dialogues] • Spoken dialogue • Continuity script (transcription and postsynchronization) • Translation • adaptation • dubbing • mixage • translated spoken dialogue • subtitles

21. Il doppiaggio Che cosa fa esattamente l’adattatore-dialoghista e in che cosa il suo lavoro differisce da quello di un traduttore letterario (o scientifico)?

22. “A complex semiotic event” Il film è un sistema semiotico complesso, costituito da un codice visivo, uno sonoro e uno verbale; l’elemento verbale è quindi un elemento strutturale e la sua comprensione è essenziale alla comunicazione. (Paolinelli & Di Fortunato, 2005)

23. Il linguaggio filmico è un linguaggio complesso Il significato nasce dall’unione della parola con il gesto, e ogni parola assume significato dal contesto generale e dal corpus culturale espresso dall’intero film… … il rapporto dialettico tra parole ed immagini.

24. ‘alchimista di immaginari diversi’ Il doppiaggio si pone come strumento per: il superamento delle diversità lingistiche; il superamento delle diversità culturali; la ricostruzione del mondo espresso e descritto dal film in un mondo equivalente;

25. Il dialoghista come primo spettatore • Il terreno in cui si muove la traduzione filmica è quello della percezione, lo spazio che sta tra l’oggetto e il suo fruitore.

26. Come parlerebbe quel tale personaggio in quella situazione, se parlasse la mia lingua? • Bisogna calarsi nel linguaggio del film, capire qual è la ‘lingua’ del film. • Le battute da tradurre sono state già recitate. A differenza che in un testo teatrale, il dialoghista dovrà tener conto della lunghezza della battuta, dell’espressione dell’attore sullo schermo, dei movimenti di tutto il suo corpo.

27. Lip sychronisation Combining audio and video recording in such a way that the sound is perfectly synchronized with the action that produced it; especially synchronizing the movements of a speaker's lips with the sound of his speech.

28. Lip synchronisation 2 • Lip synching can be a very difficult issue in translating foreign works to a domestic release, as a simple translation of the lines often leaves overrun or underrun of dialog to mouth movements.

29. Lip sychronisation 3 In modo particolare per i primi piani, tutto converge sulla parola, sulla frase che verosimilmente ‘stia’ nel movimento dell’attore, in particolare delle sue labbra. Sarà necessario aggiungere o sottrare, facendo attenzione a recuperare altrove quello che si è costretti a sacrificare.

30. Lip sychronisation 4 • An example of a lip synchronization problem is the case in which television video and audio signals have significantly different delay times, respectively. In such cases it is necessary to delay the audio electronically to allow for the difference in propagation times.

31. Problems associated with translation for dubbing • geographical place names • measurements • names of institutions • food and drink • games and entertainment • proverbial language • language varieties • plays on word • speech defects • substandard speech • overlapping speech

32. Particular problems in dubbing Shakespeare Imagery Metaphors Puns Lip synch in close-ups, monologues, etc. Gestures – audio-image synch Rhyme and metre - Cf. Koloszar (1996) on the translation into German of Henry V -

33. Particular problems in dubbing Greenaway A battle against traditional narrative; There are no reciting actors, apart from Gielgud, therefore no real dialogue; An allegory taken to the limits; The pictures and figures are evoked by the words, and are continuously formed, changed and re-formed; A multimodal text par excellence

34. Multimodal Text Semiotic modalities music theatricality dance pantomime song graphics sculpture painting drawing animation collage circus etc.

35. Prospero’s Books Greenaway (1) cut more than two thirds of the original text of The Tempest.; (2) gave Prospero 24 books instead of ONE; (3) changed some sequences; (4) divided Thirty Six plays in Thirty Five Plays and The Tempest; (5) instead of shots PB is filmed in paintings

36. Shakepeare revisited • A film can go further than the stage and show, for example, scenes in flashback or in dream sequences, etc. – scenes in Tunis. • Much use of repetition, even at a distance. • Special (digital) effects can be used, eg. – strange synthesised music, Ariel trapped in the tree, etc. • It can concentrate on individuals, highlighting dialogue sequences.

37. Translation and dubbing ‘Prospero’s Books’ Doppiaggio – Filippo Ottoni; Prospero – Gianni Musy; Narratore – Ugo Pagliai; Dialoghi – Alberto Piferi. Music – Micheal Nyman Songs (in English) – eg. Ute Lemper

38. Translation and dubbing ‘Prospero’s Books’ (cf. translation Baldini) • Boatswain!, Boatswain!, Boatswain!, Boatswain!, Boatswain!, Boatswain!, Boatswain! • Nostromo!, Nostromo!, Nostromo!, Nostromo!, Nostromo!, Nostromo!, Nostromo! • Nostromo • (repetition respected) • (gives voice to Gielgud)

39. Heigh, my hearts Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! Yare, yare. Ammaina ammaina, forza, ammaina, ammaina, muoversi, muoversi Ehi ragazzi, fate cuore! Fate cuore ragazzi, Lesti lesti. (free translation – nobody knows the original – usually!)

40. Syllables • Quality film dubbing requires translating the speech so that the number of syllables in characters' remarks is the same in both languages so that lip synching is possible (if the character's face is visible on screen).

41. Insults • A pox o’ your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog! (17 syllables) • Ti secchi la gola, maledetto cane urlante, spietato e blasfemo!(23 syllables) • Il vaiuolo ti soffochi! Cane blasfemo e insensibile, smettila d’urlare così!(28 syllables)

42. Written and read • We split, we split, we split! • Ci schiantiamo, ci schiantiamo, ci schiantiamo! • Si schianta, si schianta, si schianta!

43. Measures • furlong • acre • miglie di mare • acro • tese di mare • acro

44. Fain • ... I would fain die a dry death. • …ma io preferirei una morte asciutta • … ma mi piacerebbe di più una morte asciutta.

45. Lip synch • Prospero’s speech to Miranda does not require lip synch as he is not focussed on but when he begins.. • Canst thou remember a time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not out three years old. • Riesci a ricordare un tempo anteriore al nostro arrivo in questa grotta? Io non credo che tu possa. A quel tempo ancora non avevi compiuto i tre anni. • Puoi tu ricordarti d’un tempo innanzi a quello in cui venimmo a questa grotta? Non credo che tu possa, perché allora non avevi ancor raggiunto i tre anni.

46. variation • Me, poor man, my library was dukedom large enough. (13) • Quanto a me, povero uomo, la biblioteca mi ha educato a sufficienza.(26) • Quant’a me, meschino, la mia biblioteca era un ducato anche troppo vasto.(26)

47. greater variation • Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me with mine own library. • Sapendo che io amavo i miei libri, mi fornì dalla mia stessa biblioteca quei tomi che stimo più del mio ducato. • Sapendo che io amavo i miei libri, egli fece in modo che m’accompagnasse la mia biblioteca con tutti quei volumi il cui valore io calcolo al di sopra del mio ducato.

48. Economy of expression • Do so and after two days I will discharge thee. • Se così farai, entro due giorni io ti renderò la libertà. • Comportati a questo modo, e dopo due giorni ti rimetterò in libertà.

49. Delicate? • Four legs and two voices, a most delicate monster. • Quattro gambe e due voci, che mostro originale. • Quattro gambe e due voci, un bel mostro davvero.

50. syntax • Work not so hard … I do beseech you. • Non lavorare così tanto…ti prego. • Non vogliate faticare tanto … ve ne prego.