The Unsung History of Great Voice Acting

By

掃碼聽讀

Mel Blanc paved the way for voice acting as a true art, though it’s a skill that often goes unrecognized when praise is heaped on movies and TV.

2Since the creation of animated motion pictures, the use of actors supplying voices has been invaluable. Behind every famous cartoon character’s personality is the actor standing in the recording booth and stretching their manner of speaking in unrecognizable1unrecognizable（變化太大而）認(rèn)不出來的。ways, all for the sake of entertainment.For some of these performers, the voices they’ve provided have far surpassed them as people in both recognizability and adoration.

3When looking at voice acting from the outside, it seems relatively simple when compared to the art of acting on screen. However, like any type of acting, there are those who understand how to bring the most out of their character vocally, and those who do not.These skills have perhaps never been as exceptionally put on display as they have with veteran Looney Tunes voice actor, Mel Blanc.

梅爾·布蘭克為配音成為一門真正的藝術(shù)鋪平了道路，盡管當(dāng)影視作品備受贊譽(yù)時(shí)，這門技藝往往未能得到認(rèn)可。

2自動(dòng)畫電影誕生以來，配音演員的作用不可估量。每個(gè)著名的卡通人物背后都有一個(gè)站在錄音棚里的演員，他們把說話方式演繹到極致，發(fā)出的很多聲音都與本音相差甚遠(yuǎn)，而這一切都是為了娛樂觀眾。對(duì)于其中一些表演者而言，他們的配音在辨識(shí)度和人氣度方面都遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過了他們本人。

3表面上看，與銀幕上的表演藝術(shù)相比，配音表演似乎相對(duì)簡(jiǎn)單。然而，就像任何類型的表演一樣，有的演員懂得用配音將人物詮釋得惟妙惟肖，有的則不然。《樂一通》資深配音演員梅爾·布蘭克在這部動(dòng)畫中展現(xiàn)了超凡的配音技藝，成就空前。

The Man of 1,000 Voices

4For over 60 years, Mel Blanc’s voice was heard by the world either on radio,or in the massively popular series of animated shorts,The Looney Tunes. Right up until his death in 1989, Mel was happily voicing nearly every single majorLooney Tunescharacter (except for Elmer Fudd, up until the original voice actor Arthur Q. Bryan died, after which Blanc took over the role) and became the all-too rare example of a voice actor being famously recognized for his work.Never before had his kind of vocal range been seen in animated pictures, and arguably never has been since.

5Being labeled as “The Man of 1,000 Voices, ” Mel Blanc became legendary among voice actors as a grandfather figure of sorts, inspiring a new generation to take up the craft and help to entertain people for years to come.

Big hitters of the VO booth

6After Mel Blanc’s wildly notable career, there have been numerous successful and beloved voice actors to follow suit. Those of which have provided their voice to so many projects that astute fans can point them out once they hear them, or in some cases, be thrilled to learn a character was voiced by someone they know, yet didn’t recognize when hearing.

一人千聲

460 多年來，梅爾·布蘭克的聲音或通過廣播電臺(tái)，或通過大受歡迎的動(dòng)畫系列短片《樂一通》讓全世界聽到。直到1989 年去世，梅爾都在欣然地為幾乎每一個(gè)《樂一通》的主角配音（除了愛發(fā)先生，在原配音演員亞瑟·Q.布賴恩去世之后，布蘭克才接手了這個(gè)角色），并且極其罕見地成為作品備受認(rèn)可的配音演員。在動(dòng)畫電影配音界中，他的音域可謂前無古人，后無來者。

5梅爾·布蘭克有了“一人千聲”的名號(hào)，成為配音演員中的傳奇，是配音行業(yè)祖師爺級(jí)別的人物，激勵(lì)著新生代加入這個(gè)行當(dāng)，在未來的若干年里給人們帶去歡樂。

配音室里的大人物

6梅爾·布蘭克功成名就之后，還有很多配音演員像他一樣獲得成功且受人喜愛。他們給太多影視角色配過音，以至于機(jī)敏的粉絲一聽到他們的聲音就能辨認(rèn)出來；有時(shí)，粉絲自己聽的時(shí)候沒能認(rèn)出來，但在得知這個(gè)角色是由自己所知的演員配音時(shí)，便激動(dòng)不已。

7Popular animated sitcoms owe much of their identity to their voice cast, who not only bring the characters their own unique inflections2inflection 語調(diào)的抑揚(yáng)變化。and sounds, but who can do so naturally and with standout tonalities3tonality（音樂）調(diào)性。. From Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh, Tigger) to John Dimaggio(Bender, Jake the Dog), there’s an inimitable charm to getting just the right voice for the job.

Dangers of the job

8Western animation isn’t the only kind that can prove difficult to record for the voice actors. Outside of having to match up timing when dubbing a project that was originally recorded in another language, some actors have the straining, and sometimes dangerous, task of emulating a very intense moment through screaming as hard as they can.A popular example of when the job can go south4go south 變壞，變?cè)愀?。is when fan-favorite Dragon Ball Z5東映動(dòng)畫制作的“龍珠系列”第二部動(dòng)畫TV，改編自著名漫畫家鳥山明的同名漫畫《龍珠》。voice actor Sean Schemmel fainted in the recording booth while performing a scream during his character’s transformation. Schemmel described the moment at the 2012 London Film & Comic-Con:

7流行動(dòng)畫情景喜劇的特性在很大程度上是其配音演員創(chuàng)造的，他們不僅賦予了角色獨(dú)特的語調(diào)和聲音，且十分自然、音色突出。從吉姆·卡明斯（小熊維尼、跳跳虎）到約翰·迪馬喬（班德、狗狗杰克），為角色配出恰到好處的聲音有一種無與倫比的魅力。

配音工作危險(xiǎn)重重

8對(duì)于配音演員而言，為西方動(dòng)畫錄制配音并非是唯一一類困難的任務(wù)。在為原本是以另一種語言錄制而成的節(jié)目配音時(shí)，除了要掌握配音節(jié)奏之外，一些演員還需要通過全力吶喊來再現(xiàn)某個(gè)非常緊張的時(shí)刻，這很耗費(fèi)體力，有時(shí)還會(huì)有危險(xiǎn)。這項(xiàng)工作可能出現(xiàn)狀況，其中一個(gè)家喻戶曉的案例就是，深受粉絲喜愛的《龍珠Z》配音演員肖恩·謝梅爾在為動(dòng)畫角色變身過程中的吶喊配音時(shí)暈倒在錄音棚里。謝梅爾在2012 年倫敦電影動(dòng)漫展上描述了這一時(shí)刻：

... it was during the Super Saiyan 4 transformation and I was really tired ...and I had been working, not sleeping well. And I miscalculated the amount of air you need for a Kamehameha6漫畫《龍珠》中的攻擊型技能，又稱“神龜沖擊波”，在施展時(shí)需要吶喊聚氣。, I think—or maybe it was a power up—and I made the voice lower. So, if you get lower when you’re acting, the aperture of your vocal cords gets wider, and I just totally miscalculated.

9Through all the sore throats and damaged vocal cords, the animated characters we all love wouldn’t be where they are in the public eye without those who put a voice to them. From Blanc’s groundbreaking techniques and range, to the modern era of esteemed and talented up-and-coming voice actors making a name for themselves7make a name for oneself 揚(yáng)名，成名。,it’s clear to see what separates the good from the great, as long as they manage to stay conscious.

……那是在超級(jí)賽亞人4的變身過程中，當(dāng)時(shí)我真的筋疲力盡……而且之前我一直不停工作，沒睡好覺。我想我估算錯(cuò)了施展龜派氣功波時(shí)所需的肺活量，也許要聚氣提升力量，而我把聲音發(fā)低了。所以，如果表演時(shí)聲量變低，聲帶會(huì)變寬，我完全估算錯(cuò)了。

9配音演員有過各種喉嚨疼痛和聲帶受損的經(jīng)歷，如果沒有這些賦予角色聲音的演員，我們喜愛的動(dòng)畫人物便無法在公眾眼中這么受歡迎。從布蘭克開創(chuàng)性的口技和音域，到如今受人尊敬、才華橫溢的新晉配音演員揚(yáng)名立萬的時(shí)代，只要他們努力保持清醒，就能讓人清晰地看到優(yōu)秀與偉大之間的區(qū)別。