Swing Girls (and a boy)

pete08757 wrote:Oops, I thought all you guys lived in Hawaii

I wish.

Or better yet, Japan. :mrgreen:

EDIT: BTW, I finished ripping my DVD last night... I should have the torrent for you when I get home tonight. :)

bmwracer: I got your message and started downloading just now, thanks.

Download completed and I'm burning the DVD now, thank you very much. My teacher says I should try to listen to as much Japanese dialog as possible and this will give me plenty of material. Thanks again.

pete08757 wrote:Download completed and I'm burning the DVD now, thank you very much. My teacher says I should try to listen to as much Japanese dialog as possible and this will give me plenty of material. Thanks again.

Glad to help... You guys should check out Nodame Cantabile as well... The acting and musical performances are terrific. :victory:

bmwracer wrote:
Glad to help... You guys should check out Nodame Cantabile as well... The acting and musical performances are terrific. :victory:

although Nodame's speaking manner might not be the best example for learning the language : P nor Stresemann's :hehe:

but yeah.. the show's great

po0t wrote:
although Nodame's speaking manner might not be the best example for learning the language : P nor Stresemann's :hehe:

Pfft, Stresemann-Japanese is perfectly valid. Japanese people sometimes understand more than half of what you're trying to say; s'pretty neat! :metaldevil:

I viewed the Making Of video and it was very interesting and it answered many of the questions I still had about the SG movie. It was quite detailed, for example I didn't know that the shots from inside of Tomoko's house was from inside a real home and not some set. I guess the dialog explains why they selected that one house. I still would like to know if they practiced between the 2 shoots, they must have to sound as good as they did in the final bit. Anyhow thanks for seeding it for me. I can now better understand dabigkahuna's translation postings.

As to learning Japanese by listening I agree that some folks can be hard to understand. (I'm at the stage where I can catch maybe 1 out of 40 words, a real beginner) I did discover a Japanese singer named Okamura Takako (I can never tell if that is 1st name/last name or the opposite). Anyhow she sings so clearly that it almost sounds like she is reading from a hiragana chart. She has a very pretty voice too. I'm going to attempt to translate (with the help of an online hiragaga keyboard and Google translate) one of her songs.

pete08757 wrote:
As to learning Japanese by listening I agree that some folks can be hard to understand. (I'm at the stage where I can catch maybe 1 out of 40 words, a real beginner) I did discover a Japanese singer named Okamura Takako (I can never tell if that is 1st name/last name or the opposite). Anyhow she sings so clearly that it almost sounds like she is reading from a hiragana chart. She has a very pretty voice too. I'm going to attempt to translate (with the help of an online hiragaga keyboard and Google translate) one of her songs.

Her first name is Takako (more info here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takako_Okamura)

Just a quick heads up, anytime you see "ko" in a name its probably a womans first name, "Yoko", "Tomoko", Atsuko", "Noriko" etc. Kanji = Žq. Also, if you see "ro" in the ending of a name, "Ichiro", "Taro", "Jiro" its a mans name. Kanji = ˜Y.
And I know what you mean about being able to understand some people better than others. Almost from day one I could understand anything Akiko (there's that "ko" again) Yada said. I don't know if its the pitch of her voice or what, but she comes across clear as a bell for me. :headscratch:

Takeshi Kitano on the other hand, I can't understand a word that guy says!! :shakehead:

gaijinmark, thanks for the heads up on first names, that was something I wasn't aware of. Goes to show 'ya, my teacher's first name is Kumiko.

I'm just starting to learn Japanese and sometime I feel like I'm attempting to climb Mt. Everest. When I make some progress I can look back down and see the 10 feet I just climbed but then I turn around and see this BIG mountain in front of me. It's fun anyhow. Each time I view Swing Girls I can catch a new word and add it to my list and I like to spring them on my teacher. I can't tell is she is amused or not.

pete08757 wrote:I can't tell is she is amused or not.

Heh. :)

This is really going slow. Only done about 14 minutes so far. Have to copy and paste each thing. Copy and paste a prior time stamp and then edit it to the new stuff. If the statement is long (which is getting more and more common), I have to cut it up and calculate the time divisions (more copy/paste and editing of the time). Oh, and sometimes edit the text either because of an error (example, "Take the A Train" was translated something like, "Get on the A Train"!) or to make it fit better on screen. After moving a bit of stuff, load it into the movie and play that section, seeing if it comes out decent.

Like I said, I'm not being real picky here - no effort to tell when sentences start. However, I do feel I need to make corrections when the beginning of a person's statement doesn't match when the words appear on screen.

Maybe I'm missing something, but as I watch closed captioning on movies, I'm amazed at how they do it - especially when the text appears before the person starts speaking! Maybe there is a reason for it, but it seems completely wrong to me.

So as I watch the video for a given section, I'm also going back and making adjustments to the timing. And sometimes things are just messed up and I have to find the problem in the file.

Anyway, the process is tedious and gets boring real fast. On the bright side, this is the longest "making of" video so if I ever get the next one, it should be easier.

I must say I'm really impressed with your tenacity with this translation/subtitle project. The folks who do this on a regular basis for movies like SG must have some pricey equipment and software, so for you to do this with out such equipment/software is impressive. I for one am following your progress reports and am looking forward (hopefully) to seeing your results some day. Nice job.

You mention the translation issue with Take The A Train. I thought of that this AM when the news reported delays on the A train due to track work. I guess they had the same issues in the 1930s and 40s. Normally it's the quickest way to Harlem.

I'm sure that everyone who takes part in this forum has already seen and discussed this but I just saw the movie Linda Linda Linda for the 1st time. SG is very similar to LLL but in my view SG is a much better movie. The ending is not as impressive as the SG's ending either but when that young lady belts out the song Linda Linda Linda it is exciting to watch. I believe LLL was a few years ahead of SG.

I want the subtitles in my own copy anyway so I'll spend whatever time it takes.

Up to 25 minutes now - which is almost as long as the entire first "making of" video. But this one is much longer.

I'm also finding that it is a lot easier to do if someone talks for a long time rather than constantly changing from one speaker to another and there has been more of that lately. Every time a new person speaks, I need to make sure the subtitles start properly. But with a longer speech, I still just have to get the beginning timed right. I just paste in the text and but periodic breaks in it, then insert the time stamp for each. Doesn't matter if each of the partss matches exactly when a given sentence begins so I can do more, faster. Which is not to say it is actually FAST!

dabigkahuna wrote:This is really going slow. Only done about 14 minutes so far. Have to copy and paste each thing. Copy and paste a prior time stamp and then edit it to the new stuff. If the statement is long (which is getting more and more common), I have to cut it up and calculate the time divisions (more copy/paste and editing of the time). Oh, and sometimes edit the text either because of an error (example, "Take the A Train" was translated something like, "Get on the A Train"!) or to make it fit better on screen. After moving a bit of stuff, load it into the movie and play that section, seeing if it comes out decent.

Like I said, I'm not being real picky here - no effort to tell when sentences start. However, I do feel I need to make corrections when the beginning of a person's statement doesn't match when the words appear on screen.

Maybe I'm missing something, but as I watch closed captioning on movies, I'm amazed at how they do it - especially when the text appears before the person starts speaking! Maybe there is a reason for it, but it seems completely wrong to me.

So as I watch the video for a given section, I'm also going back and making adjustments to the timing. And sometimes things are just messed up and I have to find the problem in the file.

Anyway, the process is tedious and gets boring real fast. On the bright side, this is the longest "making of" video so if I ever get the next one, it should be easier.

and here i am thinking that i want to get into this sort of thing.. learning the language comes first.

what always gets me.. is a lot of the times, when you compare fansubbed work to the official stuff that you pay for(and that people actually get paid for), the fansub stuff tends to be better/more thorough.. and that just ain't right

po0t wrote:

and here i am thinking that i want to get into this sort of thing.. learning the language comes first.

what always gets me.. is a lot of the times, when you compare fansubbed work to the official stuff that you pay for(and that people actually get paid for), the fansub stuff tends to be better/more thorough.. and that just ain't right

I could probably automate some of this with Applescript, but haven't gotten around to figuring it out. Essentially I would want to have a script that would activate and save the latest version, switch to the video and load it in and, ideally, adjust the position in the movie by 15 seconds backwards. Right now it is really sensitive to rewinding, jumping back or forward too much no matter how briefly I use the rewind button.

My translator said something about (based on a friend of hers who does these things) keeping things short on purpose. I assume the logic is that when someone is watching a movie, especially in a situation (movie theater) where you will only see it once, you don't want them focusing all the time on text and not watching the acting. But I want the information to be complete!

dabigkahuna wrote:Just noticed something in the movie.

On my copy it is 1:40:08 from the beginning and 4:05 from the end. It occurs during the last song on the concert when the keyboard player, during his solo, looks over at Juri and the camera switches to her and she smiles back.

You have a good shot of the sax mouthpiece and reed. What caught my eye was that the tip of the read is cut straight across rather than having a slightly curved tip.

I've never seen a reed like that so I'm thinking they did that they did it so she couldn't accidently make a sound while trying to make it look like she was playing.

I can't tell if it lines up with the tip of the mouthpice or is cut below the mouthpice tip (if my theory is correct, it is below the tip). Also, looking at it, the reed tip looks kinda rough from cutting instead of a really clean edge. So that also supports my theory.

If the reed is cut enough below the tip, you can blow air, but the reed won't vibrate, thus no sound. That would allow her to "fake it" while still pushing air and that would probably look more realistic in the facial muscles used compared to not pushing air.

I had previously thought that they probably actually played while a recording of their own also played (to keep them together for later dubbing themselves). Now I'm thinking maybe they didn't make a sound on that filming, but still dubbed themselves.

BTW, when James Stewart played the lead in "The Glen Miller Story", he kept trying to play and wasn't any good! So the put a plug in the mouthpiece so he couldn't make a sound!

with regards to this tidbit... i remember going through the making of vids, and where it looked like they were getting set to do the final stage concert scene, it looked as if juri was prepping the reed(getting it wet/moist).. which wouldn't be necessary if they were just faking it. just remembered this.. can't remember where in the making of vids i saw this

dabigkahuna wrote:

I could probably automate some of this with Applescript, but haven't gotten around to figuring it out. Essentially I would want to have a script that would activate and save the latest version, switch to the video and load it in and, ideally, adjust the position in the movie by 15 seconds backwards. Right now it is really sensitive to rewinding, jumping back or forward too much no matter how briefly I use the rewind button.

My translator said something about (based on a friend of hers who does these things) keeping things short on purpose. I assume the logic is that when someone is watching a movie, especially in a situation (movie theater) where you will only see it once, you don't want them focusing all the time on text and not watching the acting. But I want the information to be complete!

VLC's got a lot of useful hotkeys.. CTRL+T to jump to specific time; alt+left/right arrows - jump forward back 10 secs; E - frame advance

are you still using a text editor for the subs? i used Subtitle Workshop 4.. which was absolutely necessary since i was having to bump entire sections of subtitles forward or back a few seconds.. maybe not so necessary when you're building up from scratch. not sure of its other features

po0t wrote:

with regards to this tidbit... i remember going through the making of vids, and where it looked like they were getting set to do the final stage concert scene, it looked as if juri was prepping the reed(getting it wet/moist).. which wouldn't be necessary if they were just faking it. just remembered this.. can't remember where in the making of vids i saw this

I'll try to find it - eventually! but the reed is definitely cut there where it isn't in other scenes. It could be that they only wanted to eliminate the sound in a particular part of the scene. Hard to tell with movies since sometimes things aren't filmed in order of events.

po0t wrote:

VLC's got a lot of useful hotkeys.. CTRL+T to jump to specific time; alt+left/right arrows - jump forward back 10 secs; E - frame advance

are you still using a text editor for the subs? i used Subtitle Workshop 4.. which was absolutely necessary since i was having to bump entire sections of subtitles forward or back a few seconds.. maybe not so necessary when you're building up from scratch. not sure of its other features

Oh, cool! Just checked the jump thing and it works on my Mac (command-option- arrow). That alone will be a huge help since the rewind would often jump me a minute or more further back than I wanted!

Still using a text editor, but what you have will be useful in converting the timings of my file (all three movies put into one longer one) and still make it work on separate copies.

Does your program just change it when copying the .srt file into the movie (like the offset that Handbrake has), or does it actually change the text file itself, before you load it in?

dabigkahuna wrote:

Oh, cool! Just checked the jump thing and it works on my Mac (command-option- arrow). That alone will be a huge help since the rewind would often jump me a minute or more further back than I wanted!

Still using a text editor, but what you have will be useful in converting the timings of my file (all three movies put into one longer one) and still make it work on separate copies.

Does your program just change it when copying the .srt file into the movie (like the offset that Handbrake has), or does it actually change the text file itself, before you load it in?

it adjusts all the timings in the srt file.. pretty nifty. pretty sure it's free too
http://www.urusoft.net/downloads.php
i used BETA 4.. no probs at the time