tylergfoster

I am trying to watch 8 1/2 for the first time, I have the Criterion DVD, and the dialogue oftentimes does not look like it is coming out of the people's mouths. This is driving me crazy because I don't know if it's wrong or not. Can someone please fill me in? I have heard that some languages tend to not visually "synch", but I just want to know if this is correct or not, because occasionally it does synch up, which makes it more confusing for when it doesn't.

Thanks.

pro-bassoonist

There is a multitude of languages being used and yes some of the actors were dubbed (common practice for Italian cinema at the time).

Relax, enjoy,

Pro-B

tylergfoster

Thanks!

obscurelabel

I haven't seen the number of foreign language films that some others have but 8½ seems to be an extreme example of the dubbing not matching up with the actor's mouth movements. Not just different languages ... Mastroianni is acting his part Italian, and dubbing his own voice, and some of his scenes are the worst of all. I've read somewhere that Fellini had the actors speak lines that he knew he would change in dubbing later.

This same issue crops up in several of Orson Welles's movies. Confidential Report in particular has a number of scenes in different versions where the dialog doesn't match up at all with the actor's lip movements.

Spiral Staircase

Post-syncing is very common even for the actors speaking in Italian for Italian films of the period. The commentary for 8 1/2 addresses some of the dubbing and syncing issues.

Josh Z

As stated by others, it was common practice in Italian cinema at the time to have actors on camera speaking several different languages which would be dubbed later.

In addition to that, Fellini was notorious for not writing the dialogue to his scenes until post production. He'd often have the actors speak nonsense words just to get their lips moving, and then figure out what to have them say later.

Fellini had no on-set audio recording. He liked to yell direction at his actors while the cameras were rolling.

vherub

It's interesting we tend to cut these directors slack for a technique that today would have critics and moviegoers in an uproar over.

mike7162

I think it's generally accepted that this was the way things were done in Italy, and is simply an element of cinema of that time period. Besides, I'll take Fellini and a few synch issues over Michael Bay in 5.1 DTS any day of the week!

renaldow

This isn't something that was just done in the past, this is still kind of the norm for a lot of Italian films. If you're a fan of horror movies, you'll be hardpressed to find an Italian horror that doesn't have this similar dubbing. Actors speak in their native tongue, and then everything is redubbed. This also shows up in a lot of spaghetti westerns. It has more to do with how international the cast is, than being an outdated technique or style.

inri222

siegfried

wow, I don't know how to respond to this ignorant comment.