"Airline and TV" non-swearing ADR

[simonchase]

Hi All,

Looking for some feedback on this issue.

How often is a movie screened with the "TV alts" dubbed in? Where are movies dubbed this way screened?

As a kid I have a hazy memory of seeing movies with "You melon farmer!" instead of you-know-what. But I don't think I've seen a movie this way for years.

It strikes me as a delivery requirement on a lot of films that realistically will never get used. But correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe there's still a big market for it.

Does anyone on here actually do these dubs? I've never even attended one.

[its2loud]

The last time I did a “TV/Airline safe ADR session was probably 2 years ago. They usually just wrapped the TV safe lines into the regular ADR session for the film. I imagine they might still get done but with the streaming platforms available these days it seems like less of a need. In addition. Most of the films I’ve watched on planes are in their original formats. Airline safe versions were for the days when only one movie was shown on a flight to everyone on board. Now, travelers either watch a choice of movies on their own devices through the aircraft entertainment system or through the personal screen directly in front of them.

[Frank Kruse]

Recording replacement words during the main post is common and standard procedure normally. Usually they only want the replacement cues in a folder and that's it. Not even as a session sync to picture. Just the WAV file and the cue sheets.
I have no idea if they are *ever* used. I remember watching "Texas Buyers Club" on a flight years ago which contains full nudity and literally every second word is the F-word but they ran the original version.

The only "modification" that I personally ever noticed on a project I worked on was a shot in Cloud Atlas where Tom Hanks is on a plane which explodes mid flight. That shot was lifted out of the cut so the whole scene didn't make sense anymore. Not sure what the logic behind it is. Do people think their plane will explode if it does in the film they are watching?

These versions are usually out-sourced. I have never been asked to deliver an actual airline mix during the main post-production. I guess there's some specialised second market for this.

F

[simonchase]

That's my experience too. I shoot them, put them in a folder, and never think about them again.
I feel that the delivery requirement just sits there on the sheets, year after year, for something that rarely gets used.
I wonder for what percentage of movies they are actually made/screened. My hunch is that very few need this version.
I worked on a relatively tame movie with just a few swears and for that it made sense. You could make two or three minor tweaks and therefore screen it at all times of the day etc.
But for a film that's inherently violent or adult or whatever, it seems like an unnecessary chore for all concerned.

[TVPostSound]

I worked with an actor that was on the HBO series Deadwood.
If you ve ever seen this series you can relate.
His story:

During initial ADR, HBO wanted to also ADR clean versions of swear words.

After a couple dozen "cow suckers" in the first episode, they dropped the whole idea!! Along with deleting all the sex related shots, the series would be Swiss cheese.

[Ryan Young]

Originally Posted by simonchase

Hi All,

Looking for some feedback on this issue.

How often is a movie screened with the "TV alts" dubbed in? Where are movies dubbed this way screened?

As a kid I have a hazy memory of seeing movies with "You melon farmer!" instead of you-know-what. But I don't think I've seen a movie this way for years.

It strikes me as a delivery requirement on a lot of films that realistically will never get used. But correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe there's still a big market for it.

Does anyone on here actually do these dubs? I've never even attended one.

Hi Simon! Good to see you again.

As you know, we record these all the time on the ADR stage. I also often wondered "who actually uses these alts?!" It's done by a separate department entirely but they do often interact with the directors and the sound team who mixed the originals (reverb settings and such). For a good chunk of last year, I worked in the TV/Airline dept doing these mixes and got to know who these people are. It was a trip to mix in some of the ADR that I shot myself! Some of the major clients for the WB TV/Airline department were A&E (VICELAND), ABC (Walt Disney), Adult Swim, AMC Networks, FX Networks, Syfy, and Tuner Broadcasting.

There is a big industry for this edited content. Each purchaser/network has their own standards of what is allowed to air and what is deemed too inappropriate. Granted, networks have allowed more "bad words" to be aired, but you'd be surprised how many new "bad words" there are. There are major players who buy the rights to films for broadcast but another huge market is for airline. If I understand it correctly, whoever purchases their specific version of a title, they have a contract to air that specific version for a period of time. If they want the film after that, they do a new agreement. The networks also request an exact duration for the edits/act breaks to accommodate how much ad time they want. Each network has their own delivery specs as well.

For instance, Turner Broadcasting purchased a 121 min. version of the film 42 last year. There are editorial changes (cut out scenes that are too gory/inappropriate/add all the act breaks), visual fx to be done (painting out nudity/profanity/reduce quick flashes on the screen for possible seizures), and then the audio changes. The 121 minute version has 2 profanities which were replaced with clean ADR.

To TVPostSound's note, we would do these ADR recordings for Californication. They'd often point to the screen and say "I can't say Jesus but you can have a ***** and boobs on screen, front and center?!" Every time was a struggle but the actors made it fun! Duchovny would save up his TV ADR for the final day of every season and he'd just cluck like a chicken. Not particularly helpful, but the rest of the casts' TV ADR was fantastic. Here's a silly video they made of that process. You can see a skinny me behind the WB mobile ADR rig!
Californication ADR

Funny enough, there was a huge mistake last year where HBO Max accidentally put their TV-safe version of Birds of Prey instead of the theatrical one. This was my mix! And, MAN, was there a "spit-ton" of notes for this title!

I'll send you some more info if you'd like.

[simonchase]

Hey, great to hear from you Ryan! Nice insight. Maybe if I went to a few of these dubs I'd feel less annoyed about having to do the ADR! As you say, some actors really resent it. I don't really mind it myself, it's a bit of fun. I just don't like having to be the bad cop insisting it gets done each time.

Anyway, hope to catch up one of these days.

And that video is hilarious "my friend"'