Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and its fantastic audio, between dubbing and soundtrack

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and its fantastic audio

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the surprises of 2021: a purely single player tie-in that demonstrated how it is possible to package a fun and engaging adventure but at the same time respectful of the intellectual property on which it is based. A center on the second attempt for Square Enix, which with Marvel's Avengers had somewhat disappointed expectations due to the limitations of its GaaS structure.

Without this type of implication, the adventure dedicated to the Guardians of Galassia develops in a free and joyful way, revealing itself from the very beginning a pleasant experience to see, to play and also to listen to, thanks to a fantastic audio, between an excellent dubbing in Italian and the excellent soundtrack: here are his secrets.

History

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, the whole team What is the sound sector of a game for if not to contribute to the narrative? In the review of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy we talked about how the many tracks of the soundtrack clearly recall some of the dynamics that have determined the success of the films directed by James Gunn, with a really interesting list of vintage songs, able to enrich and enhance every game sequence.

In addition, the brilliant dialogues in the script signed by Mary DeMarle, which earned the game the award for best fiction at The Game Awards 2021, alone represent a very valid reason to relive the adventure a second time and make different choices, so as to witness unprecedented scenes and implications that fans of the various Star-Lords, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot will only appreciate.

Soundtrack

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, a scene that fans of the super group are used to Do you know that Rick Astley participated in a video of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy with his famous "Never Gonna Give You Up", but of course it is only a piece of the rich puzzle that makes up the soundtrack of the title developed by Eidos Montreal. There are, in fact, twenty-nine songs that paint a musical world, that of Peter Quill's adolescence, still so dear to nostalgics.

Let's go "Where Eagles Dare" by Iron Maiden to "The Final Countdown" by Europe, from "I Love It Loud" by KISS to "Love Song" by Simple Minds, from "Rock Rock Till You Drop" by Def Leppard to "Take On Me" by A-Ha, passing through "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go "by Wham! and Billy Idol's "White Wedding". An exciting accompaniment to the spectacular battles of the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, one of the spectacular battles accompanied by music

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, the soundtrack

Iron Maiden - Where Eagles Dare Blondie - Call Me Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy Hot Chocolate - Every 1's A Winner Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World EUROPE - The Final Countdown New Kids on the Block - Hangin 'Tough Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out for a Hero KISS - I Love It Loud Flock of Seagulls - I Ran Culture Club - I'll Tumble 4 Ya Mötley Crüe - Kickstart My Heart Simple Minds - Love Song Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax Def Leppard - Rock Rock Till You Drop Rainbow - Since You Been Gone A-ha - Take On Me Soft Cell - Tainted Love Loverbo y - Turn Me Loose Autograph - Turn Up the Radio Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Scandal featuring Patty Smyth - The Warrior Starship - We Built This City Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It Billy Idol - White Wedding

Interview with Italian dubbing

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Lady Hellbender and one of her "puppies" So we come to the Italian dubbing of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, made by Keywords Studios Italy: a company born in 2019 from the merger of Synthesis and Sound Tracks. We were able to ask some questions to the managers of this excellent work: Emanuele Scichilone, Account Manager and Producer; Marco Auletta, Product Manager; and Ambra Ravaglia, Manager of the internal Italian studio of Keywords Studios Italy.

sportsgaming.win: There was probably only one way to make the best of the Italian dubbing of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and that was to find some voices as similar to those of the actors of the film version. How did the casting take place?

"Keywords Studios Italy boasts the collaboration of various artistic directors, all very talented and highly experienced. This casting, in particular, was handled by Tebessa Comolli, who among the for some years now he has been involved in coordinating the synergy between the various audio directors on an artistic level. We worked on this casting for a long time, trying to find original voices that had their own identity and trying to get out of the usual rails, collaborating with voices of excellence. "

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord stands out in the Italian dubbing thanks to the interpretation of Massimo Triggiani sportsgaming.win: Massimo Triggiani in the role of Star-Lord was the creator of a truly perfect performance in this sense, at times it really seems Andrea Mete and I guess that was the goal, which however takes a different path than the English voices and, in general, the visual characterization of the characters, halfway between film and comics. Have you asked yourself the problem or did you immediately think about proceeding in this direction?

"From the beginning, the common goal was to create something new, which did not align with what was already traced by TV and Cinema, but which had its own strong identity. The client provided us with a direction and the two audio directors, Francesca Tretto and Monica Codena, did a tailoring work on it with the actors, customizing the dubbing. "

sportsgaming.win: Chiara Francese in the role of Gamora probably had the most difficult task, given that the character of the game is the most distant from the connotation of Zoe Saldana in the movies, noisy and substantially more empathetic. In this case, you followed the original interpretation: was it a problem to link it to all the other conservative choices?

"The client shared his vision and also in this case we did not break down, but in synergy with the vision of the artistic director of the source. To us then the burden and the honor of inserting something peculiar that would add credibility. "

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, the Gamora of Chiara Francese was a surprise sportsgaming.win: There is this thing about voice actors who hate screaming, for obvious reasons, but the result is sometimes funny to hear, like when Lady Hellbender yells at the Guardians who have tricked her. Jolanda Granato has a voice that is very reminiscent of Cinzia De Carolis, this too a deliberate choice?

"Let's dispel this myth. Actors don't hate screaming, at least no more than we hate working overtime on Saturdays. ... we don't jump for joy when asked, but we know that in every project we start, sooner or later, that moment arrives! And exactly as it would annoy us to know that we have to work overtime the day before, when maybe you you were already organized for the weekend, it can create discomfort for the actor to arrive in the room in the morning and discover that he has to face a shouted three-hour shift, perhaps on a day when another six hours of work await him and that he risks not being able to bring because it stressed their voice too much. Let's not forget that the voice is their tool. An instrument that must be treated with care, trained, rested and respected. We always try to warn the actors when we are in the presence of turns entirely screamed in such a way that it is possible for them to make their own assessments for that day, whether to follow other turns or not and above all what kind of turns. "

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, the protagonists follow the Cardinal Raker sportsgaming.win: Probably in the whole picture of the dubbing of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy we had a single perplexity and therefore I ask: even in the original the voice of Adam Warlock is quite mature? Because unfortunately Luca Ghignone's interpretation ends up being very similar to that of Mario Scarabelli, Cardinal Raker, and in the final stages it creates a bit of confusion when the two clash.

"To ours I notice the two characters are no more alike than they do in the original. Ghignone and Scarabelli are two actors quite distant from each other, both in terms of voice and age: the latter has a deeper voice and between the two they dance over 20 years of difference to the registry office. "

sportsgaming.win: I consider the Italian adaptation of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy one of the best that we have seen in the past few years, moreover devoid of the usual problems with the levels of the mix which, however, are often due to the complicated conditions in which the dubbing takes place, with the actors forced not to be able to see their character but only the visual representation of the audio of each dialogue. Is this still how things work?

"The mix is ​​the sole responsibility of the client and is not due to the conditions in which the dubbing takes place. The client requests audio with specific specifications and we comply to those specifics. What happens in the mastering phase is completely out of our control, forever! Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy has been dubbed with very few visual references, which happens for most projects. "

sportsgaming.win: In the general framework of localizations in Italian there have been some painful turnarounds in recent years, see the recent case of Far Cry 6 which is practically the first episode dubbed in any language except Italian; or the even more sensational one of Control, produced by a local publisher. We are convinced that a good dubbing can contribute to the sales of a game in Italy, but you probably know the numbers better than me: how is the situation currently?

"Each publisher makes their own choices in relation to costs of localization and sales projections. Unfortunately, no one is really aware of the real sales figures, except perhaps the publishers themselves. We know of certain trends, such as that physical copies are now in the minority compared to digital copies or that the model business has changed and is changing with online and GaaS filled with microtransactions, additional content, etc. "

" My hint is that Far Cry 6 may not be an isolated case. the technological sector is improving, and the games in recent years tend to get bigger and bigger, with an inexorable increase in the number of actors and texts to be translated and dubbed. So the costs to locate them completely increase and if the numbers rs of sales do not support the choice of localization with audio, so the publisher opts for translation only. "

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