Member Killer Meteor Posted January 17, 2009 Member Share Posted January 17, 2009 It bothers me most because the subs are not based on the official track. Therefore on Opium, we are reading subs created for the Mandarin track when the official track is Cantonese. How so? The basically used the exact same people for dubbing. I think its because Celestial over filter the audio for the Shaws, making them sound too phoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Shaw Scope Guy Posted January 17, 2009 Member Share Posted January 17, 2009 It bothers me most because the subs are not based on the official track. Therefore on Opium, we are reading subs created for the Mandarin track when the official track is Cantonese. Written Chinese characters (e.g. Mandarin) is the same for Mandarin and Cantonese. Cantonese and Mandarin difference in audio only. I am fluent in Cantonese, but I read Chinese (Mandarin). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted January 17, 2009 Member Share Posted January 17, 2009 Written Chinese characters (e.g. Mandarin) is the same for Mandarin and Cantonese. Cantonese and Mandarin difference in audio only. In a lot of cases, yes. However, there's 2 problems: 1) The Cantonese soundtrack had dialogue that the Mandarin didn't. 2) There's differences in both soundtracks because of a local joke perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Running Man Posted January 17, 2009 Member Share Posted January 17, 2009 Yeah, very frequently there are differences in dialog on both tracks. Some movies are just a little and some are a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted January 17, 2009 Member Share Posted January 17, 2009 Supposedly since the handover, Mandarin has been the official dialect in HK. How do you know Cantonese is the "official" language for OPIUM? I have many Korean tapes of Shaw movies (including OPIUM & THE KUNG FU MASTER) and they are all in Mandarin and they all sound the same audibly to the Celestial discs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Running Man Posted January 17, 2009 Member Share Posted January 17, 2009 I figured it out just by looking at the movie. Watch Opium and switch between the tracks and and notice how perfectly in sync the Cantonese track is with the actors' mouths compared to the Mandarin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Shaw Scope Guy Posted January 19, 2009 Member Share Posted January 19, 2009 In a lot of cases, yes. However, there's 2 problems: 1) The Cantonese soundtrack had dialogue that the Mandarin didn't. 2) There's differences in both soundtracks because of a local joke perhaps. ok, I get your point. Thanks for the clarification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted January 20, 2009 Member Share Posted January 20, 2009 I figured it out just by looking at the movie. Watch Opium and switch between the tracks and and notice how perfectly in sync the Cantonese track is with the actors' mouths compared to the Mandarin. There is nothing to figure out when not every actor in HK can speak Mandarin and not every actor can speak Cantonese. It's common knowledge that actors in these movies spoke their own dialect since the finished product was going to be dubbed over to suit whichever territory it was going to be shown in. I've seen OPIUM half a dozen times before and after it came out and I never noticed anything else other than how amazing of a job there post dubbing work really is considering the movies were shot silently and having to dub in all the various sound effects and voices and whatever else afterwards. It makes a major difference when compared to the inferior dubbed tracks utilized for English speaking markets. THAT I notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 The HKFA list OPIUM as Cantonese. Good enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted January 26, 2009 Member Share Posted January 26, 2009 OK, I got my copy of 'Opium' this morning. The case was a bit crushed and as a result, the spine has annoying crease rips:(. The artwork looks nice , although I wouldn't have used the same 'square' border theme for all the releases though as it would look generic. Slightly de-touring, I dislike the methods used for wrapping American DVD cases, but maybe it's not BCI's fault and it's a custom to avoid anyone stealing them? Onto the DVD where I'll just point out a few things not mentioned. You can select the subtitle track in the menu, but unless you've got a special DVD player, you can't remove/add the option during a feature. All of the trailers are sadly interlaced: 'Life Gamble' has new subtitles. 'Shaolin Handlock' (which I'm not sure if IVL had the trailer) has burnt-in ones - like '14 Amazons'. However, 'Opium' isn't subtitled at all. As said, the film itself has the same subtitles as the previous Celestial-sourced DVDs like IVL's with grammar errors and stuff. Haven't confirmed if it's progressive yet, but I believe someone said it is and unless I find out it's not, I'll assume it is just now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Winfred Posted January 26, 2009 Member Share Posted January 26, 2009 I have also received my blu-ray. Played 3 scenes to check the quality and my friends and I were happy with the clarity. I bought it for the interviews but it was quite difficult to make out what Kuan-tai was saying in his heavily accented English. Robert was more fluent and it was a delight to see him so fit with muscles and all. No regrets picking up what I hope is not my only Shaw movie in this high-definition format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Winfred Posted January 31, 2009 Member Share Posted January 31, 2009 Sat through the whole movie tonight. My friend and I were both very impressed by the picture quality. There's no motion blur when they fight. It's my best-looking Shaw DVD. Pity about The 14 Amazons. Can we do something about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted February 1, 2009 Moderator Share Posted February 1, 2009 Do you know if the blu-ray is region free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Winfred Posted February 1, 2009 Member Share Posted February 1, 2009 It says A on the back cover. Not sure what it means. Back cover info not accurate since it only lists Mandarin and I watched it in Cantonese. I wonder if I should double-dip for Life Gamble. The picture quality on my IVL is mediocre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 Region A means (roughly) playable in The USA and Asia. Region B is for The UK/Europe and Australia Region C is for Russia and The Middle East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted February 1, 2009 Moderator Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hmm. Thanks for that. I'm in Australia which would mean region B. I'll look around on some sites I know (that list the region of certain Blu Ray discs) and see if it's popped up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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