The Voices

I am Thomas Chan. A recent graduate of International Journalism in Hong Kong Baptist University.

 

Hong Kong is the city of skyscrapers, vehicles, people, and sounds. They are everywhere. You can somehow ignore the former three by closing your eyes, but it is never possible to shut your ears down.

 

The manipulation of sound is really diversive. It is also an important part when it comes to delivering verbal language. Sounds create variety. Different pronunciations, pitches, speeds, and stresses can develop disparate meanings and sentiments.

 

In this project, surrounding the concept “sound”, includes two main aspects: dubbing and game broadcasting. Former one, obviously, is somebody trying to make a living with the use of sounds to speak for some characters and voice over; while the latter one, more indirect, is of another batch of people playing games at the audience’s service and many of them only use their voices to keep people watching.

 

Both are discussed in a society level, covering their difficulties, challenges, and futures. Each topic also carries a profile, one is of an experienced dubber who had served the Light Rail Transit of the northern-west part of the New Territories, while another one talks about the life of a Taiwan YouTube game broadcaster and streamer, subscribed by nearly 600,000 netizens.

 

A video of her is also here, as not to waste the opportunity of holding an interview in Taiwan. Another one invites a veteran dubber and dubbing producer to tell the story of her half-a-century long career.

 

Besides all the visual stuff, this project has a “To Listen” part as well, in order to echo “sound”. The LRT voice is here, announcing which route and station you are in. A Putonghua dubbing practitioner also illustrates the playing of sound: imitating different ages of a woman.

 

I hereby want to use this opportunity to thank my advisor, Ms Robin Ewing, for her kind helping in this project, as well as all the interviewees, everybody who supports me, and the bunch of classmates who spent their time day and night in the working stations.

 

Last, pay attention to the sounds around you and you may be surprised.