Chapter 238: That"s A Wrap!
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Meng Fan"s voice acting was efficient as usual. He was able to seamlessly transition between several roles, so his skill at one role was unparalleled. The first ten lines after the beginning sounded slightly withdrawn, for he wasn"t able to let loose, but near the end, he was able to completely let go, even unable to contain his emotion after the recording ended.
In the beginning, it wasn"t so bad to be "Frigid seemed the strings uttering notes sounding like springs cold and jolted, Cold and jolted, it came to a halt."*, but near the end, it indeed sounded as if "All of a sudden, it was like an exploding water bottle bursting forth splashes and sprays, or like the clanking of crossing swords when the cavalry makes a raid."* Lou Lan, Charlie, and the others were like "apes on both sides of the strait, holding back tears", while Meng Fan seemed like he"d "effortlessly pa.s.sed the heavenly mountain".
*These first two references are lines from a Chinese poem, "Ode to Pipa", used to describe the effortlessness and talent Meng Fan had just completed the voice dub with.
His efficiency was extraordinary, and the results were too!
Meng Fan"s expectations of himself were also higher than before when he"d dubbed the smaller roles. From the beginning, he felt as if he wasn"t able to completely engage, and requested to restart many times. Even though Lou Lan and Charlie, and even the vocal a.s.sistant felt he had performed very well, Meng Fan still insisted. He continued to record until he himself was satisfied.
Once he was satisfied, Meng Fan entered the state completely, his tone and voice all very stable.
Everyone present knew Meng Fan had a broad range of vocals, so they"d been worried about Meng Fan"s state would be very inconsistent, as other tones might instinctively emerge and disappear after he was fatigued.
But the reality was different. Not only did Meng Fan refrain from changing his tones, but he was also even able to maintain a state of consistency for a long duration.
Lou Lan understood Meng Fan the most out of all the people at Chocolate Factory and had shared a studio with Meng Fan for over 30 hours. He was very clear about how terrifying Meng Fan"s deadly efficiency was. Once a voice actor"s efficiency increases, the pressure, and workload on the other staff members would also increase. Hence, he was prepared to give the rest of his time to Meng Fan and heeded his request to get plenty of rest beforehand.
But he only predicted Meng Fan"s efficiency, not his physical strength and wild determination.
The morning went relatively well, as they had recorded for three hours before lunch, and even managed to take a nap. But by afternoon, they couldn"t take it anymore. After the pressing work from the 3 hours in the morning, he began to dissociate three hours into the afternoon. Nonetheless, Meng Fan continued to record until 5:00 pm.
Espresso couldn"t save Lou Lan, and neither could Red Bull.
After pus.h.i.+ng himself to stay awake until 5:00 pm, Lou Lan didn"t even have the energy to eat. He smashed his head down and began to sleep.
Following Meng Fan for 7 or 8 hours was more exhausting than pulling two all-nighters in a row.
"Are we going to continue tonight?"
Director Charlie and the vocal a.s.sistant were okay and were actually more at ease than usual due to Meng Fan"s thorough a.n.a.lysis of the character and his high efficiency. But even if they were physically relaxed, they were mentally exhausted.
Of course, with Meng Fan"s skills, they could not be present and he would be okay, but the role was too important for them to not be there.
They were slightly terrified as they watched Meng Fan wolf down a bowl of food and continue to record.
To be honest, there were several people who were willing to finish a commission in one breath, taking ten or twenty hours, but Charlie and the vocal a.s.sistant had never seen anyone with such high efficiency, let alone someone last so long with such a heavy workload.
Iron G.o.d?
Was he really made out of iron?!
"There"s not much left."
High intensity and high efficiency naturally resulted in fast progress. Meng Fan looked at the remaining script and felt he could finish it in three more hours.
But seeing Lou Lan"s ghastly face, he felt bad forcing them, so he said to director Charlie and the vocal a.s.sistant, "Uhm you guys take a break, I"ll go over the roles again until Lou Lan wakes up."
As soon as they heard this, director Charlie and the vocal a.s.sistant immediately turned to leave. Seeing them go, Meng Fan didn"t exit the booth. He leaned on a wall and fell asleep.
After napping for an hour, he realized his experience for [Studio Bug] had increased by an hour. He relaxed and continued to sleep.
He wasn"t lacking in roles now, just time spent inside the studio.
You can gain experience from sitting in the studio though. This was almost too easy!
But really, it wasn"t.
The recording studio had been designed to be very tight, and normal people would only nap in it for a short time. Who was going to sleep there? It was uncomfortable beyond compare.
Most voice actors would leave the studio for fresh air every once in a while.
During the dubbing process, there were directors and dubbing directors who would interfere and correct certain elements, which would lengthen the time. Most voice actors during these critiques would leave the room for some air. n.o.body was willing to remain inside the studio.
Meng Fan was only able to remain afk in the room, and even comfortably sleep there because of the metaphysical properties of his black magic tracksuit and headband.
He napped for another hour and felt re-energized. He left the studio for a short bathroom break, then headed to Da Mei studio to force Chen Da Qiang, who had been gruesomely working on his manga"s post-production, to order takeout for the Chocolate Factory.
"Huh?"
Lou Lan, who had been deep asleep suddenly woke up to a wondrous smell. He could feel the drool rolling out even with his eyes closed. "What smells so good?"
"b.u.t.ter bibimbap."
Meng Fan had been enjoying his meal and pointed towards a heat-sealed container. "Saved you some."
"Is this the legendary crab roe bibimbap?" Lou Lan"s eyes shot open. He wiped his drool away. "Last year when they aired "Flavor Room", I dreamed of eating this bibimbap. F*ck, just looking at it would break you! But it"s just so f*cking expensive, I can"t even afford one crab"s roe on its own!"
"Mmm—so good! There"s so much food, how much crab roe is in here? This is too luxurious!"
Lou Lan opened the box. The color was wonderful, and he"d swallowed back several gulps of saliva already. His mouth was prepared for a satisfying meal.
"Mix it first." Meng Fan pointed in another direction. "There are ginger and vinegar over there, add it yourself."
Lou Lan stirred the bowl until he couldn"t contain it anymore. He scooped a spoonful and shoved it in his mouth. His eyes formed into small half-moons with a content expression on his face. He was stunned by the richness and delicateness of the food in his mouth!
Then, he buried his head and wolfed down the food.
Meng Fan managed to finish two bowls by himself. Usually, the food Chen Da Qiang found was already incredible, so naturally, the b.u.t.tered bibimbap valued at a few hundred HXB was on the spot.
After eating, he picked up a big cup of strong tea and handed another cup to Lou Lan. "This will remove the heavy oil, and remove your fatigue as well. Refres.h.i.+ng!"
After the b.u.t.tered bibimbap, strong tea, and a two-hour nap, Lou Lan looked to be revived. Three more hours of suffering wasn"t a problem anymore.
In the end, he only had to suffer for two and a half hours as Meng Fan was done.
"Is this a wrap?"
After finis.h.i.+ng, Meng Fan still had some ideas.
Voice actors used their voices to shape characters, but the characters also bring life to the actors as well. This wasn"t much different from acting.
The script for "Nine Days" was already great, to begin with, and the animation seemed to be very well made too. He could say it was one of the better products in the domestic animation industry and demonstrated the recent improvements in national animation.
As long as they don"t engage in some ridiculous projects and focus on IP and ignore content, Huaxia"s animation industry was able to produce some great things.
"It"s a wrap!"
Lou Lan flopped backward and gave Meng Fan a big thumbs up. He had managed to record the lines for all 12 episodes of season one with high efficiency and quality.
There was nothing else he could say aside from a thumb up.
However, if he did have to say something, it would be—