时间：2022-10-28 11:18:57
Helping TV Hits Translate Overseas
f you happen to be in France and catch the Fox hit TV series Prison Break on M6 television, you’ll hear a lot more than Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) 1)dubbed in French. In place of the U.S. soundtrack for this 2)gritty drama, the 3)Gallic version features “Pas Le Temps” (No Time), a new theme song written and performed by French 4)rapper Faf Larage, whose music video of the tune is now number one on the charts. The idea was to give the American import a French flavor and help boost its profile, and it has clearly worked. “We knew Prison Break had a strong following and this part of the show lends itself to Larage’s kind of music,” a 20th Century Fox Television 5)executive says. “It created 6)buzz around the show and allowed the French to make it their own.”
Making it their own, in fact, is the newest trend catching on among U.S. television studios trying to find new ways to push their programming in foreign markets. From local music 7)tie-ins to new versions of American hits produced overseas with local casts, studios are thinking globally but acting locally.
Disney announced a deal last week to produce four versions of Desperate Housewives in Latin America. The ladies will be more than dubbed in Spanish. Hoping to 8)replicate the worldwide success of the dramedy, the local editions will each have their own casts and cultural flavors in Spanish and Portuguese. Each local version will follow the format of the U.S. show but be adapted to reflect local culture.
Producing local versions of popular American shows with local casts all over the world, known in the industry as “reversioning,” could be a 9)bonanza for studios, which count on sales to international markets to 10)recoup the high cost of producing 11)episodic television at home. In the 1990s, Sony Television International pioneered reversioning with local productions of hits as a way to counter a trend of scheduling U.S. shows in undesirable time 12)slots far away from primetime. Today, Sony is expanding its productions throughout the world in markets as culturally different as Russia and China.
Not 13)content to go with local music tie-ins alone, 20th Century Fox announced plans last week to open Fox TV Studios France, a Paris-based production studio that will serve as the European 14)outpost for expanding the studio’s presence with local productions. It’s only a matter of time before a French Prison Break is hatched, probably starring Larage.
如果你碰巧在法国，并且在M6电视频道看到福克斯的热门电视剧《越狱》，除了迈克尔・斯科菲尔德（温特沃思・米勒饰）有法语配音之外，你还会听到更多东西。为了给这部讲述坚忍不拔精神的电视剧替换原声音乐，法语版推出了《人生苦短》这首新主题曲，由法国说唱歌手法夫・拉腊夫填词献唱。其音乐录像也在各大排行榜上独占鳌头。这种做法的目的在于给这部美国进口片添上法国色彩并提升其形象，而且真的奏效了。“我们知道《越狱》受到很多观众追捧，电视剧的成功也带动了拉腊夫的歌曲销量，”一位20世纪福克斯电视公司的高层说，“它为电视剧制造了声势，使法国人得以把电视剧制作得更本土化。”
事实上，本土化制作正是各家美国电视制作公司试图寻找的拓展海外市场的最新趋势之一。从地方音乐的捆绑销售到本土阵容、海外翻拍的热门美剧，制作公司将全球化思维运用在本土化制作中。
迪斯尼在上周宣布达成一项协议，它将在拉丁美洲制作4个版本的《疯狂主妇》，剧中的主妇们可不仅是西班牙语配音这么简单。为了再造这部正统喜剧全球大热的声势，本土版将起用当地的演员，极具西班牙与葡萄牙文化风情。每个版本都将沿用美国版的模式，但会进行改编以反映当地文化。
在世界各地使用当地演员制作热门美剧的本土版―在业内被称为“翻拍”―可能会成为制作公司的财源，这些公司要靠电视剧在国际市场的销售额来分担国内电视剧制作的高额费用。20世纪90年代，索尼国际电视公司率先实行翻拍，以热门剧集的本土版抗衡（当地）在非黄金时段播出美国节目的趋势。现在，索尼的作品已经遍布全球市场，在俄罗斯和中国这类与美国存在极大文化差异的国家也能占据一席之地。
不再满足于当地音乐的“买一送一”，20世纪福克斯公司于上周宣布成立法国福克斯电视制作公司的计划，这家位于巴黎的制作公司将成为一座欧洲桥头堡，用本土制作来拓展福克斯的市场。法国版《越狱》的产生也只是时间问题，可能还会请拉腊夫参演呢。