[Event] TRANSLATORS AS AUTHORS: CREATIVITY IN MEDIA LOCALIZATION

ROMA, 24/25 NOVEMBER 2021

Creative Audiovisual Translation, also called Creative Media Access and Creative Media Content Localization, encompasses those practices that, on the one hand, provide linguistic and cultural access to the media for everybody, irrespective of their capabilities, and on the other, claim to become an artistic, imaginative and creative contribution to the audiovisual text that evokes a new viewer experience. These practices do not follow professional conventions as we currently understand them, on the contrary, they are integrated in the filmic text either as part of the creative process that originates it, or as part of the post-production process, in line with traditional audiovisual translation (AVT) practice. Creative audiovisual translation is not another term for accessible filmmaking (Romero-Fresco, 2019), since current strict professional conventions and guidelines can still be applied to fulfil the latter.

However, encouraged by the foundations of accessible filmmaking, some contemporary film directors have occasionally begun to apply some –often individual– creative practices as part of the creative work carried out in the film, thereby approaching accessibility guidelines more freely. Similarly, in the new world of cybersubtitling and cyberdubbing (Díaz Cintas, 2018), there have been inspiring (or questionable, depending on the standpoint) examples of creativity expressed through authorial interventions on even the most hallowed and canonical texts, ranging from the films belonging to renowned directors to high quality TV series to global videogames. Creative translators and adapters have found ways and means to convey their own aesthetic touch by changing formats, defying conventions and adding or omitting content and, while doing so, ‘making a statement’. Creative AVT in today’s world of digital technology has acquired new meaning tied to the exploration of modern techniques. A clear expression of this can be transcreation.

This conference will address the topic of creativity in audiovisual translation from different perspectives and in all phases -from production to post-production. It will explore most of the modalities through which this type of translation is conveyed: dubbing, subtitling, accessibility modes, voice-over as well as recent modes such as fansubbing and fandubbing, cybersubtitling and cyberdubbing, transcreation, etc. It will also tackle the issue of AVT as a creative tool to enhance foreign language acquisition, as well as the didactic implications of creative AVT.

For more details, please visit: https://web.uniroma1.it/seai/?q=en/node/4029