Dialogue Editing

The Final Mix 321
TV and Airplane Versions Most fi lms will eventually make it to television,
and in the United States there are some unusual laws and conventions about
fi lm language. Even if a fi lm meets FCC standards for violence and nudity,
it could still require dialogue cosmetic surgery to play, for example, in Peoria.
Anticipating this, the ADR supervisor recorded alternate TV versions of all
problematic dialogue while tracking the primary loop line. You added these
alternates when you prepared the ADR for the dialogue premix. You didn’t
need them in the regular dialogue premix, but you or the supervising sound
editor will now use them to replace the offending lines. This new, aseptic
dialogue will be folded into an otherwise acceptable fi nal mix.
The airplane mix is the most castrated of all sound jobs. The way the airlines
see it, going to a cinema is a choice and you can walk out if the movie offends
you. Likewise, you can always turn off the tube if you fi nd a fi lm objectionable
for you or your family. However, it’s pretty diffi cult to ignore the screen
on a 15-hour fl ight from New York to Tokyo and harder still to keep the kids
from watching Lenny while you sleep.
So, according to some rather draconian standards for fi lm content, an airplane
version will undoubtedly have undergone picture censorship, which means
that you’ll be faced with a new print version. You will have to make the fullmix
stems conform to this new print, and any ADR language expunging
that’s beyond the scope of the TV version will have to be mixed in too.