Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546054
100 M PS E . O R G challenge because the characters look so realistic. You cannot really get away with saying, "We don't need the breath there. It's fine." When the camera is close to a character, you want to see and hear details. If they are breathing through their nose, we want to hear that, because it helps the player connect to them and feel their emotional state. All of those micro edits and subtle vocal details help support the overall immersion and make the character feel real. That level of detail had to carry over into localization as well, so it became a very heavy editorial undertaking. There are little moments where Foley might take some creative liberties, and we approached dialogue editing in a similar way. If a character is reacting emotionally in a scene and sharply turns their head, we might add a small exhale on that movement to help sell what they are feeling. There are so many little adjustments like that with breaths and efforts. It is a lot to ask of our actors, especially when we are asking them to record breaths and efforts in a booth for extended sessions. Anyone who has done that kind of recording knows it is not easy. For localization, we wanted to preserve that same level of detail and match the source performance as closely as possible. EM: Alex, given that KJP is based in Japan, how did the language barrier affect those on the team who didn't speak Japanese or weren't based in Japan? How did that affect the ability to create synergy and trust with everyone involved across languages? AP: Yeah, speaking for myself, I've lived here in Japan for a little over two years. When I started working on the game, it was right when I moved to Japan, so my Japanese was not nearly as good. But having a little bit of language proficiency in Japanese went a long way. We were doing a lot of in-person work with KJP staff at our studio, mixing and other work for the game, and it was really helpful to be able to be there in person and communicate a little bit in Japanese. There's a level of rapport you can establish, and a level of trust by being able to speak your mind. Even expressing things like excitement or joy when things are sounding good, in a way where they can understand it is very helpful in establishing that. At the same time, sound is a universal language. So even despite there being language barriers between teams, I feel like we were able to communicate through a shared love of the sonic medium, whether that's music, dialogue, sound design, Foley, mix—all that stuff. Luckily, Sony is a big global organization. We have a lot of staff that are dedicated to providing translation support. So that can be on emails, it can be on a video call, it can be in person. We had a lot of support in that way. We also have a translation tool, which is really useful. A lot of the written communication back-and-forth between teams was using translation, but of course, we would have to double-check everything. It wasn't always perfect, but there were a lot of tools at our disposal. On both the SIE side and the KJP side, there are bilingual staff that do a really great job of bridging that gap. Luckily, we both had a lot of resources to deal with it. It made communication a little slower sometimes, but I think we were still able to find a successful communication style regardless. DE: For the sound design team's process, which started with me working alongside KJP staff directly, there were translators in the room and there was a lot of going back-and-forth. I speak Japanese, but not at the level and the nuance that this game required. So we relied heavily on translators being there with us for the spotting sessions. We finally got there, but it was a bit of a challenge at times. Our teammates were able to find their own way balancing both interpreters and the translation tools. Foley artist Joanna Fang performing Higgs' body armor Foley