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HISTORY
H ong Kong. Summer 1979. Location: Shaw Studios. The setting is a living room sized recording studio. The hot climate is only cooled by a single fan. There are a couple of chairs. And one big table setup with mixing equipment. On the wall ahead is a large projector screen. A group of English speaking translators arrive and meet with the Audio Dubb Recordist Engineer in a small booth to the back of the room. Hardly recouping from the long session the night before, they all assemble to discuss the work of the day.

T his isn't your typical movie post production crew. These are the international Voice Recording Artists (dubbers). It's a pretty new profession as only until recently was their services required. With the success of the late Bruce Lee who passed several years ago in 1973, the world is now more accepting of what the Hong Kong film industry has to offer. Their job is to take the chinese language martial arts movies and provide English voice tracks, which will be synced and produced with the movie for distribution to the International markets including Germany, United States, South Africa, Jamaica and the United Kingdom.

B ut the job is harder than it looks, as the films they will be providing English languages for were filmed without sound. What has been keeping them extremely busy as of late is the new Shaw Productions directed by Chang Cheh starring The Venoms. This group is putting out a movie every couple of months and the demand is high to complete the dubbs for the overseas audiences.

S o first thing is to go over the story and the script. They have a loose translation of every dialoague scene, the motivation of the characters, the general storyline and all necessary dramatic elements. Now they will work scene by scene to provide their voice talent to convey not only what is spoken, but the feelings behind it. One 5 minute scene can take up to an hour to complete. They typical VenomsFilm, is around 100 minutes. And although the films are heavily action based, the typical Chang Cheh film has enough dialogue, story and thematic elements to keep these dubbers at the top of their game for the duration of the project.

FANDOM
A s a result, the movies were seen all over the world. Drive thru theatres in America. Open big screen in small African villages and even syndicated television in Germany. Thanks to the work of these recording artists, the world could see these remarkable films in one universal language English. Quickly, the dubbing grew a fandom of it's own. With popular phrases and expressions that would stay with the movies for generations and years to come.

W ith the advent of VHS, now the kung fu films have a chance to be seen for home viewing. Many of the dubbs worked on at Shaw Studios are available for viewing on TV such as Black Belt Theatre in the USA and in similar presentations all over the world. There was no internet then, but collectors began expensive trading, exchanging, selling and buying through postal mail and meeting at fan conventions. The sources range from theatrical bootlegs to live recording on VHS from the TV airings.

TODAY
A lmost 30 years later, the films have been restored in the popular DVD format. However, alot of the masters of the original English language versions were not included. The debate continues as to why. Part of the reason is buisness related, targeting regions and territories as well as the expensive cost behind such a daunting production. Another reason is the age of the media and the fact they are either damaged or lost over time.

F or the VenomsFilms, we have acquired the missing, rare, uncomplete and damaged media. The sources come from over 20 years of collecting, trading, disribution and discussions from all over the world. The greatest contribution has been the internet, providing an open gateway to treasures that would otherwise be only a dream to experience all over again.

THE FILMS
9 0% of the VenomsFilmography had been provided an English dubb. The remaining 10 have yet to be discovered.

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(Widescreen, Remastered Video, Enhanced/cleaned, Chinese AND Original English Dubbs, Fully Uncut)