ZOO Digital to unveil cloud dubbing innovations for faster time to market

Continuing a series of exciting localization and digital distribution announcements, Team ZOO is set to reveal three cloud dubbing service innovations at NAB Show 2019 in Las Vegas.

The industry-first cloud dubbing service builds on its pioneering approach using innovative technology and automation. ZOO’s Research and Development team have identified ways to streamline key processes involved in dubbing – including lip-sync dubbing, casting and audio creation.

This next phase of refinement for our award-winning cloud dubbing service is in direct response to the huge pressures our clients face in the entertainment industry. This includes an industry-wide need for more efficient ways to localize and prepare the most sought-after TV and movie content for expectant audiences around the world.

Innovation No. 1 – Lip-Sync Dubbing

The first innovation assists with lip-sync dubbing. The skill of matching the translated and dubbed audio with the actor’s lip movements on screen is notoriously labor-intensive. ZOO’s lip sync innovation cleverly analyses the script to identify where mouth movements could occur onscreen and shows them as a visual representation or ‘viseme’ on the timeline.

This shows where they need to be matched in the adapted script, also using visemes, allowing both streams to be compared and greatly assisting the efficiency of adapting the audio into other languages. An additional accuracy score on the adaptation provides a clear indication of how well the mouth movements will match the original.

Innovation No. 2 – Text to Speech

Another innovation automatically converts text to speech to speed up the creation of audio description streams.

The efficient production of audio offers content owners choice and flexibility when it comes to services such as audio description, especially when a TV or movie title needs to be launched quickly in a new market.

Innovation No. 3 – Auto Casting

The third innovation is auto casting. This uses cloud software to automate a first stage of the casting process by efficiently matching the voice of dubbing artists with the original actor’s voice. This assists with casting sound-alike characters from our extensive database and ensuring the quality of dubbed voiceovers.

ZOO President, Gordon Doran explained:

“We use cutting-edge technology and a wealth of experience in localization research and development to rethink, improve and streamline processes that have been traditionally time-consuming and incredibly labor intensive.

“ZOO is constantly refining our industry-first cloud dubbing service with innovations like these. It means dubbing directors are able to focus on facilitating the best possible creative performance while using the latest technology to manage the whole process.”

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