More options for crew members (Music, Producer, Editor, etc)

xxmai Volunteer Staff

dic 4, 2020 05:47

@SafeforWeebs , I think you're looking at this role only from the standpoint of a person from an English language speaking country. Planner is most possibly the most occupied and used staff role after Director and Screenwriter in the Asian countries we have here on MDL.
We're not looking at adding what's the closest staff role in an English language speaking country, but adding a staff role that is actually used, and quite frequently for that matter, in the countries we have here on MDL.

In the past 4-5 months, a group of MDL users (staff and me included) is adding a very large chunk of missing Japanese titles on MDL, and in almost every single of those titles, the Planner staff role was seen being used. I personally have seen this role come up in the past years so many times.

The word 'Planner' has absolutely nothing to do with fan translations. I don't know where you got that from. All these dictionaries translate the kanji, that you presented (企画), as a word connecting to planning. Nothing to do with development and developer.

Now, let's put aside the Japan side of using the staff role Planner. Let's look at China and South Korea too.

In South Korea there are actual awards given to Best Planning, as can be seen here at the Grand Bell Awards, which is the oldest film awards in South Korea, Korean equivalent of the American Oscars.

The most common word they use is '기획', which once again translates only to planning. The word can be seen used both for dramas (Secret Garden SBS 2010) and movies (The King of Fighters 2019). The word itself also translates to just planning, like seen in these dictionaries:

And lastly, China. I'll use just one example that's pretty straightforward. Looking at the movie Oriental Casablanca, on its official English poster (here), we can see two roles used Planner and Planned By.

And here's one part of an interview done with the staff and original author of Love Me If You Dare and among them is the Film and TV planner of the said series.

So what I'm trying to say, there will be roles and film crew and staff jobs now and in the future that are only seen and practiced in certain Asian countries, while in U.S. for example, that job title doesn't exist. Of course, it works both ways. Some staff jobs that are in the U.S. (or any other country out there) can be seen only available there, while they don't exist in China, Thailand, Japan or some other Asian country.

I hope this clears up the confusion you might have over this role. (:

fiflydramalover VIP

ene 7, 2021 01:03

It'd be nice if we could also have one for OST singers. After enough years of falling in love with OSTs, I just look for it on my own now, but for others it might be nice to see who sang the OSTs. We already have a "composer" and "music department" role, but since OST singers can't be saved under either of those, I think it would be helpful to add the role.

Also replying to the previous comment, I'm curious if planning is related to the idea of preproduction.

PEEMAPOL

ene 8, 2021 06:45

Line Producer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_producer

Safe for Weebs

ene 16, 2021 12:23

Replying to what xxmai posted, what I meant by fan translations is exactly what you're describing in that post. You're a fan, not staff of the international sales agent, and you're translating the role yourself by looking it up in dictionaries.

However, the literal, direct, standard translation of a word used as movie/TV credit is rarely the same as its English equivalent in the context of it being used as a movie/TV credit.

A famous example in another language combination is the French term producteur exécutif, which is the French equivalent of "Line Producer" or "Executive in Charge of Production". It is not the equivalent of what it literally means (and is frequently mistranslated as), "Executive Producer". Producteur délégué is the French equivalent of Executive Producer.

A frequent bugbear for me is that the Japanese credit 美術監督 literally translates as "Art Director", but on a live-action production it's closer to "Production Designer" (with just 美術 being the equivalent of Art Director, as I went through before). In anime, it means the person in charge the backgrounds, which on English-language productions is called 'Background Supervisor" or similar. This is very different from an "Art Director" in English-language animation, which is someone who supervises the whole look of a production, including characters and colours as well as backgrounds.

So looking up the literal meaning of a credit in a dictionary can be used as a last resort, but it should not be used if there are other options available.

Looking up what is used in official credit translations on official English-language posters, in press kits and in on-screen credits is a much better way of going about it, as is looking to see if awarding bodies with a prize for it give an English name for it.

But even official translations can misunderstand things (as in all the official translation of anime credits that translate 美術監督 as "Art Director"). So those can be factors in the decision, but, in order to make the right one (instead of further propagating a misunderstanding), another factor needs to be understanding what the East Asian credit actually entails, and what English credits in the same field entail.

As I give an example of, 企画 can also be translated officially in press kits as "Development", so that needs considering as a possibility for that reason. I'm not saying that "Planning" is wrong; unlike in the examples I gave above, there's no English role with that name for it to conflict with. Just giving some input as to why it might not be the best English word to use. And I can see the logic of how the choice of "Planning" would emphasise the specificity of the role to East Asian production processes, rather than its similarity to a developer on an English-language production.

It also needs some thought (based on what how the other roles on MDL are named, and how the role tends to be written in official English-language credits) given to whether it should formatted as "Planning", "Planner" or "Planned by", or "Development", "Developer", or "Developed by".

StardustCupcake Volunteer Staff

ene 22, 2021 12:55

Video Engineer

Ginkgo

feb 7, 2021 12:16

Please, add Camera assistant and Script consultant, and the alternative option of Assistant Director/Screenwriter, Producer/Screenwriter, Producer/Script consultant and Director/Producer. There are some nuances that should be able to be added in this way.

Also, it would be great if the director and screenwriter position could have a white box to add, if it is the case, what episode or part of the story has taken part in. This is because many series and film are omnibus with different stories inside and, hence, more than one director or writer for all them.

Old_Anime_Lady VIP

may 17, 2021 05:56

Staff I have come across but not in our options
Dramatization from book (I usually just tag these as screen writers)
Lighting -
Recording-
Stunt Coordinator
Fight Choreographer

The last 2 are mainly for action films So far i will be labeling them under "stunt" until we get the options needed.