A few months after the appearance of a box Batman In cinema, Batman returns this time in audio fiction in ten twenty-minute episodes: The Autopsy of Batman. Exclusive on Spotify, the result of a partnership between the Swedish company and studio Warner Bros. DC Comics owner. The podcast is available in nine languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, German and French.. For comparison, Spotify’s “Sandra” podcast, which is also fiction, translated In only four languages. So the release of this Batman fairy tale is a global event. and the agreement between Warner and Spotify, Concluded in 2020, provides for the creation of audio programs over several years. The American studio makes its own catalog of intellectual property rights available; The digital audio giant is interested in production. Warner owns superheroes from the DC Comics comic books, but he also owns characters like Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes, including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
The Batman Autopsy production is without a doubt the board that will guide the next podcast resulting from this partnership. A reference in the making? Here, it all started from the United States, writing a text (in English) to David S. Gower. The American knows Batman well: he worked on the Christopher Nolan films Batman Begins And The Dark Knight. In July 2021, the production of podcast episodes in English has already begun. That’s when every regional branch of Spotify comes forward: those who want to work on a version in their language can. ” It’s up to local studios to see if it makes sense to do so in their markets. Claire Hazan, Director of France Studios and Benelux explains the app.
It is up to them to find a manager to manage the project. In France, Douglas Attal wears the costume. Spotify contacted the director right after the release of his movie How did you become a superhero On Netflix, in the summer of 2021. He was chosen for his knowledge of the world of comic books, American comic books from which many superheroes come from, and his to-do list is well packed. The first component: the translation of the text into French. Then he turned to Jéremy Manesse, who created several translations of the adventures of the superhero into French. The exercise here is very different from the comic strip translation. There are no squares, so no spatial boundaries for expression. Orality allows more freedom.
There’s a trick to the exercise, though: the mysteries of the Sphinx (the character’s French name The Riddler, the movie’s big villain). Batman). ” To put his opponents in trouble, he plays on words that have a triple meaning at timesexplains Jeremy Magnier. This is the first predicament. The second is that the puzzles are interconnected. As he progressed in his work, the translator had to go back several times to fine-tune his interpretations of the first riddles, so that the meaning would continue thereafter. The French title of the podcast? It is him too. ” In English it is called a string “Batman Unburied”, But the movie “Batman Unearthed” is hard to understand. So I came up with “Batman’s Autopsy”. It was accepted, but it took some time “, He laughs.
For a translator, exercise is similar to writing for theater. ” The text was very accurate, with directions, where the noise was coming from, etc. This comparison with the theater is also made by director Douglas Attal. ” Each version of the story is a quote from the same original text Once the text is translated, the moment of transmission comes. Batman is present but also a voice. And Dali Ben Salah, the actor seen in The Last James Bond Adventure, is the one who single-handedly loaned Bruce Wayne/Batman. He rubs shoulders with current and former members of the French comedy. , such as Laurent Stoker (The Sphinx) and Thibaut de Montalembert (Thomas Wayne). And other well-known voices such as André Dussollier, Anna Girardot, Sam Kerman and Princess Cassar. In all, about forty people follow each other on microphones, for three weeks. Ambitious, the director targets about 300 Millions of French speakers in the world.” I didn’t go with the idea of creating a podcast for a French audience, but creating a podcast in French. »
With Batman Autopsy, Douglas Attal produced his first audio novel, with support from Nathalie Mattera, Director of Production. ” She helped me with the methodology and production process. When we call him, immediately after the release of the first episodes, the director plunges into the jumble of the last three compositions. ” We adjust the level of each track of songs, sound effects, etc. It’s the final assembly, it’s so much fun. The post-production period lasts about a month and a half. Craftsman’s job: The director had to bring the voices of his actors into files that already contained sound effects and music. Then it’s up to him to make the final touches.
Budget for this groundbreaking movie? Spotify does not disclose any numbers. We’ll only know that this is Spotify’s most ambitious project in France to date. Nothing about the target audience either. ” Our approach is to make sure that more and more people listen to podcasts, Claire Hazan, Director of Studios France and Benelux, explains. Working on Batman is a perfect opportunity. It is also a way to attract listeners to the platform of the Swedish giant: the program ” secretive in its ecosystem. Can’t listen to it anywhere else. Free listening, without a premium account, is possible, but the content is then accompanied by advertising.
It is unknown if other podcasts of this type will see the light of day and if they will be translated into French. Douglas Attal will see himself in action on the adventure of Superman, his other favorite superhero. Spotify anyway seems to believe in its product. Poster campaign in several stations in France, operations on social networks, evening presentation of a project with the stars of the series, influencers and journalists… Communication strategy complete.
And then? Jim Lee, a senior leader of DC Comics, has raised potential future projects In a video posted to Twitter in February 2022. At the moment, Spotify France tells us that it is not working on other podcasts based on Warner’s intellectual property. To continue, so.
