Getting Into Fansubbing

[el]

Originally Posted by kodachrome

Okay that's it... I order all of you to get this thread back on track. Either get back to work or go spam in the staff channel. If you don't, there won't be birthdays, christmas, easter, halloween, lollipops, creamsicles in the summer, Jcubed won't get laid in Japan, movax will become sober, ells will start spelling things in American English, I will personally order 20 more seasons of Rec from Shaft, and acidflower will become a not-loli.



(and that is pretty much how I run my group/monkeys/stuff)

Eww American English... I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon.

Back on track for the thread, I just find a leader and follow her around religiously (unless it's Gundam) -_-

[flymolo]

yessssss i am safe. except for the christmas part.

i imagine being a group leader very much like most leadership positions. you have to make decisions, and organise almost everything, and dog the people who are holding things up.
Most importantly, you have to be nice and funny, and understanding that people often do things outside of anime, like visit their loved ones.
i won't even consider joining a group if i don't like the people in it. especially the leader. (thus the convenience of a recruit chan XD)

[Deacon Blues]

Originally Posted by Jcubed

koda entices prospective staff by promising there's hot lesbian action in staff channel, but she doesn't deliver. Don't believe the hype. :>

She promised that to us too in my channel, only a video in dual audio XD! We have yet to see it >

[deathbygirl]

Taoku: Some suggestions I took to before getting off the ground (which, in turn, I hope may help you along the road).

Always having an open mind about certain things (direction, decisions regarding group issues, and so on) is a good thing; it'll lead to various opportunities that you might not have ever considered or otherwise. Closing yourself off to certain ideas can only take away from your plethora of knowledge. Listening is an essential skill that should be consistently exercised, from listening to staff members (and their concerns or suggestions) to the feedback of the audience you release you work for.

In a little deviation from the "open mind" suggestion, always be willing to learn. No person can know every single caveat of fansubbing (although some may suggest otherwise), and much like life itself, there's always something new to learn. I can't really say much about my personal experiences, since I've only been doing this for a little more than half a year, but I'm constantly learning new caveats about animation, fansubbing, staff, etc. Those who think they know all that there is to the art of fansubbing are naive (And guess what? Their attitudes usually show it).

Passion in what you do is another essential aspect you should always consider. If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of people who seem to fansub for the wrong reasons (ego, e-fame, other meaningless stuff). Try and always remember the reasons why you started (or decided) to fansub in the first place; it's shameful to see so many experienced guys lose that element and make them a pain to tolerate. You should be doing this because you have a passion and deep interest in the world of Japanese animation; any less of an inspiration and the taste of fansubbing will get very trite in a short amount of time. If you're not having fun, this may not be the hobby for you.

Persistence is the most crucial element, because anyone who's started a group from scratch will tell you that the initial month or two will be a sheer gauntlet. Groups live or die during this period, and many die because the community isn't very receptive (don't believe any other comments otherwise). It's great to see people get involved, but no one's really going to extend an arm and help you walk; you've got to push yourself through and make the most of what you encounter. Persistence also plays a big part in retrieving staff that will dedicate themselves to the work at hand. People come and go rather frequently, and a lot of self-promoted "veterans" of fansubbing won't work with the likes of newcomers (for a variety of reasons; some may not be so inclined to bother with the lack of direction or inexperience, some may just have an overinflated ego).

A small, minor task I did was also ask some experienced people for some advice and general directions. Don't bog them down with a grocery list, but ask them small, quick questions that you may have about certain things (if they can spare the time). The people I asked were quite nice about it (to some of the editors in Shinsen, I still remember and appreciate the PM's) and gave some quick pointers. Your experiences may vary, depending on who you inquire advice from (generally, once you PM someone, they're pretty nice about it).

The last suggestion I can offer (and it's not really something you can get or do, per se) is be lucky. I've had a ton of luck getting as far as I've gotten now, and it's really been luck that I've met the people I've met and worked with. You may encounter certain situations that really blow a tire off your metaphorical car, but persistence and luck can bail you out. Always be appreciative of everything that happens, as it's usually a good experience whether it's something absolutely horrific or ridiculously amazing.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors, whether you decide to go through with this idea or conclude this may not be something you've wanted to do after all.

[lanfear]

Move here and start hanging out in interactii's room. He will eventually recruit you and teach you to perform whatever fansubbing function he finds most loathesome at the time.

[gumbaloom]

Oh come to #live-evil where I will recruit you for the QC'ing of 'D;'

The world will come to an end when D; is released XD

-gumbaloom

[N-Bomb]

Originally Posted by gumbaloom

Oh come to #live-evil where I will recruit you for the QC'ing of 'D;'

The world will come to an end when D; is released XD

-gumbaloom

Since this person obviously doesn't know you gumb, I believe this'll be self-explanitory...

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by Taoku

To the many fansub groups out there,how did some of you get your start?What does it take to start a fansub group?I'm trying to start my own so I want to hear actual experiences.

Here's a step-by-step method to start a fansub group. If you can't do this, then you can't start a successful group. This advice should be basic and self-explanatory.

• Go read the latest posts in AnimeSuki's Fansub Help Wanted Classifieds.
• Identify the tasks that you can do and volunteer to help several groups out with their projects.
• Simulateously improve your fansubbing skills and make friends with people in these groups.
• Identify a project that you want to sub and recruit some of your new friends to help you with it.

Okay, you might get some accusations of staff-stealing, but if you can't do this, you don't have what it start your own group. If it is done successfully, it is almost always done by people who already have a lot of contacts in the fansubbing community, so go out there and get those contacts! Of course, by the time you have those contacts, there is a pretty good chance that you'll be a happy member of someone else's group and lose the desire to make your own.

[Maceart]

Well Doremi-fansubs started out as a passion for one anime: Ojamajo Doremi. Then after our translator for Doremi went AWOL on us, we figured we might as well do something else to wile away while waiting for him to come back, and thus numerous projects were born.

[Access]

Originally Posted by flymolo

i imagine being a group leader very much like most leadership positions. you have to make decisions, and organise almost everything, and dog the people who are holding things up.
Most importantly, you have to be nice and funny, and understanding that people often do things outside of anime, like visit their loved ones.
i won't even consider joining a group if i don't like the people in it. especially the leader. (thus the convenience of a recruit chan XD)

Not really, especially today. The leader, if one exists at all, is really just a figurehead. Unless the leader has skills of his own or is in some way fundemental to the group, he's typically just there and doesn't really have any actual power. More often than not groups are decentralized and people just do whatever they like. When a project is done, it's b'cos of the people working on the project care to work on it. If you have ever tried to lead a volunteer-type organization, that's closer to what it's like today.

With this type of organization, you don't necessarily have to like the people working on project A if your only interest is project B. You don't have to be worried, it's perfectly normal that not everyone likes everyone else.

Groups today are much less political and typically more laid back than in the old days. Things like BT have made distro easy and then you have stable IRC networks free of the 'channel wars' that used to exist. Most of the naughty people have left or moved on, and these days it's very difficult to force anyone to do something that wouldn't want to otherwise do themselves (like the example below, perhaps one of the more dramatic cases).

http://web.archive.org/web/200310031.../Editorial.htm

[CelesAurivern]

Originally Posted by erusupaasu

Eww American English... I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon.

Back on track for the thread, I just find a leader and follow her around religiously (unless it's Gundam) -_-

I like UC Gundam :D
But I also like kappas :D:D:D:D

[Schneizel]

Not really, especially today. The leader, if one exists at all, is really just a figurehead. Unless the leader has skills of his own or is in some way fundemental to the group, he's typically just there and doesn't really have any actual power. More often than not groups are decentralized and people just do whatever they like. When a project is done, it's b'cos of the people working on the project care to work on it. If you have ever tried to lead a volunteer-type organization, that's closer to what it's like today.

Well, shit, I really suck at this leader thing then.

[Varisha]

On the subject of how to fansub, I had a question about translating. Essentially, about how much Japanese knowledge does a fansub translator usually have? I'm taking the second semester of second year Japanese (I'm deciding between Japanese and CS majors), and I was wondering how much experience I would need to be useful. At this point my ability is sort of random; some anime I can follow almost perfectly raw, especially if I have access to a dictionary and/or have read the manga raw (such as NANA) while others are almost incomprehensible, at least the first time through. If anyone could shed some light on this I'd be really interested, and also if anyone could give advice on upping my listening comprehension skills other than just watching as much raw as I can =)

Thanks.

[NoSanninWa]

Sounds like you can do the job as long as there is a TCer. While I'm sure that most of what you translate is good, I'd recommend that someone Translation Check your work because at your level it is all too easy to mishear something and make a stupid mistake without realizing it.

[Itachikun]

I think you should start joining a group. Get some experience on the field. If you are lucky and meet the right type of people, some might be able to train you in other fields too.
Some people have a good sense of leading and recruiting, which some have resulted with success, while other taste failure.
________
Subaru vivio specifications

[Access]

Even if your abilities are limited, I'm sure there are pleanty of groups out there that would be glad to have you as a translator. Just stick with the anime you can do and have a more experienced translator or quality TCer check over what you do. Don't get bogged down in issues of politics or ego, don't get talked into doing things you would rather not do, if one group doesn't work out there are pleanty of others out there that will. Be perfectly open about your abilities and what you are willing to work on with them and you should be set. And if you ever want to do another show that your current group doesn't want to or can't do, don't be afraid to work on that show with another group. There's no rule saying you can't be in two or three groups at once, and no right-minded group will kick you for also belonging to another group, esp. as a translator.

[xat]

Originally Posted by Access

http://web.archive.org/web/200310031.../Editorial.htm

Very intriguing, and somewhat saddening. In any case, deathbygirl really hit the nail on the head. Persistence will help you start, passion will keep you going. Take some time to explore different roles, find what you love to do. As Access mentioned, you don't need to subject yourself to things you don't want to do.

[Schneizel]

deathbygirl, that's all nice and peachy sounding but how about group socialization?

[ziraya]

i have one peice of advice for this
dont start in the spring
since all the new shows start then thats when all the other groups are picking up people, so its nearly impossible, instead get your group togeather a few months before spring, then start working when your show comes out.
if its to late for that then wait about a month for all the new groups to fall apart for whatever reason and grab whatever your missing

[deathbygirl]

Originally Posted by kodachrome

deathbygirl, that's all nice and peachy sounding but how about group socialization?

Uh, it comes with time? I don't think it's an essential element you need right off the back, but something that develops as you work within the group (unless you're a group of friends beforehand or whatnot, which has its own pros and cons). That small list was just a couple of things I picked up on starting up (from a point that seems rather similar to the OP), so I expect others' mileages to vary.

And NSW, people can start from scratch (i.e. nothing at all) and be successful (And without stealing staff, zomg). Perish the thought, right? I'd say something about ethics and standards, but what kind of position am I in to inflict my views on others? There are other regulars who do that a lot better than I do, so I'll leave it to them.

Regardless, that list wasn't meant for the people who are already well-established (but good for me if you were entertained or laughed it off, amirite?), but for someone who's got some aspirations but very little direction as to where to aim.