Getting Into Fansubbing

[Schneizel]

How is stuff like group chemistry and environment any less important or less essential than anything you talked about? How do expect people to work together if they don't like each other or the rest of the group, or they barely know each other? Group members should talk, and so should group leaders.

You don't have to totally dig someone 200% and be their best friend evar, but being on social and cooperative terms no matter how much shit you talk behind their back (or to their face when you're super pissed) is essential to execution! And if no one talks, and the staff room is like hell frozen over, why would a person want to work in such an environment? If no one talks or everyone is whispering off via IRC Query or MSN Messenger or e-mail tag or hiding in a project channel, newer people or other members who aren't always included in these little PM circles or MSN or AIM are going to feel alienated (self-alienation, of course, is another story).

Without elements of talking and cooperating, fansubbing is like a tedious cubicle job, except you aren't getting paid... T_T. Even the people in the fish market up in Seattle have fun and sing and dance while they throw fish at each others heads. I mean, damn, gutting fish all day sounds a little unnerving... so does doing frame by frame typesetting. But with a balance of passion for what you do, liking what you do, liking the people you do it with, liking the group you do it for, the fish become less smelly and the sign looks a less tedious.

[Access]

What is 'stealing staff'? How can you 'steal' someone who comes voluntarily?
Also every group is different, don't fall in the trap like the person did as described in the link I gave prior (giving out personal information and/or being walked all over by the group). You just got to find the group that is right for you, some are very social; whatever works for the people involved.

[deathbygirl]

Originally Posted by kodachrome

...

Quote cut for brevity, but I suppose I misunderstood your first inquiry. I thought you were discussing group socialization in the sense of socializing outside of the tasks at hand (as in personal talk and enjoyment), not general communication. I don't think my interpretation of socialization is necessary for a group to start and develop, but I suppose I never really mentioned the communication aspect of the spiel.

What can I say? It's important, like Koda mentioned. I think it's more of a secondary development that occurs while recruiting and getting to know your staff (and their talents and so on), so I don't really know what to say about it in terms of development from scratch. The differences of how in depth that communication is important, as well, but (I can only assume) varies from group to group (and leadership style to style).

[aquastar831]

I can add some input to this. Since we're a newbie group, I can honestly say that it really helps if you work with some people that have experience with fansubbing already. We learned from those people and just played with some of the recommended programs like Aegisub. Over time, guys from our community are learning this stuff like typesetting, quality checking, and so on.

It is a lot of work, but if you have fun doing this and are pleased with your results with the finished releases, then it's well worth it. Each group has their own style of how they do things and what kind of series they choose to sub. If you're looking to join an existing group, just ask around or look at the Help Wanted thread to get a feel of what sounds good to you.

For our group, it's kind of nice that a number of us are from our already existing forum community and are new to the fansubbing process, so we already know each other, work well together, and learning this together as we go. Plus, it's already helped in that more people from our own community are wanting to get into it now.

Overall, have fun with it and just find what works well for you in terms of staff and how each step of the process should be done.

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by Access

What is 'stealing staff'? How can you 'steal' someone who comes voluntarily?

I admit that bugs me also. People are free, not owned, consequently they cannot be stolen. Still, it does create feelings of illwill when a person or group of people leave a group to join another group, and this is referred to as "stealing." I suppose the term refers to the sense of betrayal at the people who left being directed at the one who coaxed them into that "betrayal."

While it is interesting to think about, I don't have any solid answer about the subject and would be interested to hear the insights of others, as long as they can explain without naming names. (Mentioning names or too many specifics is apt to reawaken old feuds and that would force me to delete posts since it often becomes flaming.)

[ladholyman]

Deathbygirl, you're my hero.

Here are some advice: Don't ban people. Translate shows you like to translate. Don't ever start something you won't conceivably be able to finish. Don't diss people for being a rookie. Enjoy what you like to do.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by ladholyman

Here are some advice: Don't ban people. Translate shows you like to translate. Don't ever start something you won't conceivably be able to finish. Don't diss people for being a rookie. Enjoy what you like to do.

Hey, don't put down the ban stick. The ban stick is the most important weapon in maintaining your sanity against the forces of the Narutards, Bleechers, and various other groups. However, users must learn when to use it when not to. (Yes, I know some people don't believe in banning unless its absolutely neccessary, but if someone does not type !rules first thing when they enter, they deserve a smacking when they instantly break them.)

[Schneizel]

deathbygirl: Actually I meant as both "socializing lol" and "communicating lol"... I consider them to be one in the same and not separate.

Here are some advice: Don't ban people. Translate shows you like to translate. Don't ever start something you won't conceivably be able to finish. Don't diss people for being a rookie. Enjoy what you like to do.

But what if what you enjoy doing is starting something you'll never be able to finish, translating stuff you don't want to translate, and dissing rookies? D:

[deathbygirl]

Originally Posted by kodachrome

Actually I meant as both "socializing lol" and "communicating lol"... I consider them to be one in the same and not separate.

Ah... Then like previously mentioned, principles and philosophy behind leadership differs from person to person. Anyhow, I hope the OP got something out of this thread (at the very least). Seems there's been a deviation of focus from his first question for one reason or another. To reference and paraphrase Aquastar's post, there isn't really a "right" way to do things; all the opinions and advice posted is subjective and unique to the experiences of those individuals, and there's no guarantee that a procedure for one person will work out for another. I think it's best to process the information posted here and conclude your own personal method of doing things. Good luck!

[Ensign Shiro Amada]

You people have totally gotten away from the point of this topic. The poor guy just wanted to know the best beginning steps to take to get into fansubbing, and now you're all going off on diatribes about the history of fansubbing and other extraneous matters.


Edit by NSW: You just snuck this in before I could move those posts to their new thead. If anyone wants to know what happened, you'll find the new thread in the Fansub Groups forum: History of Digisubbing

[Taoku]

Do most groups use virtual dedicated servers or servers like http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...c.asp?CatId=30 these for their files to be downloaded from?

[Tofusensei]

Originally Posted by Taoku

Do most groups use virtual dedicated servers or servers like http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...c.asp?CatId=30 these for their files to be downloaded from?

hacked xdcc bots in asia

and/or one guy on a DSL seeding bt

But to seriously add to the discussion here...

In my experience, seeing both ups and downs and various different group structures... This is what I see of all the "successful" groups. (By "successful" I mean, groups that have managed to stand the test of time and don't churn out complete crap). They all understand that having fun is the most important thing. Quality should never stand in the way of having fun. Trying to "compete" by releasing fast should never stand in the way of having fun. I learned this lesson long ago from Teppei (one of the founders of BakaMX). And the funny thing is, the more fun people are having, the more motivated they are and the better the overall efficiency and quality of the group will be. I've been in situations before where we were pushing for uber-quality at the expense of people's sanity or we were pushing for speed at the expense of people's well being. It saps the fun out of it and will turn fansubbing into a dreadful laborious chore.

That being said, here is my other advice for someone just starting out. Don't pick up projects that are going to be oversubbed by more established groups unless you are positive you can subtitle it well enough and/or fast enough for it to be seen by a decent number of people. Nothing is more discouraging than having no one see your work that you slaved for. It will also sap the fun out of it for you.

Be smart when picking your first projects and make it clear that you are looking for help. Don't be afraid to appeal to the community. Do you think all these groups just grew to the size they are overnight? Of course not.

And lastly, be open to criticism. Don't be afraid of the fact that your early translations/typesetting/encodes will probably suck. They will get better with time if you listen to feedback from others.

But really, think about joining an existing group in some capacity instead. It will make life a lot easier

-Tofu

[Alu^]

Advertise. Advertise and Avdvertise. It's the best thing. Otherwise start up with some of your friends, easier that way.

[Ayanami9870]

I'd generally go with Sylf's approach on getting into fansubbing. There are so many groups nowadays that it's better to join one than to create another one out of the blue. You can join a group, meet some people, learn from them over time and stuff about how they made the group, how they setup hosting for a website/forum/FTP and distro, and so on. Soon you'll have picked up some skills and some friends. Then, you can decide whether to stay there, or make your own group, or make a group and still be in both, etc.

[DeathWolf]

Unless you already have friends that can do essential jobs like translation, time and encode i think you might want to join an existing group, it'll be easier and it'll allow you to grow much more than all alone. Of course you might dislike the idea of having a "boss" or "leader", but it shouldnt be too much of a bother, just choose your group well, and be nice.

[animalia]

You go Takou, I want to learn to start fansubing too.

[animalia]

I want to learn how to fansub so that provided I can find a person willing to translate for me and a person to check that translation I can watch anime that hasn't been licensed or picked up by a fansub group, and then share it with others. Can anyone post links to an online how-to guide on how to make fansubs?

[CarrierZ]

If you want to do everything else except translating, I wouldn't recommend that if you're new to fansubbing.

(I just read another thread and thought I'd quote it from Itachikun)

[QUOTE]
Translator: Must be able to translate the show from its origin language to the language of choice you wish to sub to, in this case japanese to english.
Translator Check: Must be able to go through the translation and spot any mistakes or pronounciation. This is to ensure that there are no translation error.
Editor: This person has the job of editing the translated text into comprehensible english. Not all translators have this problem, but its still something to be tackled.
Timer: This is another field where this person has to time the dialogue and other stuff to have it ready for the script to be put in.
Typesetter:His/her job is to create styles, such as signs, logos, action, etc. Some people believe that typesetting and karaoking are the same thing. But its much easier to understand it this way.
Karaoke Stylist: S/he creates effects for opening and ending songs, these effects can either be simple or very complicated. In the end, it makes the songs look good.
Raw Provider: Using special programs, this person must be able to have a good connection speed and download the raw, which is basically the video that has been aired in the country of where you want to sub.
Encoder: Depending on your raw, an encoder takes that raw and begins to "fuse" it with everything, the timing, the dialogue, the typesetting, and the karaoke. Then s/he creates a file which is now you find as .avi, .mkv, or even .mp4.
Quality Check: Before encoding, you make sure that everything is ready and perfect to begin the final encode and release.
[\QUOTE]

As for Editing, if you have excellent knowledge of English, you'll be able to edit. If not, well, then someone for that is needed too.

Timing, there's a guide on this forum. Just search this forum for "Timing Guide" and I'm sure it will bring up some hits. I recommend using either Aegisub or Sabbu, SSA is really out-of-date.

Typesetting, there's a guide by MorphineX, which I think can come to use. Using Adobe After Effects is not recommended, at least not until you know ssa/ass scripting.

Karaoke, technically you only need to learn every "typesetting" command to make a karaoke. Also a fantasy is great. Plus, if you know Perl, you can make automated scripts which will save some time. Heh.

Rawprovider, the best raws are always available on WinNY. I think there's some how-to's on WinNY, just search google for it. Also, messing a bit with Share won't hurt.

Encoder, there's millions of guides on google. I guess this is the most "explained" part of fansubbing. There's really much information about this. Try http://www.doom9.org/
They have excellent guides.

And so, QC, aka Quality Checker, technically you watch everything you've done until know and see if everything is perfect. You watch everything for errors. Encode, Typesetting, Timing, Translation, you get the idea.
Sometimes people can watch the same thing over ten times, and I'd suicide if I needed to watch something that much.

That's it. Good luck.

[getfresh]

I haven't read EVERY post so I'm not sure if this has been said completely clear, but anyways. Start in someone else's group. Learn by doing. No guide can teach like doing it first hand. And you have to learn first then make up a system that works best for you. Most the guides are ment for bettering your skills that you have already begun to form.

There are real time help channels on IRC for further SPECIFIC questions.

#typesetters@irc.rizon.net
#timers@irc.rizon.net

not sure if theres one for encoders or editors anymore. and translators is a private channel ^^

beyond that good luck.

[TheFluff]

Originally Posted by getfresh

There are real time help channels on IRC for further SPECIFIC questions.

#typesetters@irc.rizon.net
#timers@irc.rizon.net

not sure if theres one for encoders or editors anymore. and translators is a private channel ^^

beyond that good luck.

For encoders, there's also #darkhold@irc.chatsociety.net. A lot more people, a lot more fun and a lot less ethics than #encoders@rizon. ;P