Camp Malaysia Rock

By : RADIN SRI GHAZALI

From left) Shawal, Riz, Amylea, Farah and Adi.

RADIN SRI GHAZALI writes of our voiceover talents in the Bahasa Malaysia version of Camp Rock airing on Sunday.

HIT television movie Camp Rock makes its Southeast Asian debut on Sunday over the Disney Channel (Astro Channel 615), and will be aired in Bahasa Malaysia.

The musical, starring the Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin and Nick), Demi Lovato and Meaghan Jette Martin, features the voice talents of Akademi Fantasia’s Amylea AF3, Shawal AF5, Riz AF6, Adi AF1 and Farah AF2 in the BM version.

“This is a form of localising international content for Malaysian viewers,” said Astro’s director of brand and advertising, Mohammed Adam Wee.

“In fact since July, with our growing number of viewers, we have done a lot of such dubbing for Disney Channel shows,” he added.

Walt Disney Television International vice-president and managing director Laura E. Wendt said the project is a commitment to Malaysia.

“Your country is an important market to us, with children strongly drawn to the channel’s shows and series. Such support is crucial for us,” said Wendt, who had embarked on similar projects in the country including High School Musical 1.

“We are thrilled with those that have come on board. Since the movie is based on young and talented singers, the stars from Akademi Fantasia seem to fit the bill. This is what the spirit of Camp Rock is all about,” she added.

The graduates of Akademi Fantasia, however, were not involved in singing the movie’s tracks.

Wendt said there were other plans in the pipeline for Camp Rock in Malaysia to give opportunities to more new local talents.

Local singer Suki Lo (who won the One In A Million 1 competition) will be singing the theme song of the movie, This Is Me (included as a bonus in the soundtrack).

Meanwhile, the voice talents are overwhelmed with their involvement in the project.

“I ‘play’ Mitchie Torres, a dedicated musician who is in a journey of self-discovery. She is extremely talented, yet she feels insecure as she is surrounded by girls who come from more privileged backgrounds at the camp,” said Amylea, who lends her voice to the lead role in the movie.

“I am a lot like her — loving performing and extremely shy at times,” she said.

Riz, who voices the leading male role Shane Gray, said: “I love doing this. I have seen the movie and I am hooked to its music and performances.”

“Shane is every girl’s dream boy. He is talented but eventually loses his passion for music. He agrees to join Camp Rock after being persuaded by his band members. There he regains his love for music,” said the 22-year-old.

The local talents took a day to complete the dubbing session for the movie.

“Depending on the role, some of us had to be in for at least seven hours while others took only three hours to finish the dubbing,” said Adi, who is the voice of Jason Gray.

“Watching the movie helped us to understand the plot better. We were able to identify with our characters and thus portray them better,” said Farah, who “plays” bad girl Tess Tyler.

“At first it was tough but we managed to pull through,” added Shawal, the voice of Nate Gray.

Camp Rock is about a summer camp that launched the music careers of the youngsters who attended it.

Members of popular band Connect 3 is one of them. So too Torres, an aspiring singer and songwriter from a middle-class family, who finally gets her chance to participate in the camp.

Camp Rock airs at 7.30pm.

Since the Disney Channel is available in three languages, you can also watch Camp Rock in English (original version), Mandarin (Hong Kong) and Bahasa Malaysia.

info credit to : NST Online & MissQistina