Cover Up Bad Audio With the McGurk Effect
Question: I edited an entire video and it’s ruined by one actor yelling out profanity in one scene. How can I fix the audio without editing in a cutaway to another shot and clipping out the audio?
Answer: R rated movies edited for television often use the McGurk effect to cover up profanity. Instead of the swear word the actor says “asp” or “fudge” to cover up the offending word.
The McGurk effect is also commonly used in foreign films when they’re dubbed to another language, so despite the character saying ‘You lousy melon farmer!’ when this was obviously not what was said in the original, the dubbing doesn’t seem completely out of whack.
Kinda like watching the old Godzilla movies where the lips are not moving in sync…but its not as obvious when this effect is used.
They call it an auditory illusion.
Here is a video with an explanation:
http://media.thedvshow.com/mcgurk.flv
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