Contribute

UPS Symphony 1937

Join the Project! Are you interested in translating a Chinese film into English – or part of this website into Chinese? Are you an educator, student, or website designer with ideas about how to improve this online resource? Are you a scholar who can share studies, historical materials, event announcements, or other relevant resources?

The Chinese Film Classics Project needs you!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The Chinese Film Classics Project is a collective scholarly effort that is currently seeking volunteers, including:

  • Transcribers, of Chinese-language film dialogue and text
  • Translators, especially between Chinese and English – other languages welcome!
  • Educators, with ideas about curricular needs and uses, or mobilizing their students
  • Students, interested in research and volunteer opportunities
  • Scholars, with sources, studies, and resources to share related to Chinese cinema history
  • Tech whizzes, who are interested in contributing their subtitling, video production, or website design skills to enhancing this project
  • Advocates, who will spread the word about this learning resource through their networks, in English, Chinese, and other languages

CURRENT PRIORITIES

Specific needs of the Project currently include:

  • Transcriptions of Chinese dialogue in early sound films – a key step in preparing an accurate translation
  • Translations of sound films – from the 1930s, the war era, and (a new Project development) the early Mao era – from Chinese into English
  • Translations of CFC website materials, from English into Chinese, to make this website more accessible to Chinese-language users
  • Subtitling of translated films – the meticulous technical work of adding a translation to an .mp4 file, and producing a hard-coded subtitled version.
  • Outreach to members of the public who might be unaware of this resource, including film buffs, teachers, students, scholars, librarians, journalists, YouTubers, social media influencers, film festivals and curators, filmmakers – anyone who might benefit from this project. You can make a difference!

CONTACT

Contact the Project lead, Christopher Rea, with your ideas at chris.rea@ubc.ca.

A GLOBAL TEAM

Join the many contributors around the world who have helped to build and sustain the Chinese Film Classics Project – from high school students to college and graduate students to professional scholars to community members. Part-time, occasional, and advisory contributions are very welcome. Know of a student or colleague who might be interested? Recommend them!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Besides helping to build a free public good, contributions to the Project are also excellent professional development activities. Training is integral to all collaborations, including transcriptions, translations, and other written contributions, which are rigorously peer-reviewed.

  • Hone language abilities
  • Learn project management skills
  • Train in historical/cinematic research
  • Acquire film production knowledge
  • Experience the peer-review process
  • Build a portfolio of your work (like Frank!)

All contributions are credited in Project materials, and translators retain copyright over their translations.