student team from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) released the French version of the animated MV for Beyond the horizon officially online both domestically and internationally on Feb 27, with over 10,000 views and hundreds of likes.

Adapted from the classic Chinese musical Jin Sha, Beyond the Horizon tells a love story between the main characters, Jin and Sha, who were separated and reunited many times across 3,000 years. Through music performance and stage design, it reconstructs the magnificent scene of the ancient capital of Sichuan 3,000 years ago.

The team who produced the French version of Beyond the Horizon is called as "Dis-moi les papillons". They named their team after the first musical video called Butterfly.

“This team’s name carries our wishes for Chinese musicals,” Zhang Zirui, a member of the team said, “We will translate local musicals and tell classic Chinese stories to the world. We hope Chinese musicals can go further and be loved by more foreign audiences.”

Despite all the good ideas, producing a complete French version of a musical MV is very challenging.

The most difficult problem the team faced was the translation of the title Beyond the Horizon. "We discussed about the title for a long time," recalled Zhang, " 'hors du ciel' (out of the sky) only described the surface of the words, while 'au delà du ciel' (beyond the sky) sounded like describing outer space. Neither of them fit the intended context."

The team first sought help from French language department professors. Through many discussions and careful considerations, they ultimately decided to translate "Beyond the Horizon" as "À l'horizon", in order to provide a better understanding for French speakers.

Though the team had already accumulated a lot of experience when they were producing their previous play Butterfly, it was still hard to match French syllables with musical notes to express the emotion.

They attempted paraphrasing in the chorus section to convey the intended meaning. However, during rehearsals, they found that many sentences either had too many syllables or too few to sing. Zhou Zhanrui who sang for the musical advised that the lyrics should be more freely translated and matched to notes closely. The team agreed to link translation to melody, and it worked. 

In the translation process, the team first did rough translations, then individually proposed ideas and finally refined them together. It was precisely during this process that the members gradually improved their ability to translate and their understanding of the core of Beyond the Horizon.

Li Mingxia and Khalki Hend, teachers from School of French and Francophone Studies (SFFS), provided them with professional academic support, including antithesis and images using in translation.

Teacher Li revised the team's previous translation "Mes rêves, à l’aise; Mon corps un del" to “Mes rêves, la mer；Mon corps un sel”, which means "My dream is like the sea while my body is like a grain of salt." This new version follows the French rhyming principle, creating a contrast between dream and reality that better conveys the melancholy for native speakers to understand.

Their translation helped the singer perform better and apply his singing techniques to the song.

To the post-production stage, the team aimed to combine audio and video for viewers to grasp the storyline. At first, they chose to match several photos of Chinese cultural relics with the music. Soon they found it confusing and failing to highlight key points.

Then team member Guo Ziheng suggested using animation as alternatives. "None of us knew anything about animation production, so every step was filled with tension and surprises because we didn't know what the result would be like," Zhang said.

Zhang and Guo supported the sketch design, scripting and video editing. They ultimately presented a beautifully crafted video with traditional Chinese colors.

The feedback from these netizens has brought the team members more confidence and courage. Examples of the feedbacks are "SISU students are very talented," "Cross-disciplinary talents," "I wish I could attend SISU too".

The Chinese original musical Yang Jian has been added to the team's upcoming projects. Through the performance of Chinese traditional instruments and sceneries of Chinese festivals, the classic musical presents the familiar story of Erlang God. These classical elements and cultural symbols are worth exploration for the team. They believe that they can offer a more unique experience for foreign audiences.