A group of North Vancouver high school students put their language skills to the test in a unique way to celebrate Lunar New Year this year.
Three École Argyle Secondary students took on the challenge of translating Gotcha – a 2021 student-made film revolving around a popular game played by graduating students in North Vancouver for more than a decade – from English to Mandarin.
The school’s drama department and Digital Media Academy, a program offered by the North Vancouver School District, are hosting a screening of the movie in Argyle's James Buchanan Theatre Thursday, Jan. 30.
In the theatre, the night will kick off with a red carpet entrance where attendees can take pictures with friends and family before digging into a Szechuan dinner. The 39-minute film will screen shortly after, ending the night with a meet and greet with some of the current voice actors and original cast members.
What is Gotcha?
The film dives into the controversial world of the Gotcha game. In the game, students pay an entry fee and are assigned an individual “target” – another student who has signed up for the game. As weeks go on, players must physically tag their targets in a public place. The eliminated player’s target then becomes the next target for the person who tagged them.
Players cannot tag each other while at school or work. The objective: last player wins the prize, which could be up to $1,000.
But some say Gotcha isn’t harmless fun, as there have been concerns over the game due to embarrassing public displays like nudity, bullying or even criminal behaviour. The North Vancouver School District sent out a warning about the game in 2017.
In 2021, Argyle Secondary Digital Media Academy teacher Chris Miller decided to write a script for a 39-minute film that explores the game and some of its darker sides.
This year Miller pitched the translation project as a way to get more students involved in the film program but also to better connect Mandarin-speaking students to the world of movies.
“We have a lot of international students, as well as students who are Canadian citizens that speak Mandarin,” Miller said. “I wanted to try to connect with a portion of our students that perhaps don’t feel a connection to film.”
Grade 11 students Ziqi Zhang, Haesol Lee and Sophie Wang took on the project in September after hearing the idea from their teacher. Zhang, Lee and Wang all took part in voicing characters in the film alongside their friends and family using their phones to record. Zhang and Wang are both Mandarin speakers, and Lee studied in China for five years.
After the recordings were finished, Lee and Zhang edited them over in Adobe Premiere Pro.
But the project didn’t come without challenges. When translating the script, Wang said they had to change some parts to make it more conversational.
“As you directly translate it, it all sounded really formal,” Wang said. “It sounded like it was written in an email and not said [normally].”
They all hope the event will bring an interest in Mandarin and more understanding of Gotcha’s concept.
“I would like people to know what the movie is about and [for] them to learn a bit about Mandarin, actually enjoy the film,” Wang said.
“We can all celebrate Lunar New Year, and meet more people [interested] in Mandarin and the film,” Lee said.
Money raised at the event will mostly cover the dinner, Miller said, but any amount left over might go towards film equipment for another movie project later this year. A new film about Canadians saving the world from a meteor is in the works.
The event will be at Argyle Secondary on Jan. 30 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets are available for $25 on the North Vancouver School District #44 website.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
