|
|
This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Do Sub-titles Make A Difference?
|
Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
|
posted 10-14-2001 09:17 PM
Heh heh. Regarding Princess Mononoke, some reviewers in Japan had problems with Ishida Yuriko's performance as "San" the titular princess. Ishida-san is a popular live-action actress, mostly doing TV "trendy dramas", what we in the US would call soap operas. Some people thought her line readings were too modern, that they weren't savage enough to be convincing as an atavistic (San looks like a Jomon-era girl but the story takes place in the Muromachi period; she's out of place by around 1400 years) warrior girl raised by wolves. My Japanese ability isn't good enough to pick up on such nuances--but I still enjoyed the original dialog much more than the English dub. I know sometimes dubs can be very good (Das Boot in English and Porco Rosso in French come to mind) and sometimes they can be hilarious, even if unintentionally. But to me most dubs end up being in the vast, unsatisfying middle ground. So yes, give me subtitles over dubs any day! But my opinion is probably in the great minority as far as US movie audiences go. So what else is new?  BTW despite mostly glowing reviews Mononoke tanked badly in the US, whereas in Japan it is now the third highest grossing film in that country's history. Yet Disney/Miramax refused to release Mononoke in subtitled form in the US, fearing the factor being described in this thread--that people would stay away in droves. So they gave the film barely more than an art house release, and in so doing probably contributed to the very result they were worried about; I think the probability is that art house patrons are more likely to avoid dubbed films. Giving the film only a half-hearted promotional push didn't help either. Oh well, at least we now have the R1 DVD with the option to play the Japanese tracks. But even there Disney originally planned to include only the English and French tracks with closed captioning. Only after a massive letter-writing campaign on the part of Studio Ghibli's North American fans in the Spring of 1999 did Disney re-evaluate their decision regarding the R1 DVD tracks and subtitles. Next month Buena Vista Japan will release Mononoke on R2 DVD (yeah, The Mouse owns the video distribution rights to Studio Ghibli's films even in Japan). And guess what? It will have English subtitles available even though this is a Japanese domestic release. Sheesh! Oops, I'm ranting again. Off my soapbox now...  Paul
| IP: Logged
|
|
Don Sneed
Master Film Handler
Posts: 451
From: Texas City, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 10-14-2001 09:59 PM
When Star Wars II open here in Japan a couple of years ago, the opening scene which explane the what has happen before the movie scene start, you all know what I trying to say, well the sub-title in Japanese was off to the right side & just a little on the masking, (we have some strange screen sizes here & the lenses is just a little over size to fit the screen) with the sub-title cutting off just barely, really not enough to make a bid deal over it...whoooaa weeeee I thought I was going to be caine, shot or go to jail because of it, it is a big deal over here, but after the opening scene all sub-titles were at the bottom of the screen...the theatre had been open about a year or so before Star Wars II & they never had that problem before or since, well until the Star Wars II comes out....The theatre was upset, but they did not want to go to a smaller size picture due to changing the lens and/or picture size, so they left it alone, all was forgiven !!
| IP: Logged
|
|
John Walsh
Film God
Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999
|
posted 10-14-2001 10:35 PM
I could never understand why people hate subtitled films. (Talk about judging a book by it's cover!) After watching for a few minutes, I sort of feel like I'm really hearing the actors say what is written.I really disliked the english dub of Das Boot. While some of the actors know english and did a good job dubbing their own lines, it still looked like the "joke" of a japanense horror movie dubbed to english. I switched it back to german w/ english subtitles. The lips just don't match! On the other hand, the reader of subtitles is at the mercy of the translater. A friend already had a DVD of Iron Monkey he got last year. The translations were not-so-good. They did a much better job for the new film release.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
John Pytlak
Film God
Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
|
posted 10-15-2001 08:39 AM
I much prefer subtitles to a poorly-dubbed film.When I saw a "Film Done Right" presentation of "Dances With Wolves" in Tokyo in October 1991, the print had English dialog, Japanese sub/side titles, and the original English subtitles when Lakota was being spoken. ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gerard S. Cohen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 975
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: Sep 2001
|
posted 11-27-2001 07:11 PM
Once the theatre was rented to an Indian organization for a nine reel Bollywood musical filmed in Hindi in 1.66 format with English
subtitles. Only, the manager forgot to inform me! The patrons overran
everything, running the refreshment stands and forcing their way into
the booth, claiming they were delegations of cultural representatives
responsible for this all-important event.
Once the film started , "delegations" of young people born in the US
begged me to rack the image to show the titles so they could follow the story, even though, without the correct lens & aperture plate,
most of the heads would be cut off. That brought delegations of their
elders, blaming the young for being too lazy to learn their ancestral tongue, saying it was important to show all of their favorite actors,
not disrespect actors and elders by cutting heads.
After clearing the booth and locking the door, I compromisd by showing
heads during the lyrical dream sequence musical numbers, and showing
titles during the dramatic dialogue scenes. That really kept me
hopping! Of course, the manager and his staff had disappeared...
That's the only trouble I ever had with sub-titles. The Art Theatres
in Manhattan had full complements of lenses and aperture plates
for all formats, but theatres in the 'burbs didn't.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic