Movie Subtitling Services and How They Enrich the Movie Industry
When you watch a movie today, whether on the big screen or through an online streaming service, you can typically watch it with subtitles. These are simply written transcriptions of the spoken dialogue, either in the same language as the audio or as translated to another language. Since the 1930s, subtitling has been used in movies but it wasn’t until digital technology stepped in that movie subtitling services really became very much in demand.
photo/ Gerd Altmann via pixabay
A Brief History of Movie Subtitling Services
The predecessor of the movie subtitles that we know today first came out in 1903 in the film Uncle Tom’s Cabin and were then called intertitles. They were actually title cards that were either printed or manually drawn, and were inserted in between scenes of silent films. These intertitles contained either dialogues or narratives that explained what was going on if it was not easily understandable from the visual. It was very easy to change the intertitles to different languages simply by creating new cards and inserting these into the film.
When talkies, or movies with audio, were invented, they stopped using intertitles. This created a problem for foreign audiences who could no longer understand the spoken dialogue. Several solutions were considered until finally, the practice of using movie subtitling services was considered to be the most practical option.
When the movie industry entered the digital age, vast advancements happened in the practice of using movie subtitles. The process has become faster, cheaper and more streamlined, allowing for much better results. Today, when you watch a movie, viewers usually have a number of choices as to what language they want to see in the subtitles. In addition, they can also choose the voices that they hear in the dubbing, but that is already another topic.
Advantages of Movie Subtitling Services for the Audience
Movie subtitling services have definitely improved the viewing experience of audiences everywhere. Here are some ways that these subtitles have proven beneficial in movie watching.
Better Understanding of the Story
There are times that audiences won’t be able to clearly hear the dialogue in the movie. Perhaps there are portions where the voices are soft, or maybe there are a lot of ambient sounds while they are watching, or maybe there are just a few words that can’t decipher. But thanks to movie subtitling services, everything is much clearer, which makes the viewer understand the flow of the story better.
Ability to Watch without Sound
Admittedly, a lot of the enjoyment of watching a movie comes with having the sound on but for those instances where it’s not possible to do so, subtitles will allow a viewer to follow the story even without the audio. Of course, for hearing-impaired viewers, movie subtitling services play a vital role in creating a complete movie watching experience.
Advantages of Movie Subtitling Services for the Filmmaker
Subtitles have certainly played a key role in the movie industry, particularly in helping filmmakers reach a wider audience outside of the original language of their movies. If you are a filmmaker or movie producer, here are some of the advantages that you can enjoy from using high quality movie subtitling services.
Reaching a Global Audience
Without subtitles, your film will only be appreciated by those who understand the original audio of the movie. But by using subtitles, you can bring your movie just about anywhere in the world and viewers will be able to watch and enjoy it.
Recognition for International Films
Great films are created in different languages but sadly, most of the recognition has only been focused on English language films, most likely because these have the widest audience. But with the help of movie subtitling services, global viewers will have better access to movies of different languages and be able to appreciate a wider range of movies.
In fact, this has been recently proven by the South Korean film “Parasite” that won the best picture award at the 2020 Academy Awards. It was the first subtitled film to ever win the award, marking a huge milestone for subtitled movies everywhere.
Choosing the Right Movie Subtitling Service Provider
There is no doubt that subtitles will increase the value of any movie. However, in order to enjoy all the advantages mentioned above, you will have to find the right company to do the subtitles for you. When it comes to subtitling movie, there is a lot more to think about than just a simple word-for-word transcription.
A good subtitler should have a very high level of fluency in the target language. Preferably, they should be a native speaker who is familiar with the culture and the nuances of the language so that they can give you subtitles that are not only correct but also flow naturally. By choosing the best movie subtitling services company, you will be able to get more exposure for your film and also give your viewers a richer viewing experience.
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Author: Roger Henderson
