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Why We All Need Subtitles Now

Started by Hydra009, January 25, 2023, 07:06:48 PM

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Hydra009


I dunno about you guys, but I often have difficulty listening to dialogue in movies and TV.

Curiously, I don't have nearly as much of a problem understanding animated shows (western or anime) though admittedly, this could be biased by greater familiarity.  Even on YouTube, dialogue is easier to understand.  Hell, I listen to a YouTuber with a noticeable speech impediment and he's more intelligible than a big name actor.  What gives!

According to the video, several things.  Old timey actors had one big ol' mic that they had to project into, so they had to overdo it a bit so they be sure that they were heard clearly.  Modern actors usually use a mic hidden on their clothes, so they can talk more naturally and assume the mic picked it up.  But some modern actors are mumblers, so even when the tiny mic comes in five-by-five, it's still pretty bad because the mic can only do so much.  Additionally, a technique I unaffectionately call whisper-talking is deliberately cultivated in some movies and TV shows where the actor intentionally talks in a very soft way to sound more dramatic.  Apparently, that works very well with some people, but it comes across poorly to others.

Another big factor is dynamic range - when studios do sound mixing, they have to establish a dynamic range (the range between the loudest sound and the quietest) so in order to make loud stuff like explosions sound great, they unfortunately have to soften the quietest sounds.  So that "subtle" softly-spoken dialogue that they actor just gave?  Ruined.

And as an aside about dynamic range, it really pissed off my brother one day.  I was watching a scifi show and some actors were talking on the spaceship and it was so damned quiet that I had to basically hold down the Increase Volume button just to barely make out what they were saying.  Without warning, there were huge explosions and the sheer intensity of it almost blew me off the couch.  I literally had to pick the remote off the floor and frantically turn it down to avoid waking my brother, who was 1) FULLY AWAKENED 2) About to kick my ass for "intentionally" blasting the volume.  It took a lengthy diplomatic talk with him to convince him that nothing about that was intentional or malicious on my part and even then, I don't think that he was fully convinced.  So $*%( you, dynamic range!

Hydra009

Don't believe me?  Take the Rey challenge!  Tell me what she says at the 41 second mark (don't cheat, no subtitles!


Did she say:
1) "but now it's awake"
2) "when I was awake"
3) "but I was awake"

If you can't tell or have difficulty picking an answer, then that's proof that there's a problem.

Dark Lightning

#1 reason that, if my wife does manage to drag me to a movie, that I wear earplugs. Talk is soft, I can pull one out, I see some explosions coming, stuff the plug back in. I think that the movie makers have investments in the hearing aid manufacturing business, personally. It's inexcusable, in my book.

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Dark Lightning on January 25, 2023, 07:44:02 PM#1 reason that, if my wife does manage to drag me to a movie, that I wear earplugs. Talk is soft, I can pull one out, I see some explosions coming, stuff the plug back in. I think that the movie makers have investments in the hearing aid manufacturing business, personally. It's inexcusable, in my book.
You would have had a GREAT time at the movie "Earthquake". (1974) They used banks of woofers to simulate tremblors.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers