BSA706 Update

Dialogue and the Movies

Silent Films

In the beginning of cinema, there was no sound, only 'time cards' or 'intertitles' for dialogue and whatever music an accompanying organist might provide. In 1909, M.N. Tropp came up with the idea to show additional text on the bottom of the screen, or 'subtitles'

The Talkies

Subtitles were cost-effective and could be translated into any language allowing for worldwide film distribution. In 1927, 'The Talkies' took over when The Jazz Singer (1927) and synchronized dialogue came on the screen

Reading the Movie

This limited the movie to the market that spoke the same language as the actors. Dubbing was introduced and was found to be complex and expensive. Subtitles had their issues too; audiences might be illiterate or unable to read at speed. Action movies have an average of 700 subtitles while Woody Allen Movies have 1,500-2000

Bong Joon Ho's Parasite makes history by winning Best Foreign Picture AND Best Picture Oscars 2020

Subtitle process

• In 1988, LVT Laser Subtitling pioneered the process of laser engraving subtitles
• Previously, a protective coat of paraffin was applied to each frame in a zinc strip and then the words were stamped on
• A bleach bath then dissolved away all parts of the emulsion not protected by the paraffin
• White words were left behind on each frame
• LVT now has a machine that etches one frame per second
• The same two-line sentence is engraved 30 times
• It takes about 10 hours per print
• Before that can happen, "spotting" is done by a person who notes the start and end of each spoken line of dialogue against the film's official time clock
• The subtitler must then balance conveying meaning with allotting roughly 1.5 seconds per subtitle
• More than 1/3 of film's dialogue is sacrificed

'Living' Subtitles

Timur Bekmambetov experimented with making the English subtitles part of the story in Night Watch (2004), the first Russian blockbuster

There is a school of thought that claims that the essence of cinema is purely visual; spoken words detract from film's visual potential, making it more like theatre or even pictorial literature

What do I think?

I think, although I see where they are coming from, words do have meaning. How would you know one's character's name or family, if they do not call each other family? Depth can be added with words and visuals working together, not one on its own. Both are important and equal. Both are greater together

Films without Dialogue

Les Vacances de M. Hulot (1953). Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation, where he accidentally (but good-naturedly) causes havoc

The Thief (1952). A chance accident causes a nuclear physicist selling top secret material to the Russians to fall under FBI scrutiny and go on the run

The Naked Island (1960). A family of four are sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops

Le Bal (1983). The 50 year story of a ballroom in France, from the 1920s

The Bear (1988). An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters

Belleville Rendez-vous (2003). When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters--an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire--to rescue him

In the City of Sylvia (2007). A man returns to a city to try to track down a lovely woman he met six years earlier

Le Quattro Volte (2010). An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy

All Is Lost (2013). After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face

Moebius (2013). A father driven into desire, a son coveting that of his father's, and the sorrowful maternity that hovers them into tragedy

The Tribe (2014). A deaf boy joins a boarding school for similar children. Confronted by the violent and criminal antics of some of the other boys and girls, he struggles to conform and join the 'tribe'

Dialogue-free Stars

Charlie Chaplin as the Little Tramp

Chaplin's character relies on comic timing, physicality and expression and transcends cultural boundaries

One of the first global celebrities

By height of his fame in 1920s, him films were seen on every continent

Chaplin estimated that 70% of his income was derived from revenue generated outside the US

Chaplin was one of the few Western filmmakers whose films were screened during the 1966-76 cultural revolution

Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean

"Rowan's catchphrase during rehearsals was always, 'Will they get it in Egypt?' " director/writer Richard Curtis says. "If we wanted a sign which said 'Haberdashery;, Ro would say, 'Will they get it in Egypt?' and we'd have a graphic of a pair of underpants instead."

Atkinson tested Mr. Bean at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, Quebec in 1987 in front of a French-speaking audience to see if the physical comedy would translate

Influenced by French silent comedy star Jacques Tati's Maonsieur Hulot

Mr. Bean's 14 to 30 minute live-action adventures have been sold in 190 countries

My experiences with Subtitles is with foreign films/shows like anime's, doughua's, k-drama's and general news within Japan, China and Korea

(by news I mean random information about many different topics, from history to city life, to trains, to festivals, to how people live, to popular treads, to dangers, to weather, etc)

They are not without sounds, and I can get a sense of how they feel (If I don't look at them) by their tones and how they speak. I will always choose subtitles over dubbing. I long to understand and experience what the people of their country get (I just have a translation at the bottom)

We were watching Charlie Chaplin as the Little Tramp in class

It is easy to understand and it does very well for the style and time this film was made. Not bad, but it seemed like it was all about a good friend and drinking. Funny, and simple. It seems very well known to everyone, and they like it. It is not bad and has a cute story. I am used to sound though but I like this