Why we all need subtitles now

[catbyte]

[NJCher]

1. Excellent job

Of explaining this.

Very helpful.

[piddyprints]

2. Very interesting.

I've often wondered why I can understand every word of old movies and tv shows and struggle so much with newer ones.

They did cover the mumbling and the loud music. But I can't understand why the theme music for TV shows has to be so darn loud. So you turn it down at the beginning and then have to turn it up again to hear people talk. The range just doesn't have to be that big for tv shows.

Related to the mumbling, watch the first few Harry Potter movies. You can understand every word the kids say. I can't recall exactly which movie it was, but suddenly there was a drastic change in how the kids were speaking, particularly Hermione. They started to talk very fast and sloppily. I think it had to do with changing directors, but maybe it was just the age of the kids at that point. I did not have any trouble understanding the adults.

I would love the solution to be just to turn on the words, but my husband hates having them on. "Do you really need them?" Well, no, not for every word. But there are times when someone says something and I ask, "What was that?" and he can't tell me either. I use the words when I watch by myself, of course.

[highplainsdem]

3. Thanks! This is very helpful as an explanation. But the muddying of dialogue

to the point where subtitles are needed is insane, and there needs to be more pushback against it.

[Delphinus]

7. Agreed.

And for me, watching a film with subtitles takes away the escape of the picture.

[SouthernDem4ever]

4. Problems well explained

It's always a crap shoot whether sounds come through clear on the TeeVee or not. Now I see why.

[claudette]

5. I always use

closed captioning and don’t ever watch movies or shows on Roku that don’t provide it. I got tired of going back to replay the mumblers

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Very good thanks! I love it when you realize you're not the only one :-)

[Ocelot II]

8. I thought it was me because I'm old.

Now I leave closed captioning on for just about everything, it's easier than turning it on and off. I also watch a lot of foreign films so I'm used to watching the screen rather than doing something else at the same time (and for those few foreign languages I somewhat understand, I've also noticed that sometimes the subtitles aren't exact translations of what is being spoken).

[Elessar Zappa]

9. Yeah,

in foreign films the subtitles simplify what is actually being said.

[nuxvomica]

10. From the latest Harper's Index

Portion of Americans who watch movies or shows with subtitles on "most of the time": 1/2
Of Gen Z-ers who do: 7/10

So it may be an age thing but not in the direction you thought.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. Watch some old movies and tv shows and marvel at the clarity of the dialogue.

[nuxvomica]

11. This is about the artistic fetish with naturalism

Filmmakers think the experience isn't realistic enough for the audience unless they have mumbling dialogue and poor lighting (there's a companion video from the same guy on why movies are so dark.) The technical stuff doesn't really explain why they do it so much as why they are able to do it and still have a career. "Serious" artists don't seem to understand that much of the immediacy of the experience depends on the audience members ability to process the information easily. This naturalism canard is the same reason why you'll hear fiction writers say they must use present-tense to make the action seem more "immediate" when every story anyone ever tells about their lives is always in past-tense so our brains are geared toward understanding that way. Yet some of these same filmmakers will over-season their work with pop songs even though most people don't go about their lives hearing pop songs that somehow comment on what they are doing or thinking.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

14. Yes, but it's not natural at all!

That mumbling would make people in the immediate vicinity say, "Huh?" or ask for a repeat. What comes from the 'film' should be the same as if we were standing in the room with the actors. It doesn't sound that way at all.

We don't converse by putting an ear to a chest or small of the back. We hear voices as the sound passes through the air, except when watching movies and tv.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. I'm going to state what I think are the problems, then watch the video...

Tape-on microphones -- stick your head against a person's chest or back and have them speak. This is the effect of tape-on microphones.

Fewer actors with stage experience -- If you perform on a stage in front of a live audience, you learn to speak up and enunciate. Mumblers won't go far.

Idiot directors -- Directors seem to think mumbling makes the words profound. It doesn't.

Idiot editors (as directed by idiot directors and producers) -- Lowered dialogue makes the special effects noises and music MORE AWESOME! But only for people not trying to pay attention and make sense of the dialogue.

Idiot producers -- They want BIG THX sound, but that doesn't apply to dialogue. All they want is to shock and awe a few members of the audience so they go tell their buddies they have to experience the immersive (overly loud, booming, noisey, clipping) sound!

Now I'll go watch the video and see if I'm proven to be off.

[ Edit to add: ]
Well, I made it through 5 minutes. It's ironic that a video about why we need subtitles suffers from the same shit that causes us to need subtitles. It's muddy -- probably from the guy wearing a microphone so we get sound passing through him as well as coming through the air, and the gain seems to be cranked up to try to compensate.

Tip: The audio should sound as if we're in the room listening to the person speak. It should not sound as if we're listening with one ear against layers of clothing on the person's body, with the other ear semi-plugged.

Beyond technological regression, if an actor can't be bothered to speak up and enunciate, I can't be bothered to try to figure out what they're saying.