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Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

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Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#271

Post by hedora »

UpstandingUser wrote: post #219
boltzmann-brain wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The slurred dialog is obnoxious and a sign of laziness on everyone's part. The miking, the post processing, the overdubbing (if there's any at all - recent film makers don't seem to know that this is a thing). The actor's speech pattern, where they direct their speech while acting, even how they stand and where. The choice of location and additional preparation of the stage so the speech can be picked up clearly. It'…

> Pig ...was terrible, I wanted more screentime with that adorable pig...sorry Nic, you're in the shadow of a real star...

I really want to see it.

I have decided it is the sequel to Color Out of Space, which was, by far, the best alpaca-themed rendition of an HP Lovecraft story at the time.

Also, the audio mix didn't really get in the way of that one for me.

(It probably still is the best, but I'd love to be corrected.)

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#272

Post by hedora »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #243
ryandrake wrote: post #136

One more vote for terrible audio mixes and one for actors who mumble their dialog. Whenever I watch movies with my wife, we constantly have to fiddle with the remote control. The loud parts (including explosions and music) are too loud for her, so we have to turn the volume down during those parts, but the dialog is too quiet and mumbly for me to hear, so we turn the volume up during those parts. We now just keep the…

While we are teaching actors to enunciate can we do the same with musicians? When I listen to music in German, I can almost completely understand it despite speaking German at a kindergarten level. When I listen to music in English, despite being fluent, it is almost impossible to discern the lyrics they are mumbling.

Try listening to Boss Hoss sometime.

(German band, lots of English language covers with "wait THAT'S why they're saying?!?" moments.)

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#273

Post by AlbertCory »

fleventynine wrote: post #218
AlbertCory wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Audacity has various compression settings. Have you tried that?

Sure, but my TV can't run Audacity :)

Admittedly I haven't tried this so probably misguided, but if you can stick that box in front of the TV, could you not put a computer instead?

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#274

Post by egypturnash »

antiterra wrote: post #52

The other trend I notice is not caring much at all about video quality. If there’s social interaction, young people I know are happy with a low bitrate 720p streamed over discord in a small window. Maybe this is an artifact of videos on phones?

This is not new. People were absolutely delighted to watch smeary third-generation VHS dubs of Japanese cartoons back in the eighties.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#275

Post by cerved »

thelittleone wrote: post #220
jamesbfb wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have paid extra for subtitles when I saw Tenet at IMAX. The audio mix made it extremely difficult to follow.

All I wanted after seeing Tenet was my time back.

Tenet is an accidental Christopher Nolan parody

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#276

Post by presentation »

Filligree wrote: post #162
joshstrange wrote: post #70

31 but yeah, I've had subs on for almost a decade now? Maybe only 6-7 years? For me I find I miss things without the subs on. Whispered/background dialog that I'm unsure how anyone is supposed to hear/understand being top of list but also sound mixing seems to be terrible by default and it's hard to hear/understand characters even in a quiet room sometimes. I read quickly so subs have never been an issue to me, I can…

> For foreign content (like Anime) I use dubs + subs (the subs are of the initial English translation before the dubs were done) because it gives 2 passes at any given line. I find it very interesting to see how they change things between the two and it sometimes paints a fuller picture. Anime is an interesting case, because — remember, a lot of these threads are about poor enunciation and mixing? — anime tends to be…

Also if you speak some Japanese and listen to the Japanese audio while reading the subs it makes for some interesting food for thought, often the translations aren’t exactly what the characters are actually saying so you get a feel for how the languages and cultures differ.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#277

Post by missblit »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #243
ryandrake wrote: post #136

One more vote for terrible audio mixes and one for actors who mumble their dialog. Whenever I watch movies with my wife, we constantly have to fiddle with the remote control. The loud parts (including explosions and music) are too loud for her, so we have to turn the volume down during those parts, but the dialog is too quiet and mumbly for me to hear, so we turn the volume up during those parts. We now just keep the…

While we are teaching actors to enunciate can we do the same with musicians? When I listen to music in German, I can almost completely understand it despite speaking German at a kindergarten level. When I listen to music in English, despite being fluent, it is almost impossible to discern the lyrics they are mumbling.

Weird Al said it best:

> It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss with all these marbles in my mouth.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#278

Post by PuppyTailWags »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #98
Entinel wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up watching anime with subs and at a certain point it just became natural to have subtitles on even when the content is in English.

For the longest time I couldn't follow anime with subtitles, it kept me from watching the action. I think practice helped, but so did reducing the size of the video frame. Turns out having the whole frame in my field of view was a big deal.

I think it depends on your reading speed and ability to skim. If you can read faster than people can talk, subtitles aren't really distracting because you can glance down and then go back to reading the visual expressions and background details of the dialogue.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#279

Post by derefr »

hedora wrote: post #260
IgorPartola wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait it isn’t because 5.1 became the norm for recording movies bust most people have a 2.0 or a 2.1 setup at most? I thought that was the conventional wisedom.

Yeah; playing 5.1 mixes on stereo equipment make the side and back channels too loud and the center channel too quiet. Also, it is now fashionable for actors to mumble. I'm reasonably sure I am not going deaf, since I have no problem following audio fiction podcasts with the windows down in my car during my commute.

> Also, it is now fashionable for actors to mumble.

Why does it matter that actors are mumbling, though? Don't most lines in Hollywood movies (that aren't already recorded on a soundstage with a boom mic inches from the actor's face) get ADRed these days?

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#280

Post by bscphil »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #184
bscphil wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [CC] complements the audio & visual nicely. I don't have any evidence for this but I'd wager that plot synthesis and comprehension of television shows is greatly improved by CC As you say, you don't have any evidence for this, so I'll just add that my subjective impression is the absolute opposite. I find it impossible to concentrate on what is happening visually on screen in a film when closed captions are on. I a…

It's really very fast to get used to if you try. I'm from Europe so used to subtitles from early age. My wife is Canadian, and first little while of our dating was bewildered with subtitles. Now though, literally all my Canadian in-laws use subtitles, intergenerationalLy - they're used to them, and addicted to knowing what the heck is going on :)

I mean, I do "try" in the sense that about half the movies I watch are foreign, and therefore require subtitles. Despite this, I really do feel that I miss out on a lot of what is happening in terms of cinematography and creative directorial choices because I'm spending about 1/3 to 1/2 of the time reading the subtitles.
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