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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?

#471

Post by ncmncm »

whatevertrevor wrote: post #330
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.

I don't think that's true. In fact movie producers are notorious for "phoning in" the 5.1 mixes for the streaming platforms, focusing most of their energy on the theatre mix with Dolby atmos and what not. Usually the 5.1 mix you get on netflix is hurriedly put together as an afterthought.

That would be plausible except I miss much of the dialog in theaters, too.

I am not a 20-something, but I always turn on subtitles. I never could make out most of song lyrics, either, with some exceptions. Most usually, only the chorus.

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

#472

Post by boltzmann-brain »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #426
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little off topic but it’s really surprising how so few of the shows and movies these days give off any vibe of sincerity. From the acting to the writing to the CGI, everything seems to be winking at the audience and trying to tell them that they are all actors and its all make believe. The perfect example is Lord of the Rings vs The Rings of Power. I had no problems believing that Aragorn really lived in Middle Ear…

With something like that new LOTR show, the budgets are so astronomical but where’s the auteur? It’s a series so presumably directors are not consistent. Might be an issue that there isn’t a single person pushing the world, aesthetic, vibe and vision making the actors immersed in their roles. In the end getting all dressed up and standing against a green screen probably feels a bit silly without someone selling it to…

Agreed. Who knew that corporate structures are not conducive to creative expression?

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

#473

Post by nickcw »

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…

I don't think this is a new phenomenon. It annoyed my Dad so much in the 1980s that he build an audio compressor for the TV which quietened the loud parts and amplified the quiet parts.

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

#474

Post by Symbiote »

zachthewf wrote: post #85
simonw wrote: post #78

I recently graduated to the next step beyond closed captions: I've started enabling audio descriptions for TV shows too. It's SO interesting. They are generally really well put together. And they often highlight things that I would have missed - mentioning the name of a character who joins a scene who I don't instantly recognize, for example. Even more fun: audio descriptions of the title sequences for a TV show. Thr…

I've never heard of this. Is it something offered by all the big streaming services?

It's intended for people with vision problems. My grandma uses it.

"John enters the room, looking furious. He's holding some money. Simon stares at David."

So at least in Britain, it's available on normal, broadcast TV.

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

#475

Post by wildrhythms »

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…

I always thought it's the same problem as modern web design: razor thin fonts, "stylistically" low contrast ratios, hieroglyphic icons that don't show properly low resolution screens, slow loading times... because the designers and developers that made the thing are using maxxed-spec iMacs with 5k IPS color-accurate displays, so they never experience the "real world usage". I imagine the sound engineers have the "maxxed-spec" equivalent mixing studio, and the directors imagine everyone will experience the film in a theater or in a home theater, and not on the built-in Hisense TV speakers from across their living room.

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

#476

Post by bowsamic »

Semaphor wrote: post #468
bowsamic wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Germany and honestly it just seems to me from speaking to Germans that they have the worst mixture of a lack of sense of quality and also an uncaring-ness/sense of futility about it. I think it is kind of like the "poor service at restaurants" thing. It is a negative point that has become accepted and almost expected by Germans, so there is literally no desire to change it, which would take a lot of effort…

Honestly, I disagree with pretty much everything you said. I don’t feel like I get poor service, trains aren’t designed unfriendly, and we certainly shouldn’t strive to make things less functional for some feeling of kindness. Can’t talk about popular German music, as I don’t listen to that or to other popular music.

Have you spent much times in other countries? I just spent a week in the UK with a German who had culture shock that strangers were actually talking to each other, that waiters called him "sir", and that the trains were so high-tech.

Mainly I find that Germans who disagree with these things have not lived in other countries, and those that do immediately agree.

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

#477

Post by Bancakes »

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…

There seems to be a wave of naturalistic acting in TV series nowadays. Actors who simply play out the script verbatim as if in pre-premiere. No idea when this started. I'm thinking of the new she-hulk series.

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

#478

Post by miked85 »

In my experience it's not just 20-somethings. I've sometimes started watching something with CC accidentally turned on, and then realized it made the clip/movie/whatever easier to understand. My parents use it as well, and it has nothing to do with hearing loss.

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

#479

Post by wildrhythms »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #368
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'…

A little off topic but it’s really surprising how so few of the shows and movies these days give off any vibe of sincerity. From the acting to the writing to the CGI, everything seems to be winking at the audience and trying to tell them that they are all actors and its all make believe. The perfect example is Lord of the Rings vs The Rings of Power. I had no problems believing that Aragorn really lived in Middle Ear…

I find all of these TV shows have the same pattern that breaks the immersion: too many close up face shots, and the characters look too clean. Watch the original LOTR and see the composition of the shots ("every scene a painting"): it's not just a close up of a face with a bokeh behind it; there is a visual composition and blocking like a scene designed for a play. The characters looking too clean is another issue, and the Wheel of Time series on Amazon has this problem as well. Every character is perfectly manicured, no dirt or grime despite the setting... it breaks the immersion!

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

#480

Post by whywhywhywhy »

orlp wrote: post #411
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s honestly ridiculous how bad the stereo (aka what 99% of viewers will experience) mixes are. The explosions can be heard by my neighbors yet I can barely hear the dialogue at the same volume. Find myself basically doing half the mix work myself with the volume control. Too many audiophiles in the production chain focusing on something that barely matters at the expense of most viewers.

Begs the question: why not ship 2 mixes? Not like audio is a significant chunk of the data of a modern blu-ray movie.

I mean they do, I purposefully select stereo on Netflix, but I get the feeling the sound engineers don't change it and just hammer the 5.1 down in a way that sounds bad.
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