Subtitles
I finally saw Slumdog Millionaire. It's a good story that's directed well. They really capture the chaos of childhood and the melodrama of adolescence. The thing that really impressed me, though, was the subtitles.
So often, when watching a foreign film, I spend all of my time reading. I know this is the intellectual mockery of dumb people, "I don't want to read at the movies!" but there is some truth to that. When I'm reading the subtitles at the bottom of the screen, I'm not watching the action, I'm not studying the actors' faces. This greatly reduces the visual element of movies, the very thing that makes them international.
Slumdog Millionaire does things differently. First of all, it puts the subtitles near the center of the screen. It uses different colors for different characters. It also makes the subtitles more vibrant than plain text. This makes the subtitles an intrinsic part of the movie.
They have two advantages. The first is that the dialogue that is subtitled is short. It's mostly just shouts from children. The second is that this film was designed for English speaking audiences, to the point where most of it is in English. Surely by now, foreign filmmakers have realized that the English speaking audience is a huge source of money. Even if your film is intended for the audience in your country, when it comes time to subtitle, the English subtitles may make you a lot of money. Why not use subtitles that express something about your movie? Why not work the subtitles into your artistic voice?
With the success of Slumdog, I think we'll see a lot more movies with expressive subtitles and subtitles that are closer to the center of the screen. This is something I've wanted for a long time. I can't wait.
So often, when watching a foreign film, I spend all of my time reading. I know this is the intellectual mockery of dumb people, "I don't want to read at the movies!" but there is some truth to that. When I'm reading the subtitles at the bottom of the screen, I'm not watching the action, I'm not studying the actors' faces. This greatly reduces the visual element of movies, the very thing that makes them international.
Slumdog Millionaire does things differently. First of all, it puts the subtitles near the center of the screen. It uses different colors for different characters. It also makes the subtitles more vibrant than plain text. This makes the subtitles an intrinsic part of the movie.
They have two advantages. The first is that the dialogue that is subtitled is short. It's mostly just shouts from children. The second is that this film was designed for English speaking audiences, to the point where most of it is in English. Surely by now, foreign filmmakers have realized that the English speaking audience is a huge source of money. Even if your film is intended for the audience in your country, when it comes time to subtitle, the English subtitles may make you a lot of money. Why not use subtitles that express something about your movie? Why not work the subtitles into your artistic voice?
With the success of Slumdog, I think we'll see a lot more movies with expressive subtitles and subtitles that are closer to the center of the screen. This is something I've wanted for a long time. I can't wait.