Adaptation Online by Michalik Gratch Lyndsay;

Author:Michalik Gratch, Lyndsay;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Performing Subtitles

Subtitling a movie is a skillful art of language translation and timing. Good captions are timed to appear and disappear at the same rate as the speech in the video. Additionally, subtitles should not aim to translate the language word for word, as this is often impossible, but rather to translate the meaning and style of the spoken text. Blogger and subtitler 8thSin states that the subtitler should “fully understand the context of every line, basic story pattern (for consistency), character personalities (for nuance), and the . . . meaning behind what’s . . . being said (for context). If you mess up your interpretation, then your translation will be wrong, and your viewers will misinterpret the same way.”[13] The process of creative subtitling, with the Downfall meme, meanwhile, is both a performance and a learnable skill. While tight and often comedic timing is part of what makes many of the Downfall adaptations work, as performance, creative subtitling does not work by translating language well. Instead, the translator works in the realms of non-verbal expression, affect, and cinematography—in everything but the literal words. Tone of voice, facial expressions, how the characters move and their use of space and distance, how the characters touch or do not touch each other, the physical appearance and costuming of the characters, and all cinematographic choices (including the distance and angle of the shot, camera movement, and lighting) are interpreted and translated by the creative subtitler. Hitler’s extended silence in the often parodied bunker scene, when he shakily removes his glasses in a slightly skewed close-up shot of the side of his face, for example, takes on a new meaning in the context of each adaptation. The silence speaks volumes, and while it is never accompanied by subtitles (in any of the adaptations I’ve seen, at least), his silence is further explained by the subtitles that proceed and follow it. Generally, the first line he speaks after the silence is something requesting that a large number of people leave the room. In “Hitler Can’t See Avatar,” for example, when he is informed that the movie tickets for Avatar are sold out at all of the local theatres, he takes an extended pause, removes his glasses, and states “If you have already seen this film, please leave the room now.”[14] Next, after nearly everyone leaves the crowded bunker, Hitler explodes, often swearing at the few remaining officers in outrage and/or disbelief. During this moment in “Hitler Learns He Cannot Divide by Zero,” for instance, Hitler yells, “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do! I’m Adolf freakin Hitler! When I go to Burger King and order half a frankfurter in my burger, they put half a friggin frankfurter in my burger! So who are you to tell me that I simply can’t divide by zero?!”[15] In other videos, the silence is dubbed over with music or crosscut with video clips to contextualize Hitler’s response further. In “Hitler Rants About Miley Cyrus,” this usually

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.