Why we all need subtitles now

It's not you - the dialogue in TV and movies has gotten harder to hear.
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Have you ever been watching a show or movie, and then a character delivers a line so unintelligible you have to scramble to find the remote and rewind? For me, this moment came during the climax of the Pete Davidson film “The King of Staten Island,” where his most important line was impossible to understand.
I had to rewind three times - and eventually put subtitles on - to finally pick up what he was saying.
This experience isn’t unique - gather enough people together and you can generally separate them into two categories: People who use subtitles, and people who don’t. And according to a not-so-scientific KZbin poll we ran on our Community tab, the latter category is an endangered species - 57% of you said you always use subtitles, while just 12% of you said you generally don’t.
But why do so many of us feel that we need subtitles to understand the dialogue in the things we watch?
The answer to that question is complex - and we get straight to the bottom of it in this explainer, with the help of dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick.
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[@Vox]

One interesting fact that didn’t make it into the piece is that movie theaters didn’t always have consistently great sound - it only became consistent thanks to Star Wars. The story goes like this: George Lucas was trying to find a theater to premiere ‘Return of the Jedi.’ and every theater he went to had terribly set up sound systems. He was like, “This is unacceptable! Why am I asking all of my sound designers, editors, and mixers to put in all this work if I can't guarantee it’s going to be heard properly on playback?” So he enlisted Tomlinson Holmman to create, THX - yes, that THX - the one with the way-too-loud booming sound at the beginning of all those old movies you used to watch as a kid. THX was a sound quality certification made to ensure that ‘Return of the Jedi’ was presented in the purest form possible. But it did so much more than that by standardizing good sound playback in movie theaters across the board. Sound has progressed a ton since then, but Star Wars set the precedent for good sound quality in theaters. For more awesome content about sound in your favorite movies and TV shows, check out Austin on TikTik: www.tiktok.com/@aok.wav Thanks for watching! -Ed

[@lwkey2452]

Board

[@mimiayako]

Interesting tidbit of info! Thanks for the good content you guys keep on making!

[@thecinematicmind]

Hopefully you can get into audio description in cinema someday.

[@joshuataylor3550]

Especially bad for those with English as a second language

[@WalkerSoc]

Thx THX

[@Ghostface3200]

We all love those movies where you can’t hear the dialogue so you turn up the volume… just in time for an explosion that shakes your entire house

[@keeganbate8935]

Constantine is this way, so is Sinister, so is most movies from 2000-2015ish

[@soliloquylove2115]

😂😂

[@Ciruelatron]

Watch Invincible bruh.

[@scoops2]

This happens all the time. I find myself adjusting the volume almost scene by scene if I’m not using subtitles

[@Yen-dc7nn]

this sort of happened with my brother attempting to watch a movie on a desktop computer. the whole movie was so quiet, i swear even the characters were almost whispering so he turned up the volume and it immediately the music score started blasting on the shock value suspense scene. its so annoying 🥴

[@lauralvw8445]

What makes these realistic performances less realistic, is that none of the characters ever ask each other 'sorry, what did you just say'??

[@Boss-lu5wk]

no one ever fumbles in recorded media, like people do irl too - unless its a purposeful to characterization or plot

[@r4yy28]

like the guy above me said. It's art, and having characters fumble their speech would be so out of place unless it was meant to add something

[@ryanlargent9320]

But if “it’s art” is the defense here, then that also means they can have less mumbly delivery because that’s art too.

[@orion6372]

EXACTLY!!!

[@KratosIsSick]

@@Boss-lu5wk no. Its just poor acting and dialogue delivery.

[@jameskennedy8329]

“We decided we were no longer going to mix in a way most people will be able to enjoy” - Christopher Nolan

[@tankfu1]

This should be the top comment.

[@jameskennedy8329]

@@tankfu1 Agreed 😂

[@geoffreyvanpelt6147]

As usual, it always comes down to the money.

[@jameskennedy8329]

@@geoffreyvanpelt6147 Are you saying you’re a richy rich that has the funds to own all the equipment to play the audio as meant to be heard by Chistopher Nolan?

[@andykeith1]

Good to know which films to avoid in future. Thanks for letting us know!

[@ponorj]

I honestly thought I was one of a few people who have slowly developed a dependency on subtitles in order to understand the movies I watch these days. But whenever I watch old classic films from the 1940s to 1980s I don’t have this issue. Glad to know I’m not losing my hearing 😂

[@jose-td9yd]

I don't understand like anything at all in older movies, nothing. I feel like it always been bad.

[@markchapman6800]

I can't remember which movie it was, but I watched one movie scene with Cary Grant talking on the telephone, and not only could I hear every word he said, I could hear what the person on the other end of the call was too.

[@karara5532]

It seems like many filmmakers haven't figured out that people can't hear dialogue if there is music blasting over it

[@juliacarter4081]

Exactly! If ONLY the music was in a separate channel so it could be muted!

[@rgbgamingfridge]

i hate it when you have to turn up the volume to hear the dialogue but then they start blasting your ears with music or special effects

[@sooperd00p]

That's true but in the clip of Pete Davidson talking, he simply just jumbled his lines.

[@StarSnow1101]

You nailed it.

[@cat1554]

*WHAT?*

[@withak30]

In summary: Everyone involved in making those shows/movies know that you can't hear the dialog but they don't care.

[@__________5243]

Exactly. “Oh, but we need dynamic range so the explosions are lou-“ SHUTUP! They don’t need to be 100x louder for a “sense of scale.” I want to hear the dialogue!

[@sprocket0077]

@@__________5243 This. That was such a goofy point the lady made, like I get that it’s not entirely up to the audio engineers but OBVIOUSLY nobody wants to have to constantly be having to turn down the volume during loud scenes, that’s the entire issue at hand.

[@Pringlesman]

@@__________5243 Not only that, but it doesn't explain why I still need subtitles on non action movies where maintaining that same dynamic range is as necessary.

[@ItsBocephus]

@@__________5243 sound designer thinks the explosion sound effect is more important than the entire movie’s dialogue? Sounds about right lol

[@sidney6871]

I just want to hear the dialogue I could care less for the crumpled bag they made sound like an explosion

[@sonshadsil94]

I love how the solution presented essentially boils down to "Have/spend more money or get over it"

[@manusodonnell64]

Almost always the case

[@AileenBaker]

Right?!? And it's not like those movies are always in theaters to get to enjoy even if that wasn't so prohibitively expensive these days! In my city, I can go see live music with my best friend and have a couple drinks at the show for less than it costs for movie tickets alone.

[@ashscraps]

you forgot "know how to read"

[@magrathean0]

The dialogue is how the bulk of the information in the film is communicated to the viewer. Taking 'a chill pill' over missing most of the information in a film is far cheaper if you don't bother trying to watch the film at all. I also like the explanation - to paraphrase, "the technology has improved massively since the thirties, so naturally enough the quality experienced by the viewer has also plummeted massively"

[@MrSoBitchy]

Literally! "Yes technology for filmmaking has improved and the quality of your experience as a viewer has declined but just deal with it."

[@dudimus3225]

TITCR

[@somewherefar1286]

Also, why is getting my ears blasted in an explosion more important than me being able to understand what's going on?

[@zainhyukmcadam4874]

LOL This!

[@vesuvyan]

glad i wasn't the only one who thought that. "Turn the dialogue up." Her answer was that it's just not that simple! Oh, because of technology? no, because our preconceived notions of trying to manipulate you into thinking a movie is better than it actually is requires us to intentionally keep dialogue quiet so that the explosions surprise you! so it is that simple, you're just more focused on awards and number games than making a coherent and enjoyable experience. Gotcha.

[@appet3ncy]

she said in the video that it's so that the movie feels more immersive and therefore more enjoyable and "real" to audiences.

[@John-hn8gz]

Spot on.

[@samy7342]

@@appet3ncy We could be as much surprised by a random explotion if we could concentrate properly in the dialogue...

[@grahamvandyke]

This is actually a massive relief, because I started believing I had developed hearing and concentration problems from not being able to understand quite literally half of all dialogue in most media.

[@bloomy27]

Same I even stopped wearing headphones cause of this but guess the problem was from them and not from me 😂

[@TomCruz54321]

I know how you feel. There’s some recent shows that had bad audio and was too dark. The studios and the elitists blamed the audience. So I believed it was my fault. Glad to know it’s not just me.

[@PendulumCancel]

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. It's the strangest thing. When I was a kid I had no problem understanding dialogue in any cartoons and movies, but nowadays I find myself having to rewind stuff and rewatch it with subtitles on ALL THE TIME. I was genuinely afraid I was having some real neurological problems, but now I know it's the people working on these show and not me who should be seeing the doctors.

[@jazmynetrue3612]

same!!!

[@feedmeastraycat8247]

i was getting scared too I thought my brain was decomposing

[@TheGamingDandy]

This makes perfect sense, because I often feel like I don't need subtitles on youtube videos. And it's for a similar reason as older movies I now realize. Often times youtubers are looking directly into their mic and speaking clearly into it. Interesting phenomenon.

[@SILVERF0X13]

And also not balancing their audio so that explosions will blow out your eardrums if you listen to them talking at normal volume.

[@PraiseTheFSMonster]

Love that director who absolutely refuses to change no matter how much people hate it. What a nice guy

[@Arcticcountry]

Why would the guy who has 8 oscar nominations and 2 oscars change how he does things? Clearly he knows what he's doing.

[@PraiseTheFSMonster]

@@Arcticcountry Because people don't like his work anymore

[@PhilDietz]

Nolan movies are the WORST. Plain and simple. 1 decibel 2.5 hours of mumbling followed by 10 secs of 1200 decibels. aka Oppenheimer

[@Misora7303]

@@Arcticcountry because he would be even better if his movies were understandable, I watch them in spanish and let me tell ya, it´s easier when people modulate their words properly, his overly complicatesd movies are way more enjoyable that way

[@Grand_Works]

@@PraiseTheFSMonster You say that but he had the second highest grossing film of last year which also won Best Picture at the Academy Awards as well as Best Director. That may be a you thing.

[@Orabig]

As a French native speaker desperately trying to learn English by watching movies without subtitles, I feel so relieved to learn that even native English speakers struggle to understand some lines ! Thank you so much for this revelation ! :)

[@tananario23]

Just turn on the captions. You aren’t going to get more proficient faster if you don’t know what’s being said.

[@Orabig]

Well, that's what I do for several years, but then my brain lazily rely on the text for the understanding, and it's way too easy (so I don't feel that I improve my "earing" experience enough that way...)

[@MrMjwoodford]

Do you not have similar issues with French language media?

[@user-dw2yp6jl8s]

​@@Orabig, it worked for me. I rarely turn subtitles on for a long time. But when I started I was watching tv shows with subtitles and a dictionary practically doubling watch time. But I never practice speaking or writing...

[@n4_ku]

Watched South Park when I was learning english and I was impressed how clear their pronunciation are. Even words I don't know are intelligible enough for me to search in the dictionary, so I never relied of subtitles. I know it's not a show for everyone so you can watch news channel instead.

[@luap4981]

For the last 5-10 year I've felt more and more psychotic with the remote volume. I move it up and down constantly throughout a show.

[@TomCruz54321]

Especially when I’m watching late at night and I’m so conscious about waking everybody in the house. I wore out my remote control moving the volume up and down.

[@kashmm]

So glad I'm not the only one. I have to keep a finger on the volume constantly.

[@dokkae6423]

@@kashmm this. my sister likes to hold the remote and i have to keep asking her to turn it up and down until she gets annoyed of me asking her.....the volume changes SO much

[@tendraftsdeep]

Likewise

[@amityislandchum]

Same. The volume remote is in my hand 100% of the time I'm watching TV now.

[@thebooca]

This all makes perfect sense to me since my favorite part of every story is how loud the explosion was. The first thing I want to tell my friends about a movie is how realistic the audio felt. When I describe my favorite movies to people, I always make sure to include details about how I had no idea what the characters were talking about, but I could definitely tell how far away they were when they were talking. /s These people need to get over themselves. The story is in the dialogue. If I can't hear the story enough to care about it, I'm not going to watch your movie, or the sequel, and if it's bad enough, nothing you make in the future... Purely on principal.

[@ANDREWxDELUXE]

i'm only at 1:19 where the woman says "it doesn't have a simple straightforward answer" but yes. it in fact does. film makers/film editors literally boost music louder than the dialogue of movies nowadays. it is a trend that has been going on for years if not decades now. also actors are not being corrected when mumbling lines anymore.

[@emilemig5]

That is one answer, however that is not the only answer, hence the question doesn't have "a simple straightforward answer"

[@geoffreyvanpelt6147]

@@emilemig5 Instead, there are several related striaightforward answers, in the same way a table has at least three legs. The modern trend is to demand a single leg for the table, but then the buyer discovers afterward, that there is nowhere to put their feet.

[@tsk5328]

yeah bro, welcome to the post 2000, where you show your a good actor by mumbeling your lines, and that your a good sound tech by putting a thumping sound track and that pre-recoreded explosion sound over the already hard to hear dialog.

[@rachelrueda5650]

What's really frustrating about this dynamic range is that the dialogue is so quiet that you need to turn the volume up drastically, and then when explosions happen, it's way too loud that you scramble to lower the volume

[@SaiyanSatsuki]

Sam issue here and i'm using a Bose cinnamate 15 I believe it is. It's even more frustrating, when you have tinnitus in one ear and want to keep sout down to a reasonable level.

[@RoanLauncher]

This is really true for me as well, I find myself being annoyed how big the contrast is sometimes, could have been a bit more equalized.

[@pablosantangelo1131]

It's as if they feel it's better to annoy you but alert you than to let you listen with less dynamic range because they're afraid it will bore you. An explosion that comes after a dialogue that you should but couldn't hear is not effective either, even if it sounds loud.

[@RupeeRhod]

Exactly the dynamic range is ruining movies. This is a choice not a tech forces problem. 80s movies had no issues, and nobody ever thought "that explosion was underwhelming". It's modern misunderstanding of mixing and levels combined with the loudness problems in music.

[@areadenial2343]

Some sound equipment is able to compress sound volume, i.e. making quiet sounds louder and vice versa. Windows 7 had a feature called Loudness Equalization that did this, it's really helpful for avoiding jarring volume differences.

[@brendanberentschot5228]

The worst is when you watch a movie with a soundtrack and the music is far louder than everything else. If you're watching late at night you gotta doctor the volume constantly

[@tylerboothman4496]

*Cries in "I Am The Doctor"*

[@sander_bouwhuis]

Every-single-time. It has ruined so many movie nights that nowadays we hardly ever watch movies anymore. After a whole day of working, sports, household chores and spending time with the kids, I'm just too tired to constantly have to increase and decrease the volume on these very poorly mixed movies. I simply don't want to spend my money and energy on something I hate doing.

[@tuftela]

Could it be that your audio is set for 5.1 surround sound when you don't have that? Because that makes the speech be sent to a non-existing middle speaker, meaning you can almost not hear it. Very common mistake these days.

[@echelecopao]

If you can watch a movie using VLC, enable the sound compressor effect. It adjusts the volume automatically and instantaneously so that the volume of loud parts is kept down

[@Healcraft]

use night mode on your speaker setup which is just a simple way to do the above comment, compress

[@user-yd8yg5fe5m]

My younger brother is partially deaf so I have been accustomed to seeing subtitles my entire life which is why I like having them on when able

[@steveluna1627]

One thing I don't understand is why they're not focused on the main problem that is when actors start mumbling? Like yeah all the other points are understandable but the most easier to fix would be to ask actors to talk correctly. Old movies also have whispering dialogues but you could still understand them in your old mono TV. I don't get why it's called "naturalistic" when in a real conversation if someone mumbles most of the time people would say "sorry what did you just say?", that's why most tv shows or KZbin videos are understandable unlike recent movies. If anything I feel the movie industry has become more pedantic thinking "only this can work" therefore prioritizing their own ego instead of giving a lasting product, because let's be honest more people will watch movies on TV's or smartphones than at the theater.

[@suparki123]

I love how she's like "You can't just turn the speech up without keeping explosions impactful", yet the very annoyance most people have is that the explosions are too loud, so people turn down the volume and can't understand dialogue anymore.

[@gabbyvelasquez3767]

i feel this, i always turn the volume way up to hear the dialogue but then have to act quick when some explosion happens cause its so loud it hurts! super annoying.

[@shanleyshoupe7873]

Yes! Her explanation made me mad too cause turning down the dialogue doesnt keep the explosion from frying the speakers if youve turned it all back up again in order to hear the dialogue properly

[@williamroberts3719]

Literally just make the action scenes quieter. I don’t understand why they have to be so loud and frustrating, I’ve heard enough explosions in my lifetime.

[@jayroger7612]

The music too! I'll have the volume turned up for people whispering and then theres dramatic orchestra music blasting my eardrums out

[@jillmartin10]

Yeah this whole video just made me mad. All movies are either hurting my ears or I’m straining to hear. Technology should be helping this not making us spend more money.

[@Alisilou]

The worst thing is when the subtitles do not repeat word for word what was said, but phrase it differently

[@Zoronii]

Netflix is THE WORST when it comes to this

[@agustin268]

​@@hungrycrab3297 If you're watching non-Spanish shows dubbed, it's because the translations for audio and text are made and thought out differently, taking different things into consideration (e.g.: Syllable timing for audio-video consistency, and subtitles being as accurate as possible)

[@relaxlibrary4249]

It can be hard for the subtitler to accurately record the audio too. Even with a good pair of headphones, it's hard to accurately capture mumblers.

[@landenbabeu9696]

​@@relaxlibrary4249 I love when the subtitlers just kinda give up and write [unintelligible] or something like that

[@toastyxboops]

NETFLIX!!!

[@charlxler]

I‘m relieved that native speakers are struggling, too. I kinda felt like my English was to bad for watching without subtitles so thanks:)

[@user-wz1zu6mz2k]

What's your native language?

[@honeystrawberries]

As someone who is hard of hearing, subtitles have been needed since forever. If only I could do the same irl sometimes.

[@dananskidolf]

If people in movies are going to mumble like in real life, they also need to put in a lot more "Pardon?" and "Could you say that again?" like in real life. And "Sorry, I couldn't hear you over all the whooshing, explosions and accompanying orchestra."

[@MirshikarSilivren]

seems like a perfect thing to put in a very aware movie breaking the 4th wall.

[@internetuser777]

The only time I‘ve ever seen this used was in A Star is Born. It fit nicely

[@octopu5ie]

@@internetuser777 the latest one?

[@thebicycleman8062]

umm they already do that alot.. so not sure what ur point is?

[@rpgreseller]

That'd be hilarious. I can't hear what you said, hey turn the sub titles on. Say that again, now? Do that scene one more time. Later on, there's the loud explosion that's TOOOOO loud and sounds like a peaked microphone. Nice.

[@kolonarulez5222]

Honestly this makes me so relieved I'm not secretly going deaf from playing music too loud.

[@clarissagafoor5222]

I know! Me too!

[@iyona2305]

I’d still turn your music down a bit, tinnitus is not fun and I speak from personal experience

[@Carnyx72]

You probably are, though.

[@aniruddhakabbya622]

thats what i thught all these years turning on subtitles. thoese notifications that say your volume is too high made me believe i am deaf. i probably am but who knows

[@vincentgoupil180]

Whaaa ... ?? (Can't read you. Use upper case lettering.)

[@zarghamahmad5571]

And I was thinking that my English is getting worse so I won't use subtitles anymore. Thanks a lot. That's a big relief knowing that even English speaking people can't understand the dialogues.

[@freyaann9747]

as someone with an auditory processing disorder this video was cathartic for me to know im not the only one that feels like this

[@piscesneptune]

same

[@sidefack]

Nothing quite like sitting at home with my hand on the remote turning the volume up during dialogue moments and waiting for the inevitable explosions that are going to blow my ear drums out.

[@mj_sick]

People hate watching tv with me since I’m constantly changing the sound lol

[@GuilhermeSantos-ty7gy]

Thats How you have tô watch a movie

[@glenp3985]

and the wretched adverts, which blast you out of your seat.

[@Hrema]

Yeah I kind of hate how she explains it as if this is something people want.

[@allyrose6437]

@@Hrema yeah she's like "well we HAVE to make boom sounds super loud so sorry 😕"

[@TheDonaldduck911]

Very brave of Nolan to revolutionize movies by making them sound worse 99% of the time

[@akaria930]

We need Christopher Nolan's sound and Game of Thrones lighting to create the greatest movie that no one will see or hear

[@CyberVirtual]

I believe a lot of movies are stuck with being compatible with Dolby Atmos then as it converts to Stereo or Mono for anything that isn't a home theater set up resulting in audio issues. We can't hear anything as Dialogue is Volume 5 and Explosion are at 100. Like can we just keep everything 50/50? Weeaboo Netflix Brats: I want the subtitles to be dubbed as well. Where is the CC. My Legally Blind Friend: have the Audio Description Version. Me: Allow me to be deaf so that the movie is not spoiled in the first paragraph please...

[@tuptastic304]

I thought the sound design on dunkirk was fantastic. I don't think I've ever watched a movie where bullets sounded deadlier. The dialogue suffered, but most of the movie's dramatic moments made use of action- not conversation.

[@macforme]

Gerardo: LOL... it saves him money. He doesn't bother with retakes, or fixing the sound in post-production. 😂🤣

[@thoughtsofapeer]

@@CyberVirtual On old DVD's we chose either 5.1, 2.1, 2.0, or mono. On streaming this is not available. I think they have stopped caring, just like Nolan reveals. Its just a weird prioritization to not spend the time on mastering at least 2.0 audio alongside Atmos since 90% of people only have that. I actually think in the old days of the 1980s people had better sound than today because people bought stereos for their music and TV. Today people just buy a pair of headphones and use the in-built speakers on their TV

[@1281bexta]

I can’t speak for anybody else but are you subtitles because there’s a consistent ringing in my ears. Who’s for tinnitus?

[@budfoon]

Austin Olivia Kendrick has very clear diction. That always helps! And even though i saw Dune II in an iMax theater and a serious sound system, i still couldn't understand a lot of the dialogue - so i don't buy all of the mixing-for-a-non-substandard-theater argument.

[@newto2794]

The "just turn it up" part is so on spot!! Whenever we are watching a Netflix movie with my family, we can perfectly listen every single bullet shot, every characters' intense breathing, etc. but when somebody dares to open their mouth?? Actually no clue what they are saying

[@borey123xx9]

buy quality speakers cause tv speakers are insanely bad

[@Beatem2deathinyoursexdreams]

@@borey123xx9 I think so too

[@yt-1337]

@@borey123xx9 it's just a little better if you buy a good soundbar, you'd need a home cinema with 7.1 speakers at least and even then it's not the same, because often you can't even understand in the cinema with dolby atmos

[@archerelms]

@@yt-1337 Yeah, this is one of the biggest parts of the problem imo. It's hard to understand in the BEST circumstances, how are you supposed to understand it in almost any other situation? And most people don't even have 7.1, let alone Atmos. A lot of people don't have better than either Stereo or a poor quality 5.1 If it was JUST tv speakers being bad, I would still say that's bad (or at least inconsiderate, I guess?) sound design, but it would at least be more understandable than the all around unintelligibility we have now

[@shizzy7478]

Definitely not me watching Interstellar.

[@davejones246]

The issue with having that big sound difference to make explosions and such seem bigger is that we've turned up the volume to hear people whisper and then all of a sudden your house is shaking from the ensuing gunfight.

[@kenny.m.olsen95]

Would just have to decrease the db between the differences while still keeping the illusion

[@EbbermanEmily]

Yeah, I was thinking about that exact issue. I hate movies where you can barely hear the dialogue and then a song starts and it's suddenly a live concert. I think they've gotten better about this, but from the early 2000s-2010s it was bad (that's my date range as I'm referring to movies I'd watch growing up lol so its probably not super accurate)

[@GuilhermeSantos-ty7gy]

Love that

[@aydenzabelle]

then cut to a commercial thats somehow even louder than the explosions

[@kyleeissomajestic]

i’d much rather have “less dynamic sound” than get my ears blasted with the explosions being way too loud

[@csabi115]

As someone who learned English as a second language, it gives me some sort of comfort to know that even native speakers struggle with this to some extent. Having spent many many years studying the language, from an early childhood, I got to a point in my late teens/early 20s where I pretty much considered myself to be proficient and I haven't had any trouble speaking the language or understanding spoken English for years... except when I am watching movies or tv shows, where I almost always need subtitles, without which I would only understand like two thirds of what I hear at best. I have been so annoyed at myself for this, and it has made me seriously question my assessment of my own language skills, basically saying "okay, I have to admit, I am not even that good with English". And then I find this video. This now has restored my faith in myself a bit. 😄

[@JM_Hansei]

This was pretty interesting. I'm a non-native English speaker and I started to watch 'Friends' TV series recently. Most of the time, I don't quite understand what the actors say, either because of the way they pronounce some words, or because they speak too fast (to me, they do). So yes, subtitles are very welcome!

[@madamem.2313]

As a non-native speaker of English, it's actually reassuring to learn that even the native speakers struggle.

[@Milo_Estobar]

Yeah, imagine learning English for decades then an Englishman like Paddy Pimblett shows up and speak to you and it feels like all those years learning went down to the drain...

[@housstheroccan3040]

@@Milo_Estobar specially when.he is stuffing pizzas dow his throat 🤣

[@syntheovaldy5173]

@@Milo_Estobar 😂😂😂bruh

[@syntheovaldy5173]

@@housstheroccan3040 paddy speaks his own language tbh

[@FlowerEmblem]

Was watching an Avengers movie with a international student, they were Japanese and staying with us in Canada to learn English. Anyways the first thing I did was turn on the subtitles. They said thank you but I said that the subtitles were for me too 🤣

[@gunnersubbu]

This is why dialogue in sitcoms is so much easier to understand; the actors are still projecting their voices because they are usually in front of a live studio audience.

[@billyflood2430]

YUP

[@Imnotplayinganymore]

Also, I imagine, mixed for TV rather than a theater.

[@mary-janereallynotsarah684]

Well the ones with laughter anyhoo. And that type is going away.

[@maxscameraguy]

We need to get back to the days of live studio audiences.

[@bobnolin9155]

Sitcoms are pretty shouty, now that I think about it. No explosions to compete with.

[@nathan-cone]

The older I get, the more I have come to really, really appreciate a good mono mix.

[@upaya-kaushalya]

As someone who's been learning English for many years, I've found that I have no problem understanding any introductory material, but still can't get some of the lines in movies, and it makes me question my English level often. This video is such a relief.

[@GaryDee119]

I’m a re-recording mixer. This video leaves out what is in my opinion the biggest factor. They explained how a wide dynamic range has a negative effect in home environments but did not elaborate and did not explain that we have no choice but to mix with these wide dynamics due to network requirements, which most of us mixers want changed!! Television used to be mixed with very little dynamics. But now the line between TV and film is blurred and companies like Netflix want their content to “sound theatrical” so they require us to keep the dialog at a -27dB average while allowing us to peak at -1 for the big moments. That range is too wide for most homes because of the acoustic environment. Acoustics play SUCH a huge role in how we hear things, I can not overstate this enough. Without proper absorption in the walls and corners you get all kinds of buildups of certain frequencies that resonate the room, especially during loud moments. So often times it’s the room itself that’s muddying the dialog and not even the speakers or the mix. Any kind of natural reverberation in the room also makes dialog a little less intelligible so the natural response is to turn it up during the quiet moments. Then suddenly the loud moments become WAY too loud due too resonant frequencies in the room. The fix for this is to mix with a narrower dynamic range but the networks won’t allow us to do that.. for now. I always tell people to try listening in headphones and I guarantee you won’t be riding the volume up and down cause you’ve eliminated the room out of the equation.

[@af4912]

I never thought about it this way, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Indeed the environment we listen in plays a role in it too. I rarely need subtitles to videos when I have my earphones on.

[@TheNaomiFearn]

gosh yes,thank you for explaining that- I can't count the times I've turned up the volume to be able to hear the dialogue just to jump out of my seat moments later and not in a good way.

[@bluethan806]

That makes so much sense, most of the time the volume is lowered because action scenes get ridiculously loud, and yet I can imagine how proper sound absorption might solve that issue. That’s incredible

[@abj136]

This explains it. But I and most people don’t have high end speakers for TV and don’t have connected earphones. So Netflix et al fail us entirely with their insistence on wide dynamic range.

[@lonestarr1490]

But it cannot only be the room, because I also have issues understanding dialogue while using headphones sometimes.

[@illuminatustm]

As a non-native speaker that likes to listen to the original audio, this makes me feel better because I thought it’s just me

[@Postbus22]

Agree! I am a native german speaker and I can understand every amateur on youtube (also the indian tutorial lol). But I cannot understand a word in a professional movie

[@joanacaetanogomes]

As a portuguese person (we dont dub anything besides kids movies here) I'm used to this

[@Diego_i]

@CoffeeAddict i like to watch like this too... although i really like to rely on the audio, but having the sub, makes easier when they say a word I don't know, or is hard to catch from just listening

[@lauralvw8445]

@@joanacaetanogomes same in the Netherlands

[@djb903]

As a native speaker I also like to have them on at home because I don't like turning my speakers up so that the booms are jarring and may lead to noise complaints from the neighbors.

[@CellaDragon]

I’ve always watched with subtitles since I started watching bootleg Japanese shows even I was younger. I then kept doing it with shows/movies and it’s very, very helpful

[@rosewiththorns4664]

It's such a relief because I've been learning English for many years already but still have a lot of problems understanding what people say in movies and tv shows and I thought the problem was me.

[@jkanclark]

Old movies’ dialogue definitely sounds much clearer, but I think it mostly has to do with the fact that the actors were trained to project their voices - probably from many having come from the stage.

[@PeteOhki]

Project AND speak clearly and precisely to give the audio equipment every possible advantage. With this in mind, I had first thought that speech and communication standards had changed (not influenced by other factors).

[@catenjoyer76]

I usually don't understand what they're saying in 50s movies due to bad quality audio and how they speak so fast... Maybe it's because english is my 2nd language

[@waswat]

@@catenjoyer76 probably, english is my second language as well but i find the 50s movies have much clearer dialogue

[@danielbehrend3683]

Absolutely, ‘modern’ actors can’t speak properly!

[@tomnerkowski4077]

@@waswat Yeah, clear and easy to hear, but hard to understand is different than muffled and mumbled and impossible to extract.

[@juliegolick]

True fact: I used to work as a subtitle editor for major hollywood studios, and even we sometimes had trouble figuring out what was being said in the dialogue... and we (usually) had access to the scripts!

[@samphelps856]

Thank you for sharing Julie 🙂

[@joylox]

I asked for a captioner to do subtitles for recorded videos from an online class, and they were almost as inaccurate as the auto-generated Teams captions, which were pretty bad. It didn't help that whoever was doing captions didn't know anything about the topic of the class so they missed some of the keywords unique to the field of study. It was very hard to understand.

[@dooovde]

Yeah I noticed. I see a lot of mistakes.

[@XENOOO]

Shouldn't you be accessing scripts regardless of knowing what's being said? Shouldn't that be standard practice when working on high budget projects?

[@juliegolick]

@@XENOOO Not everything had scripts, since we were also doing work on all the featurettes and director commentaries for the movies. Also some classic movies ("re-released to DVD!") where the original script had either been lost or for whatever reason we didn't have access to it. We also did some work on unscripted or semi-scripted TV shows (think reality TV), where we essentially had to transcribe everything from scratch. Plus different studios had different policies for what to do when dialogue didn't match the script, as often happened. All sorts of challenges!

[@superj-man137]

The worst part of this is that the movie industry, script writers, and editors who know all of this information still aren't doing anything to fix the issue. Because if you know your actors are mumbling, and you are hiding dialogue behind loud sounds then you are saying the dialogue is not that important and can be overlooked for visuals, music, etc. Every artist puts out art for consumption by the masses. Paintings are displayed, music is heard, poetry is read, and plays / movies were meant to be a message, something the writer wanted to display that would make a comment on society, whether a tragedy, comedy, or drama. At this point, we are saying nothing these script writers or playwrights are saying is worth our time since we are going to cover the dialogue with noise. For the record, I did not need subtitles to watch this video. You spoke clearly, enunciating your words, and provided your thoughts in a cohesive manner befitting the topic. Great job. Thank you.

[@julianlowrise4981]

I mean worst of all is the fact that they still make choices with regard to aspect ratios and sound design and then turn around and say it was an artistic choice. Okay, great. Don't sell it to me then, go play it in an art gallery. If they want to market it to all possible devices, and are planning to make absurd sums of money from it, either start producing it in a format which can be accessible or stop producing for audiences which aren't able to view it properly and accept that your paying audience is smaller, and budget accordingly. I wouldn't make a visual only film and then sell it to the blind, UNLESS I took the effort to add audio descriptions for their viewing.

[@ChrisCarClips]

There should be two options for audio on movies. Dynamic, and Compressed. Dynamic range works amazingly in a theatre, where you have the ability of dialog being at an audible range, and things like explosions being very loud and alarming, but at home we rarely have that luxury. Most people live next to neighbors, or live with others, so having a compressed option where the dialog is as loud as everything else would be great. If not on the films themselves, then an option on the TV.

[@katem5520]

With shows seemingly getting darker and darker and also the sound being so unintelligible, it's a task watching anything nowadays Thank you for pointing this out!

[@AWEsome3GIRl3sam]

Omg the darkness, i turn my brightness all the way up and still can't see anything! I guess we're just meant to watch things at night only 😭

[@Ishidalover]

In the Hannibal fandom, we called it Whispering Poetry In The Dark 🤣😭

[@carriel3054]

The content of TV is getting so much better, but the overall experience is getting worse. I can't relax and watch a show anymore, I'm squinting and playing with the volume and picture settings the whole time. I miss Seinfeld :P

[@foggydogy5796]

Totally agree with u man. I literally have to squint at the screen to see anything. Sometimes I just stop watching.

[@dockingb]

@AWEsome3GIRl3sam the visual darkness of shows is something I've particularly noticed with Amazon Original series. With the brightness turned all the way up, and window blinds shut, I can barely see what's happened on TV. Which is a shame, because some of their shows look fairly entertaining

[@SuperCapuka]

I find it that now a days directors worry so much about quantity of sound that sometimes they forget that hearing the actors speak is the most important way to convey the story.

[@Hegder]

Performance styles have changed a lot and many actors just do not enunciate anymore.

[@Edramon53]

And if you have to turn subtitles on to hear the more natural-sounding mumbly dialogue, you're now putting words over the picture. You know, the reason it's on a screen in the first place instead of just listening to radio.

[@HolahkuTaigiTWFormosanDiplomat]

:00

[@coalescedistortions2577]

I agree that being able to understand the dialogue is important. But if there is absolutely no visual storytelling that doesn’t sound fun to watch.

[@Steak818]

@@kieranselick People still believe that subtitles prevent you from seeing the on-screen action ?

[@tfanatica]

I was expecting an answer similar to "because we have destroyed our attention span !" but I was pleasantly surprised and found the whole thing super interesting, so thank you for the video

[@xchrysantha]

This is a HUGE reason why I don't watch what I call "real people" shows. I cannot stand this. At all. Thank you for deep diving into the science of it all!!!

[@mcgritty8842]

Let’s not forget, commercials are louder than your movies or shows to grab your attention more than what you actually want to watch…

[@nightshades7921]

Yeah, very suspicious...

[@blobofconsciousness]

Yep even in YT more than the videos the ads are super loud. I thought it was my laptop's fault

[@ZachBobBob]

This is why I immediately hit mute when I know ads are coming up.

[@Maszzmic]

On television, at least in Europe, this is not the case anymore like how it used to be back in the days, because of loudness regulations introduced around 2013. Also, platforms like KZbin and Spotify actually have loudness normalization in place. As far as I have understood, KZbin only normalises downward when something is too loud. Spotify also normalises upward when a song is too quiet.

[@zenakash]

@@Maszzmic on french tv at least ads are still way louder than the actual show, and it is quite unbearable

[@sandhanitizer15]

Im only 34 and I literally thought I was losing my hearing over the last 5 years or so. I'm all about subtitles nowadays. It's refreshing to find out I'm not alone lol

[@ginny93en]

Same!

[@pAWNproductionsDE]

I was thinking the same thing. Years of going to concerts, gigs, and band practice without ear protection has definitely damaged my hearing a bit, but it's relieving to know it's nowhere near as bad as I thought

[@Vamatt99218]

Yes, but subtitles obscurea little bit of the picture and reading them moves the focus on the bottom of the screen instead of whats happening on screen.

[@maenad1231]

Same. Still in my twenties and was freaking out because as a teen I only needed it when I was watching foreign shows/films

[@abbieclement]

Oh my god, me too!

[@fixipszikon6670]

I've had speakers at home for the past 25 years. I can understnad every single word in this video. I learned english (mostly) by watching Star Wars (the 6 movies) and Star Trek TNG and Voyager. I did not need subtitles. Now that I speak english quite well, I need subtitles.

[@gigajuless]

I'm so happy I'm German. Not only do we have dubs for almost every movie and show out there, which is not a privilege a lot of countries have, but they are also perfectly understandable without feeling out of place. Yet, natively German movies have the same problem, especially since one of our most famous actors is known for mumbling A LOT.

[@francescoalaimo3051]

I'm a non native speaker and I've always thought it was a personal issue, even if I'm studying for my master's degree in English. This video is a huge relief pill, thanks Vox. Edit: It's unbelievable how many native speakers or bilingual people used to think it was their fault too. Makes you think how humans are ready to doubt themselves and find excuses, even for something so natural such as language.

[@brunodepaulaassuncao2389]

Same here (exept for the masters degree in english)

[@trinacogitating4532]

I always have subtitles on. Some of the tv & movies I watch are in languages that I don't speak. Then I started using subtitles to catch words I didn't know, when watching shows from the U.K. But even in my native U.S. English, I often can't tell what's being said, if subtitles aren't on...

[@xforsize]

Wow!

[@pancytryna9378]

Same lol

[@acerina141]

Omg same!!!!

[@WhiteShadowForce]

It's kinda interesting how we went from movies without dialogue, to movies without dialogue

[@stevefoster4732]

Good one :)

[@ahmaddeveloper1329]

no comments?

[@Apollonos]

What will they do next, eliminate dialogue completely and just have a piano player in the theater? LOL!

[@Baslium]

I think the movie is the problem.

[@dale3404]

@@Apollonos 😂

[@eujuneca]

I'm not a native speaker so I always attributed that to my need to turn on english subtitles for movies and tv shows, even though I almost never turn them on for KZbin content. I'm glad to find out I'm not the problem 😅😅😅

[@CheapoPremio]

6:25 No I don't, I literally don't. When I switch audio to other languages the conversation is loud. Even when mixing down, just make what is said louder. The people in charge just don't want to for esoteric reasons. I once just lifted the center speaker alone up and it was perfect.

[@kindofanmol]

Netflix deserves more credit for standardizing subtitles. Even to this day, Netflix subtitles look SO MUCH BETTER than most other streaming services and its pretty evident that they put care into smaller details like these which make the overall experience much more enjoyable.

[@masterpython]

I think they AI they use to generate them needs work. I have seen noticed some just plain wrong subtitles that mess up jokes and puns.

[@ry1774]

@@masterpython ive seen an entire sentence changed on several occasions w/ netflix

[@PlaceholderAlex]

Just the simple way the subtitles will move sometimes to show action near the bottom of the screen, especially when it's near the head of the person speaking. I never watch Netflix without subtitles.

[@LuizHenrique730]

so true!!

[@TheLyricsAnalyst]

Nah it’s people who get paid to do transcripts

[@wedonteatbears]

As a non-native English speaker, I'm always scared that my English is not good enough for me to understand dialogue in movies, but this video suggests that this problem is not due to my English skills! Thanks

[@victorianelson3108]

English is my first language and I need subtitles to understand dialogue in TV and movies. Definitely not just you!

[@BladerKoyotte]

@@victorianelson3108 It is a kind of relief to know that

[@Edelbitterschoki]

Yes! I am so relieved, that it is not caused by my English skills. 😂

[@MaxTargin0]

That’s what I was thinking, the amount of times I had to turn on the subtitles just to understand a line in a movie made me think I am not as fluent as I think I am, now seeing natives saying they do the same is such a relief

[@lucascandido1473]

I was about to say the same thing!! I was so worried my English wasn’t good anymore, thank god it isn’t that 😅

[@allthingsharbor]

I like the closed captions/subtitles so I can watch a movie without my significant other asking me questions like , "What did she say?" or "Where did that guy say he is going?".

[@arturothecook]

Thank you for this video. As English is my second language, I thought that I was regressing in my understanding, or at least I was stagnant. I was turning subtitles more often than ever. I even thought I was going deaf because many dialogues sounded like mumbling! Now I know. Thanks.

[@randomshadow4]

So the actor is CHOOSING to mumble, the director is CHOOSING to mix for high end theaters and the mixer is CHOOSING to keep the dynamic range over bringing the dialogue up…but it’s the audience’s problem to solve..got it

[@GakisStylianos]

Who said it's the audience's problem to solve?

[@joshuajewell]

Yet the audience is CHOOSING to watch the film.

[@isaiahsguilty]

consumerism would say get a sound bar + a 7.1 surround sound system but don’t forget the two separate subwoofers as well as the surround sound speaker brackets screws not included

[@eclecticdreams]

@@GakisStylianosbecause the audience then has to choose whether to ignore that they can't hear it well, buy better speakers, design their room to be better acoustically, use sub-titles, or....

[@caldissima6100]

@@isaiahsguilty I have that and i still can't hear dialogue lol

[@dr.bherrin]

As a deaf person I can attest that I have absolutely never heard anything wrong with dialog in movies or shows.

[@canofsoda]

sounds about right

[@canofsoda]

wait

[@stangerthings2684]

LOLLLLLL

[@theforgeformen]

As a coda who grew up with captions and who never watches without them I can attest I also have never heard anything wrong with dialog in movies or shows.

[@Lady_dromeda]

The irony for me in this video is that I can hear and understand Austin better with the mic they’re using instead of the boom mic

[@robotmuseum]

Thanks for mixing this video so I didn't need subtitles. Crystal clear voices!🎉

[@WhitieWu]

A huge pet peeve for me is watching a movie late at night and quickly scramble for the remote to turn the volume down because the music comes in blaring, only to have to turn it back up when people start talking.

[@TheNavarro6767]

Yes, the music being so loud it covers the dialog is extremely aggravating and way to pervasive.

[@midnight8341]

Don't forget that you watch a movie in the living room and not only do yoh have to scramble for the remote for the sake of your own ear drums, no you hope you didn't wake up your boyfriend sleeping in the other room, who has to work the next day AND you startled your cats on the couch next to you for the sixth time in 20min, when they just wanted to have a nice evening on the couch with you...

[@aesluden]

@@midnight8341 That's the perfect scenario to just go watch it in a movie theater. Or just use earbuds or headphones 🤷

[@lunyxappocalypse7071]

@@TheNavarro6767 [Yes, the music being so loud it covers the dialog is extremely aggravating and way to pervasive.] Don't people know the concept of low-key music for plays anymore?

[@helio6839]

What I love most about subtitles (when they aren’t auto-generated), is that they usually capture those far off conversations or TV shows playing in the background that you aren’t meant to hear clearly, which always feels kind of sneaky (in a good way).

[@russianbear0027]

Yeah! It also helps hear things like "ominous clicking" and other effects I just wouldn't hear. Good subtitles also will tell me who is talking which given how half of Hollywood is similar looking vaugely attractive white people helps me tell characters apart. It's kind of funny when the subtitle writer mixes up who's talking tho lol

[@frogchair]

Exactly!!! Most the time it’s kinda useless, but sometimes you can grab really good pieces of context or just get cool easter egg type tid bits!

[@yokelengleng]

In Chinese language shows, it is the norm to use subtitles since the beginning of time. So as a Chinese speaker I don't find anything out of the ordinary to use subtitles. When Parasite made it big in America, the director said something along the lines of "if you overcome the five inch barrier of subtitles, you will discover a whole new world". Basically he means that Americans should accept reading subtitles to expose themselves to foreign cinema. So imagine if non English speakers are afraid of subtitles, would your Hollywood movies make it big in the whole world?

[@pasta-and-heroin]

i do the same thing in EVERY video game i play. its strange - i only use film/tv subtitles when i *need* them, but in games it is the very first thing i turn on. i love how you described it feeling ‘sneaky’, it lets me hear things the game dev put in but few people hear

[@jellytwins1018]

@@russianbear0027 Lol, I have the same issue with differentiating black actors as many of them just look way too similar. So good subtitles do help a lot.

[@TheJmart94]

can't help but admire the audio quality of the video call sections

[@Dkirchner1988]

There was a certain point in this where I said to myself “but what about ADR? That has to account for SOMETHING!” And then the very next words were “in a process called ADR.” Great stuff, truly fascinating.

[@mattball2462]

When she talks about dynamic range, I think it hits the real issue. "You can't make the dialogue louder, because the explosions have to be louder". But action movies for decades did a perfect job of giving us dialogue we could understand and still had explosions. Essentially she's saying "We could mostly fix the problem, but we don't want to because we want those explosions extra loud". I don't want those explosions extra loud. I don't need the action to be 10 times louder than the dialogue. Just make it so I can understand the dialogue and make the action a little bit louder.

[@TheBitKrieger]

That's why I have "reduce loud noises" / night-mode / "normalize volume" set on all devices - otherwise it is unbearable.

[@AuntieHauntieGames]

She gets into that when she characterizes this approach as being what people consider cinematic now. It seems to me that 'explosions loud' is not her position so much as it is the position being taken by directors, producers, etc. The people who essentially tell her what they want her to do.

[@ronald3836]

The answer is: we know you can enable subtitles, so we save money by not bothering.

[@amorphousblob]

Agreed. I also have tinnitus, so I do not want to hear extremely loud explosions, which means I need to have my hand on the remote/volume for the entire movie just to try and predict when I need to raise and lower the sound... It's incredibly annoying.

[@hyunrahan5265]

Ikr. Most of us would lower the volume ourselves if we could sense there will be a loud sound coming. it’s won’t giving us the ‘cinematic’ experience either way. So might as well just don’t bother giving us this ‘cinematic’ experience

[@lunaargentum1743]

so movies are getting harder to see (darker) and more difficult to understand. but it's our fault we're not watching them in big movie theaters with top notch speakers

[@petraw9792]

Especially with shows and films that don't get a theatrical release.

[@LemonToGo]

agreed 100%

[@solarplexus7]

Even Tenet in Imax didn’t help for me though.

[@BenBrawn]

Even in good cinemas it’s unacceptable. Way too loud, way too mumbly.

[@StevenBanks123]

Thanks. Yes! A bunch of excuses.

[@almalauha]

This was really interesting, thanks! Some movies really have an issue with dynamic range, where explosions etc are so loud that they are deafening. It's one thing to make it louder than typical dialogue, it's something else when it literally hurts. This is the reason I've stopped going to the cinema despite being a movie/documentary fan. To protect my hearing at home, I try to not have the TV on loud and sometimes that means some of the dialogue is a bit too low in volume, hence I almost always put subtitles on even for the languages I am fluent in. I'd rather have to read bits than damage my hearing more.

[@revelaitons3959]

Well it's great to hear that it's done badly on purpose, and the editors aren't just incompetent. I think the real reason directors are more often preferring this "music over dialogue" approach is that emotionally compelling music is much easier to make (and cheaper) than emotionally compelling dialogue. A triumphant sting is made more potent when it's 10x louder than the mediocre dialogue that surrounds it.

[@IainFrame]

We need subtitles now because TV producers seem to think that all dialogue should be mumbled at low volume. It's ridiculous.

[@spozbucket]

I agree. I use subtitles because there's a limit to how high I can put the volume, as the music and everything else is always 10x louder. The speech is always far too low in volume. I've been watching older programs recently and have no issues.

[@phattjohnson]

Get a decent hi-fi system, and never look (listen?) back!

[@Emsyaz]

@@jackpace6845 incompetent tv producers and actors.

[@TehDerpGamer]

You should watch this video vox just posted called "Why we all need subtitles now"

[@fafardh]

@@phattjohnson Sure. Just tell me your address, so I can send you the bill. ;) PS: I'm being deliberately passive-aggressive to emphasize a point. Please don't take this personally, that's not how it's meant ;)

[@Wesjapa100]

I'm a non-English native speaker but I consider myself fluent in the language, and sometimes I feel bad for not understanding something without subtitles. However, now I feel good to know that even native speakers don't always understand things. 😄

[@noname6389]

I was looking for your comment! It's so true. I always thought it's because of my leaking my language skill but no, it's just because of mumbling. A big relief, I think 😅😌

[@thomasvo5939]

I feel the same 😂

[@Thagor95]

I stopped feeling like it was because of me being a non-native speaker when I noticed that even in movies or shows in my language, I tend to use subtitles now for the same reason :D

[@danieltran9634]

Same here. I have no problem understanding interviews or vlogs on KZbin though.

[@lucas.marianno]

Same here, ESL speaker too! I not only consider myself fluent, I do have all the international certifications to back it up. But I still kept asking myself if my language skills were getting rusted with time.

[@xcreekarchery1]

When I realized I could connect my tv to my bose bluetooth headphones easily and seamlessly I never looked back. While It was done because I have roommates and work a later schedule, I find myself so much more immersed in the experience that I watch with my headphones regardless of the time of day

[@oxfordpictionary]

I make subtitles and captions for a living and every time I use them myself (which is like 80% of the time I am watching stuff) I am glad that I do the job I do! The only time I don’t like captions is when I am watching a comedy, because often captions will ruin jokes by delivering them all at once in one caption instead of with a pause. So when I make captions for comedy I try my best to replicate the delivery, pauses included.

[@Vini-BR]

As an English teacher and non-native speaker myself, I get asked a lot by my students whether they'll be able to eventually watch movies without the subtitles. It feels lame to tell them that I don't do that myself, but I'm honest with them about that anyways. I understand KZbin videos and podcasts fully no problem, but not movies. After watching this video, I indulge myself to feel actually relieved that the limitation is not on my part, but a phenomenon that affects most people, native speakers and all. Thanks! I'll let my students know about that!

[@revenevan11]

Yes!!!

[@lorz2385]

This.

[@ramiroolarte7169]

I was just thinking "maybe when I move and hear the language everyday, I'll get used to it and understand it better"... But now I don't anymore... This is like the reggaeton of movies!

[@joselucas9398]

aliviado!!

[@mectateljnica3980]

Same! I feel so relieved, I always thought my English wasn’t good enough. But it made no sense because I watch KZbin videos and listen to podcasts all the time

[@jhunt5578]

The thing that annoys me is when the dialogue is so much quieter than the action segments. I'm watching at a normal volume during a scene with dialogue, then the volume suddenly blares out because of gun fire or a car crash, and the background music is suddenly way too loud.

[@naturalnashuan]

Ever listen to Pink Floyd albums in a car? Like The Final Cut or The Wall? It's ...mutter, mumble, whisper, soft music, mutter.. {You turn up the volume} LOUD EXPLOSIONS...{you turn it back down.}....mutter mumble, soft music, Repeat.

[@naturalnashuan]

Some devices, like my iPad have settings in the menu for setting the max volume you'll accept, for that reason.

[@sprocket0077]

Ohhhh but the ~dYnAmIc RaNgE~!!

[@matthewwatt2295]

They really should have a different mix for TV like they used to with VHS and early dvd - 99% of people don't have a full home theater setup and don't want the 'cinematic mix' with huge dynamic range.

[@caleb1938]

The sound designer in this video thinks that's a good thing lol

[@leffanahsays]

I thought I was the only person who struggled with this. Nice to see a video on the topic.

[@CatDaddyMane]

Netflix and hulu movies use that surround sound on EVERYTHING. You have to turn up the volume to 50-60 to hear anything but when someone yells or something blows up your whole building will hear it.

[@roselover411]

I don't _want_ my explosions to be really loud! I hate when I have to constantly change the volume because the action scenes are blasting but the dialogue is super quiet. I want to be able to keep it at the same volume the whole time. But since I apparently can't have that, subtitles are necessary.

[@markozagar]

My pet peeve also. Keep the loud explosions in the cinema, but I like my neighbors to have a peaceful existence.

[@DanielSmith-zo1db]

Top gun maverick is one of the worst mixed movies I’ve ever seen. The reason they kept saying it would only be good in theaters is because they just kept putting the volume on max. It was so loud that my ears would ring at points

[@UnexpectedDanger]

This is me, I'm holding the remote the whole time. Dialogue is too quiet, everything else is too loud.

[@mikeb53]

YES! 100% this. When people are talking I need the volume right up, and subtitles, and an ear trumpet for good measure. Then 5 seconds later, I'm having to turn the volume down again. Then I turn it back up.

[@Nelkami]

Volume Leveling or whatever the equivalent is in different TV's will become normalised for this reason

[@garyburke6156]

its interesting that this problem of mumbly, unintelligible dialogue has happened in conjunction with a trend of dark scene lighting where the events are barely visible, both are driven by directors pushing their decisions towards expensive theaters and equipment, to "drive technology" and in the process ignoring how most people consume their products

[@DeViceCrimsin_]

This exactly. I said the same thing. But the way you say it sounds better

[@gatekeeping8528]

Exactly, like why is Christopher Nolan proud that no one can understand his movies????? I think that’s just his ego speaking

[@hettfield]

@@gatekeeping8528 When I read that Nolan didn't care that people couldn't understand his dialog, I realized he's lost his mind. Ego above quality is not the way to go.

[@arforafro5523]

I watched the Spiderman No Way Home movie at a car cinema during the plague to avoid crowds indoors and I couldn't tell what was going on for the entirety of the last fight. I couldn't see anything but the subtitles and maybe the explosions. Video games do this too, fortunately enough my monitor has a black boost option so I can crank that up without burning my retinas the moment I step anywhere with some modicum of lighting.

[@ChoiceOfIllusion]

Agree completely. One of the worst examples is the final season of Game of thrones. The attitude of the director in response to that was so condescending and out of touch: "My directing is perfect, if you can't adjust your TV correctly you're the problem"

[@focused313]

Excellent POST-staff you guys have over there. Editing, graphics, b-roll, etc... well done.

[@ImehSmith]

THANK YOU FOR EXPLAING THIS as THIS IS SOOOO ME 5000% I use captions 24/7 since the early 2000's

[@soli3863]

But i learnt from this: Dialogue professionals are as disconnected from people's real needs as all the architects that think we want pure concrete blocks

[@cas1652]

People are seemingly laser focus on a few metrics or KPIs while forgetting the whole purpose of the work they are doing.

[@tedl7538]

Yes Soli. The dialogue editor's explanation is valid on a purely technical level, while missing the big picture entirely.

[@Kaipyro67ALT]

Well, it's Vox, so that tracks. Also, brutalism, babyyy

[@arandomanvil5989]

Aw man, don't hate on Brutalism.

[@profquad]

add to that car manufacturers who think we all want the same crossover vehicle with no trunk space and massive blind spots.

[@IzzzyIs]

Honestly, I thought I was secretly going deaf... but knowing that these shows, movies, and other video content are just going a little quieter relieves me a lot

[@elshane2022]

same bro

[@soccerlife8912]

I thought for sure I was reckless with my headphones too young and was paying for it now. 😅

[@catherinecrawford3058]

It's not a bad idea to get tested - I found out I was hard of hearing and thought it was just bad audio.

[@ashchaya7676]

People just mumble so much these days that they drop whole syllables all the time. Sometimes two or three in a single word. Not to mention running words together so it's all one unpunctuated sound. Communication skills really are dying.

[@JEE-dr1nw]

I thought that my English is not just enough to understand American English as an Indian

[@pandoraxgrant]

As a not-native English speaker, THANK YOU for making this video! Now I’m not so unconfident about my english skills as soon as now I know I’m not the only one who struggles sometimes trying to understand what actors say :)

[@arsplastiques]

I love this, thank you! I genuinely thought my hearing was going.

[@mooncheeseplague5157]

What I hate, is most movies have the background music and sound effects bumped waaaay higher than the dialog. So ya gotta back n forth turn up n down the volume to hear people talk, but not be blasted by everything else. That’s why I use subtitles

[@vera_nika2]

Yass that too

[@kaylielopez6460]

Facts

[@RijackiTorment]

Ironically, this video suffered from that as well, using complex music at the same sound level as the dialogue. ARGH!!!

[@georgwrede7715]

Exactly! If I were in a detached house I could watch movies at full volume, but I have neighbors, so I need to keep the dialogue too silent.

[@stevensmileyprod]

Foreground music LUL

[@SashaTSkiller]

I’m a teacher of English as a foreign language and my students get soooo frustrated that they can’t understand films and tv shows without subtitles. From now on I have this video to show to them and make them feel better about their progress! Thank you so much!

[@user-vd3ms6pb4n]

That was exactly what I was thinking about. I have a rather high level of English and no problem to understand native speakers but when I watch a movie I understand half of it. It got me even thinking whether I truly know English or not

[@natesofamerica]

Same here in reverse, Mario Casas is a terrible mumbler and nobody can understand him even my wife who only speaks Spanish.

[@RealNameNeverUsed]

I barely understand anything when playing GTA. And the subtitles helped a lot. I think the subtitles should be turned on by default.

[@kannot1]

Get them to watch vintage films, it's clear to hear and way better than today's movies👀💔

[@ThePedroppz]

it's funny because i used to have an easier time understanding english-speaking media ten years ago, when my English was worse and i wasn't fluent yet. now i'm fluent and i pretty much always have subtitles on. youtube videos are much better for practicing listening imo.

[@blacksheep2862]

This is why I no longer watch mainstream media. It simply isn't enjoyable anymore

[@Nahkampfschaf]

This has an upside too. As a non native american you were always ready to use subtitles. Getting used to subtitles opens up your horizon to a TON of movies and series from overseas. And yes, non-us-Series can be VERY good, even better when experienced in their original dubbing with subtitles. I think anime fans can relate.

[@Quilt82]

The explosions and gunfire in Predator is pretty impactful. I could hear the dialogue clearly too. Independence Day has huge explosions and clear dialogue. Jurassic Park has an iconic t-rex roar and clear dialogue. Having to turn down the dialogue so that the explosions can be louder is an argument that doesn't hold much water.

[@DerMoerpler]

Exactly. To this day, no modern action movie has topped the bank heist shootout in Heat when it comes to the sound of gunshots. The shots in that scene sound massive, dangerous, intimidating, overwhelming and realistic. If I need to test a new sound system, this is one of the movies I would choose. And I still could understand all of the dialogue.

[@sauros1]

Agreed. Sound producers have solved a problem that didn't exist and created a problem in the process. I'm starting to feel the same way with HDR in TV and video games.

[@angelousmortis8041]

@@sauros1 Oh my god, yes. It's SO BAD in TV these days and it feels like no one says or even NOTICES it. Like, TV shows now-a-days just looks so weird.

[@henrikaugustsson4041]

THANK YOU!!!!

[@lordkell1986]

Their excuse is kind of exactly the opposite as to what they were saying about older analogue sound. Shouldn't that have been much more an issue when recording to a single track than now days? You can turn the dialog up for clarity while still maintaining the special effects sounds. Not like you're recording the explosions on the same track as the dialog.

[@antipants]

I'm an ESL teacher and my students are sometimes embarrassed to admit they watch movies with subtitles on. I tell them that I do it too and they feel better about it. Thanks for making this.

[@ninin117]

I guess I know the occupation of the type of person to have the youtube name Antipants now

[@claudioklaus2642]

And then you get those people who think that your English is not good because you watch movies with subtitles, or because you don't understand some dialogs. FML

[@JuanPValenciaH]

As a fellow EFL Teacher, I have also seen how many EFL learners think native English speakers don't use/need subtitles at all and when you tell them they use them too (quite a lot, in fact) they are shocked or just don't belive you.

[@regimiro4888]

@@JuanPValenciaH What does EFL stand for?

[@yokelengleng]

In Chinese language shows, it is the norm to use subtitles since the beginning of time. So as a Chinese speaker I don't find anything out of the ordinary to use subtitles. When Parasite made it big in America, the director said something along the lines of "if you overcome the five inch barrier of subtitles, you will discover a whole new world". Basically he means that Americans should accept reading subtitles to expose themselves to foreign cinema. So imagine if non English speakers are afraid of subtitles, would your Hollywood movies make it big in the whole world?

[@renanod]

Another benefit is the fact subtitles help all other people to learn English. I'm not an English native speaker and I've always used subtitles and I honest believed that the fact I didn't understood something was my fault.