Subtitling for Corporate Video

Guaranteed quality Subtitling Services

An effective project management team is essential for project success, and never more so than when working with large, complex, and technical challenges such as video localization projects involving multiple languages.

With many years of experience in the language industry, our project management team is knowledgeable and personable. Every project is assigned a manager who will oversee its completion. Involved in every discussion and decision, they maintain an open channel of communication between our customers, engineering, and delivery teams.

Our project managers are tasked with delivering every solution on time, within budget, and according to the client’s precise requirements. We employ a variety of project management tools to ensure that every aspect of the process is documented and monitored, and that the client and production team receive regular updates.

Having a dedicated project manager and a single point of contact with the business ensures an open and trustworthy communication channel. The current status of your specific project can be relied upon.

We have some fabulous reviews which bear testimony to our friendly and professional voiceover and subtitling services.

Everything you never wanted to know about Subtitling

Subtitles
Subtitles convert film and video dialogue from one language into another or stay in the same language. Translated dialogue means you can watch a film in its original language. A subtitle in the original language enable the deaf or hard of hearing to watch. People who find loud noises disturbing can also use subtitles instead of having the sound on.

Subtitles aren’t new
Subtitles were introduced in the 1900s when films were silent. Small pieces of paper were slipped between each sequence with information about the scene on each one.

Better than dubbing
Even when talkies were introduced subtitles were still used even though dubbing had also come into use. Film producers found dubbing too expensive because they had to use another set of actors to dub into different languages.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Subtitles were originally called intertitles and they started in 1903 with the film Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Edwin S. Porter.

The art of subtitling
Subtitling is a form of art. This is because the subtitle translor must be able to express the same emotions that are on screen.

Creating subtitles isn’t easy
The choice of words as very important as they need to be based on the average person’s reading speed. An average person can read three words per second so an average sentence is around 12 words which can be read in four seconds.

Swearing
It is very difficult to subtitle swear words because the translation is often not the same or as effective. Most translations need to use a similar word, but this might not have such a strong meaning.

Subtitles help the deaf and hard of hearing
Subtitles allow the deaf and hard of hearing to enjoy a film. It means putting subtitles in a film or video will give you a greater audience reach.

Closed Captions
Closed captions were brought in to make video more accessible. Captions from beginning to end are called closed captions and these perfectly sync with the spoken dialogue. The captions are placed so as not to obstruct the video view.

Subtitles help to boost SEO
If you make videos and you want them to be found by people using a search engine like Google, then they need to be optimised for search. One of the ways Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is boosted is by adding captions. SEO helps to get your video content on the first page of a Google search where it is more likely to be seen.

The History of subtitling and how we get it done

If you go to the Cinema or watch a film on your TV at home, you may have the choice of watching it in its original language. So that you can understand what’s going on there will usually be subtitles at the foot of the TV or video picture.

What are Subtitles?
The subtitles are the narrative of the film in your own language. You read the subtitles as the film is playing so that you understand what the actors are saying.

When did subtitling start?
The first use of subtitles was in 1903. They weren’t words at the bottom of the page, they were signs with the words printed on them that were placed between sequences and they were called Intertitles. In 1903 the words appeared in Edwin S Porter’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. These subtitles were used because films didn’t have sounds, we had silent movies, and the subtitles didn’t give the narrative instead they described what was going on. This meant subtitles were a great innovation that allowed the audience to better understand the film.

When did modern subtitles appear?
Modern subtitles appeared after talkies became popular in the 1930s when subtitles were translated and stamped on the bottom of the film strips and that’s roughly how it stayed until the 1980s. Dubbing of course was introduced between times, but the film companies found that having to use different actors for different languages was very expensive and so subtitling continues to be used.

Why are subtitles still so popular?
Firstly subtitles help a hearing-impaired audience understand a film even though they might not be able to hear at all, or well. It also helps if you are watching a film where the actors have strong accents, or the sound isn’t particularly clear, or to learn a new language.

How did the computer age change subtitling?
Computers have helped subtitling to keep in sync with the words being spoken in a film and this of course had improved an audience’s viewing experience. Subtitles are much improved from stamped film strips and Intertitles of yesterday.

Closed captions are now common for those people who have a hearing impairment. Closed captions give the dialogue and other relevant audio. Closed captions are regulated in the UK for deaf and hearing-impaired audiences. The internet has also allowed subtitles and closed captioning to be used in video. Many YouTube videos now show captions.

Currently translations for subtitling are created by humans, machine translation hasn’t yet reached software for subtitling, although YouTubers can use machine-generated automatic captions in one language. It can’t be used for translation.

Here at Matinee Multilingual we have more than 40 years’ experience in subtitling and translation. A typical subtitle process will see us transcribe the English audio and on-screen text. We then produce the relevant translation and then the subtitles are burnt-in and synced. When its complete it’s delivered as an MP4 file.