Game of Thrones: the fatal second
Subtitling a series, a movie or a video is a surgeon’s job. Neglecting the smallest detail can create chaos. This is what Max experienced when the second season of Game of Thrones was released. Apparently, the person in charge of subtitling one of the subscription TV network’s star products forgot about the synchrony between the dialog and the words on the screen have to match or it will distract the viewer. Unfortunately, this is what happened. From the first scene of the two gladiators fighting, users saw the
subtitles appear before the dialog and it continued that way for the rest of the episode.
This made it impossible to concentrate. The error triggered an escalation of criticism, memes, jokes, and complaints on social media. Usually, on-screen subtitles last between 1 and 7 seconds and reach up to 42 characters, although they are often standardized at 40 and the on-screen duration depends on whether it is one or two lines.
Therefore, subtitles that appear even one second before the dialog causes the reading and image to be unsynchronized resulting in frustration on the part of the viewer. One second is a universe in this ultra-meticulous work. In order to guarantee the quality level the viewers expect, we manually QC all processes against the video. At eSteno, we are vigilant about these details, operating with the hands of a surgeon.
Specialists in an unstoppable industry
On-demand television has boosted the need of subtitles and dubbing. Platforms such as Netflix, Max, Prime Video, Disney+, AppleTV, Amazon, among others, attract millions of consumers, which has made the world of content localization grow. A recent study conducted by Nimdzi, a consulting and research company, shows this area represents 14% of the total volume of the translation industry.
Although this year it has reduced its users by 200,000, Netflix alone has 221.64 million subscribers worldwide, resulting in a high demand for subtitling and dubbing work.
The YouTube giant is on an even faster road. It is available in more than 100 countries, covering more than 80 languages. It has more than 2 billion monthly active users, the majority of whom are between ages 25 and 44 and represent the audience who consumes subtitles the most.
Because of these stratospheric figures, it really makes a difference who writes the characters on the screen. The need to generate subtitles, whose cost is much lower than dubbing which requires hiring actors, sound technicians and recording studios, often causes problems. We see it every day on many of these platforms with poor subtitles that dramatically lower the experience.
Hiring eSteno, which complies with the requirements of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States of America (FCC) and the Federal Telecommunications Institute of Mexico (IFT), ensures the highest quality standard by a team of experts in the creation of subtitles. In the hands of our professionals, the translation and subtitling of this audiovisual material does not become a headache for
the user or complaints against the platform.
The French know all about subtitles
If film and TV producers consider that only 25.6% of the world speaks English, they would understand why subtitling their work is essential. Almost the same proportion speak Mandarin, 13.9% speak Hindi, and Spanish accounts for 12% of the world’s population. Now, those who really think the audiovisual business from this perspective are the French. Aware that they are a minority language in the world, they have always included subtitles as an item in their productions. This is why the whole world mourned
the departure of Jean-Luc Godard, because he was known all over the world.
French cinema is an export industry, and Sabine de Andria, a translator who lives in Paris and has been subtitling for more than 20 years, knows it well. “The producers of French films know they have to export their films and most of the time they take this into account from the very beginning,” she says, adding that “globalization has a positive side: it has shown that dubbing and subtitling are essential and must be done correctly”.
Subtitles are also an ally of Google, since the search engine indexes those added to videos by hand, but does not with those that are AI generated, like captioned YouTube, videos for instance.
In short, subtitling means expanding the business and being universal. It is a must.
Argentina, 1985, the film by Santiago Mitre starring Ricardo Darin, experienced it and received applause at festivals in different languages before even being released in theaters in its own country.
