A survey of the language learning site has found that more than half of Americans say they use subtitles because film soundtracks are too difficult to understand.
A Martínez, host:
Some of Hollywood’s most emblematic films are often the most conditional.
(Soundbite of Film, “Gone with the Wind”)
Clark Gable: (like Rhett Butler) Frankly, my dear, I don’t care.
(Soundbite of Film, “Casablanca”)
Humphrey Bogart: (as Rick Blaine) I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
(Soundbite of Film, “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”)
James Earl Jones: (like Dark Vader) I am your father.
Martínez: But it is difficult to remember the quotes of films when you do not hear the dialogue. A survey of the linguistic learning site has found that more than half of Americans say they often use subtitles because they say that the audio is confused. Here is Barry Gordemer of NPR.
Barry Gordemer, Byline: I will never forget the first film I saw with Dard to hear the dialogue. It was the 2014 thriller “Gone Girl”. There is a scene where the character of Ben Affleck flirts during a dinner.
(Soundbite of Film, “Gone Girl”)
Ben Affleck: (as Nick Dunne) I am a subscriber to the charter at the weekly of Warlord Middling, so I recognize you.
Gordemer: I couldn’t understand a word he said, and I started to feel like the two old people in the “Muppet show” balcony.
(Soundbit of the television show, “The Muppet Show”)
Jim Henson: (like Waldorf) Well, I finally made my hearing aid operate.
Richard Hunt: (like Statler) HM? Talk. My hearing aid does not work.
(LAUGH)
Karen Baker Landers: Believe me, I hate nothing more than when I spent months on a film to make sound, then people say, what did they say?
Gordemer: Karen Baker Landers is an editor of his veteran Hollywood. She won two Academy awards.
Landers: one for “The Bourne Ultimatum” and one for “Skyfall”.
Gordemer: She says that part of the problem is that the studios that skimp on sound.
Landers: I recently worked on a few films where the production record player was very inexperienced, was hired because he was cheap.
Gordemer: Technology also plays a role. In the past, the actors had to project so that the microphones of the time could pick up their voices.
(Soundbite of Film, “The Wizard of Oz”)
Margaret Hamilton: (like Miss Gulch) I’m going to get you, my pretty and your little dog too (laughs).
Gordemer: The wicked witch of the West would probably appreciate today’s microphones, which are much more sensitive, allowing actors to deliver a softer and more nuanced performance. But there is a thin line between shades and marmonages. Here is Matt Singer, critic and editor -in -chief of Screencrush.com.
Matt Singer: I just saw “Mickey 17”, the new film Bong Joon Ho. The main actor, Robert Pattinson, I think, does a very good job, but he does a voice. (Imitating Mickey Barnes) He talks like that, you know, he makes a character voice.
(Soundbite of Film, “Mickey 17”)
Robert Pattinson: (As Mickey Barnes) on Earth, nothing worked, and I wanted to get out of there.
Singer: It was a bit, you know, like he said?
Gordemer: Addition to the problem? The directors who create soundtracks that stack layers of sound on layers of room and music and sound effects. It can really suffocate the audio.
Singer: A director whose name tends to present himself when this conversation appears is Christopher Nolan.
Gordemer: He directed Batman’s film “The Dark Knight Rises”. It presents the super difficult super difficult to understand.
(Soundbite of Film, “The Dark Knight Rises”)
Tom Hardy: (as bane) like shipwrecked men turning to sea water, I will let them believe that they can survive.
Gordemer: Nolan has repeatedly defended what he calls impressionist soundtracks.
Singer: It is a choice to use dialogue almost as a sound effect.
Gordemer: where you watch a film also makes a difference. If you are at home, it is likely that you are using a streaming service like Netflix or Disney +. They compress the audio to avoid buffer memory. But the sound engineer Karen Baker Landers says that banners all use different compression standards, which can spoil intelligibility.
Landers: If you mix a theatrical version, the different streamers take this master session. And what they do is something we have to normalize.
Gordemer: So for the moment, a clear solution is nowhere in sight or in sound.
Barry Gordemer, NPR News.
(Soundbite of “Cornfield Chase” by Hans Zimmer)
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