Dubbed vs. Subbed
- Thread starter dahwws
- Start date
Subbed unless it's animated.
It depends upon the film.
My personal problem is that when I read subtitles I miss other things that are occurring on-screen and in the soundtrack. So I tend to watch non-English language films twice, once with subtitles so I can understand what's going on, then the dubbed version so I can appreciate the visual and sonic artistry.
My favorite dubbed film is "Hero."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299977/
The dialog was translated by poets back and forth several times so the meaning in English remained basically intact, and then the English translation was carefully crafted so that the lip sync was amazingly close, although the English dialog is less "detailed" than the subtitles. What was really fascinating was listening to the dubbed dialog and reading the subtitles.
BTW, it's a visually stunning film and the sound design is wonderful. Well worth some study, and the BTS DVD extras are very interesting.
My personal problem is that when I read subtitles I miss other things that are occurring on-screen and in the soundtrack. So I tend to watch non-English language films twice, once with subtitles so I can understand what's going on, then the dubbed version so I can appreciate the visual and sonic artistry.
My favorite dubbed film is "Hero."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299977/
The dialog was translated by poets back and forth several times so the meaning in English remained basically intact, and then the English translation was carefully crafted so that the lip sync was amazingly close, although the English dialog is less "detailed" than the subtitles. What was really fascinating was listening to the dubbed dialog and reading the subtitles.
BTW, it's a visually stunning film and the sound design is wonderful. Well worth some study, and the BTS DVD extras are very interesting.
Dubbing is irritating and distracting to me. I prefer subtitles, but you and others might think otherwise. Whatever floats your boat.
Subtitles always and without exception (well unless somehow only a dubbed version exists or is available).
I feel this way for many reasons, first of all and most importantly, I like watching films the way the filmmaker intended it as much as possible. Second of all, if I'm watching a Chinese film (for example but you can replace it with any country) it's distracting to hear the actors speaking English and I feel like it is very stupid because no matter how good the dub is, obviously a Chinese film set in China with a story told originally in Chinese does not fit with English language voices. Third of all, I don't feel like I'm even getting an actor's real performance if I watch a dub, imagine watching the best performances of your favorite English-language films dubbed by a completely different actor! And I have had to experience that since I moved to the Dominican Republic because people are fond of Spanish dubs for Hollywood films here and I hate them!
Alcove Audio's point about missing some of the visuals or soundtrack is one I've heard a lot, and while I understand that point of view, I still don't share it. I think naturally we are always going to miss something in a movie, that's why we can re-watch them, and a kind of stupid but true example is that we blink, so we always miss some frames! I don't even mind missing some of the movie because it only means that I can re-watch it and discover things I missed. I've learned to read faster as a result of my foreign film watching too, and I think the only one that made me feel like I was significantly missing something was 8 1/2 (a superb film btw), but I saw that in my early days of foreign film watching.
What foreign films are you planning on watching this summer? Because even though I'm strictly a subs only guy, I think that there are some lesser offenders with different types of films (like most martial arts movies or Godzilla movies and things like that, it doesn't matter as much if it is dubbed).
I feel this way for many reasons, first of all and most importantly, I like watching films the way the filmmaker intended it as much as possible. Second of all, if I'm watching a Chinese film (for example but you can replace it with any country) it's distracting to hear the actors speaking English and I feel like it is very stupid because no matter how good the dub is, obviously a Chinese film set in China with a story told originally in Chinese does not fit with English language voices. Third of all, I don't feel like I'm even getting an actor's real performance if I watch a dub, imagine watching the best performances of your favorite English-language films dubbed by a completely different actor! And I have had to experience that since I moved to the Dominican Republic because people are fond of Spanish dubs for Hollywood films here and I hate them!
Alcove Audio's point about missing some of the visuals or soundtrack is one I've heard a lot, and while I understand that point of view, I still don't share it. I think naturally we are always going to miss something in a movie, that's why we can re-watch them, and a kind of stupid but true example is that we blink, so we always miss some frames! I don't even mind missing some of the movie because it only means that I can re-watch it and discover things I missed. I've learned to read faster as a result of my foreign film watching too, and I think the only one that made me feel like I was significantly missing something was 8 1/2 (a superb film btw), but I saw that in my early days of foreign film watching.
What foreign films are you planning on watching this summer? Because even though I'm strictly a subs only guy, I think that there are some lesser offenders with different types of films (like most martial arts movies or Godzilla movies and things like that, it doesn't matter as much if it is dubbed).
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If I'm sitting down and focusing on it, subtitled all the way. If I'm doing other things (which I usually am these days), I'm okay with a good dub. Of course, if you've watched something subbed, watching the dub is always a little weird! I'm rewatching Death Note right now, since Netflix just put it back on streaming, and the dub is pretty well done (a far cry from anime dubs of the 80s!) but still not used to the voices!
My girlfriend, however, as an astigmatism that makes it hard for her to read the subtitles. She always felt bad about it (she reads a ton of books, and felt like she was just being "lazy") but has accepted that she's not physically capable of getting everything with subtitles.
My girlfriend, however, as an astigmatism that makes it hard for her to read the subtitles. She always felt bad about it (she reads a ton of books, and felt like she was just being "lazy") but has accepted that she's not physically capable of getting everything with subtitles.
I watch everything in subtitles if I can. I tried watching a few french films dubbed but it was just weird. Not only were things out of sync, (which could have been an issue on my part) but the voices sounded like they were from one of those audiobooks. The really bad ones.
I do agree it can be difficult to focus on other aspects of the film when you're busy reading subtitles. I have to watch foreign films more than once because of this. Occasionally, I will find a decent dubbed version of a film too... occasionally.
I do agree it can be difficult to focus on other aspects of the film when you're busy reading subtitles. I have to watch foreign films more than once because of this. Occasionally, I will find a decent dubbed version of a film too... occasionally.
I recommend these, subbed, if you haven't picked any out yet... in no particular order:
Classics
Ballad of a Soldier
Bicycle Thieves
The 400 Blows
Battleship Potemkin
Contemporary
Das Experiment
Run Lola Run
I'm fairly certain all of those 4 classics are available as 'criterion collection' disks. Make sure you watch the 2001 German 'Das Experiment' not the American remake.. the American version is crap compared to the German version imho.
Classics
Ballad of a Soldier
Bicycle Thieves
The 400 Blows
Battleship Potemkin
Contemporary
Das Experiment
Run Lola Run
I'm fairly certain all of those 4 classics are available as 'criterion collection' disks. Make sure you watch the 2001 German 'Das Experiment' not the American remake.. the American version is crap compared to the German version imho.
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Subbed. Dubbed is for Saturday Night Live.
Cool, great choices! You're so lucky you know Chinese! There are many great films. The director of Hero also made amazing drama films in his early career (I think those are his best films) but they are hard to get a hold of, the most notable of these dramas is Raise The Red Lantern.
I haven't seen Ran yet but it looks amazing (and I would watch it dubbed if I were you) and I love the other films I've seen by Kurosawa. I know quite a bit of Japanese cinema so if you need recommendations just let me know!
Also Will Vincent gave some great recommendations as well!
Each of the four 'classics' I listed really should be required viewing for anyone interested in film -- and in fact almost certainly would be on the syllabus in a film studies course (which is where I saw them initially).
Battleship Potemkin -- Eisenstein's first real example of montage, and using the edit to manipulate emotion. It was designed as a propaganda film. The Odessa steps scene is considered to be one of the most influential scenes in all cinema history. It's been copied and/or paid homage to in several other films (The Untouchables immediately comes to mind)
400 Blows -- Truffaut's first feature. Helped to define French New Wave cinema. Lots of great camera work here.
Bicycle Theives -- Italian Neorealism. Great character study.
Ballad of a Soldier -- This is really just a great all around narrative film. Love story juxtaposed by the war. Strong characters, really nice camera work. All around win.
Battleship Potemkin -- Eisenstein's first real example of montage, and using the edit to manipulate emotion. It was designed as a propaganda film. The Odessa steps scene is considered to be one of the most influential scenes in all cinema history. It's been copied and/or paid homage to in several other films (The Untouchables immediately comes to mind)
400 Blows -- Truffaut's first feature. Helped to define French New Wave cinema. Lots of great camera work here.
Bicycle Theives -- Italian Neorealism. Great character study.
Ballad of a Soldier -- This is really just a great all around narrative film. Love story juxtaposed by the war. Strong characters, really nice camera work. All around win.
I don't think there's a perfect solution to the problem of watching a movie whose dialogue is in a language that you don't speak. The Director and DP went to considerable trouble to compose shots so that your eyes take in information in a certain way, and subtitles thwart that. Subtitles force you to concentrate on one area of the screen, and you may miss things. On the other hand, dubbing is often done by less-experienced (or has-been) actors who might not bring the nuances of performance that the on-screen actors have. Plus, the lack of lip-synch is distracting to many people. Alcove Audio's "watch twice" solution above is probably best, but you'll use your mind to combine two semi-satisfactory viewings into one appreciation.
Best Sub movie ever. Period.
If you get your hands on it, International Secret Police: Key of Keys is a great dubbed film. The translations are fairly accurate and the voices are synced well.
The original or the Woody Allen version "What's Up, Tiger Lily?"