It has been more than 70 years since the argument of subtitles over dubbing started. Both sides assume that they are the right format for delivering content to an audience. And in some cases, that holds true. While subtitling and dubbing both have their own pros and cons, subtitles takes an upper hand in cost effectiveness, sound and picture unity, etc. Each method has a specific target audience and mixing it with the other is not going to yield any result. For example: You cannot make children’s programs with subtitles and dub foreign horror movies. That might turn either into a spoof or a funny movie.
Subtitles although have a very good effect on the audience. It helps with building a relationship and connect with the user making it accessible and easier. In fact, subtitling comes with a series of advantages for all parties involved: the public, producers and promoters. Let’s take a closer look.
In a social media driven world like the present, adding subtitles to your videos is a common way of crediting your hard work. Subtitles are a marketing driven strategy to increase your viewership and to enhance user friendly experience. In fact, a few internal researches reveal that viewing a subtitled video has increased viewership by at least 12%.
Subtitling your video helps your audience and gets them hooked to the content. To attain this level of detailing, one needs to not only craft a well scripted movie, but also market their videos accordingly.
Subtitling Keeps retains voices of Original actor
The most important factor of using subtitles is to make the content available and accessible to the foreign public. Dubbing doesn’t give you the leverage of creating the real intentions in the actor’s voice in the movie. The tones and voice of the actor cannot be retained in dubbing that doesn’t make it authentic. Subtitles on the other side provides a complete packaged experience in terms of conveying the right tone and feel in the actor’s own voice.
Imagine “Through the Wormhole” or “The Story of God” without Morgan Freeman’s voice, for example. These are without a doubt fascinating and offer comprehensive information. But do you think they can transmit the same emotion without the actor’s famous voice? That is an obvious NO! In genres such as comedy and drama, the emotion conveyed makes a scene more believable. An audience will miss its authenticity when a dubbed movie shows a mismatched voice talking or enacting a famous actor’s role.
Programs with big budgets invest a lot of money in the best voice overs. But despite the producers’ efforts, the public will still lose a part of the interpretation. And, in some cases, there’s even a lack of synchronization between the sound and the way the lips move on the screen, which distracts viewers.
Creates a stronger SEO base:
Search engines don’t process video content without text. If you don’t have enough texts, the keyword search will hone only your title and description. Any addition made to uplift your video’s worth is appreciable when you are selling to your audience. So, if there are no texts, it will not be of great use in promoting the movie. The more content a subtitled video has, the more attention it draws in being picked up to watch by the audience. None of this is applicable in a dubbed movie. A dubbed movie is simply a movie without any value addition for the reach of the movie.
Language benefits:
A good subtitled video will show you the written translation of what the actors are saying on the screen in real time. You directly hear the message and read it significance as subtitles. You tend to reach a higher set of audience globally and the importance of learning a new language comes into play. Foreign language will help in improvising pronunciation.
Most people watch a video to also probably learn a language. Let us say you are shooting Spanish dialogues in your English movie. The first thing your English-speaking viewers look for is the text for Spanish dialogues. Someone who is keen on learning the language can actually be benefited by the subtitles you add.
Dubbing Costs More and Needs Longer Turnaround
Another advantage when choosing subtitling over dubbing comes down to price. Obviously both the services require you to hire a trained translator who can come up with a decent version of the script without changing the meaning. It is all about just finding the right kind of words.
Texts in the target language can’t be lengthier than the original ones. Most of the times, translators adjust the way they speak and their speed as most languages require higher number of words to say the same thing. For example:
- Damelo – in Spanish (one word)
- Give it to me – in English (four words)
Besides the translation costs, dubbing requires professional voice overs (one for each actor in the original version of the video content), a studio, editors and post-edit specialists. Subtitling requires less effort, so the costs will also be lower.
With no time needed for recording and editing, turnarounds are faster when using subtitles. Your video content will reach its target public quicker when choosing subtitling over dubbing.
It’s All About the Target Audience
All of these comes down to just 2 words: ‘Target Audience’. One has to carry out deeper research in order to finalise which version they want to go ahead with. With socio economic level of population, you can foresee that subtitles are more preferred than dubbing. While dubbing can be used for cartoons or some specific programs, a certain standard of thinking and connecting to the audience is required. So, if your target audience is a well educated public, picking subtitles over dubbing is your best bet.
Visual Subtitling offers subtitling services that provide accurate and appropriate subtitles for your videos. We assure to take the load off you and give you the best experience in the world of subtitles. Claim your free quote now!!