Handy little tip I've accidentally discovered...

[robogabs]

I found the same thing happened to me with "Run, Lola, Run," and "Pan's Labyrinth."

[uncle_al]

There was a film shown in an Intro to Film class in my community college which I took... is it really 25 years ago now?... called Bonne Anée, or, in the English translation, The Happy New Year Caper.  The French dialogue was nicely sardonic, and the English subtitles did the translations into nice idiomatic English.

This was a good thing, I think.

Cheers!

Al B.

[ScriptNurse]

Even if you do not understand the language, you will get the intention of what is spoken. For this reason, many prefer the original, French production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES because there's so much meaning conveyed not in the words but in the manner in which they are spoken.

[Shindig]

Subtitles tend to be great solely because seeing another language translated into english always seems different.  They'd use words in the translation you'd probably never hear uttered in an english script.

I'm not too fussed about gestures, mind.  More of a dialogue fan.  You can put that down to my current John le Carre infatuation.

[uncle_al]

'Tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis, 'tis true.
(Shakespeare... a bit o'nonsense.)

But did you notice that if you watch Star Trek (the original series) with the picture off, you still get the point of the episode?

Cheers!

Al B.

[ElPolloDiablo]

Whatever works, works.

[ivan]

I do this now. I mute the movie and watch it with the subtitles. It helps me in my writing to describe things.

Im no pro but the biggest problem I ran into when I wrote my first screenplay a couple months ago was explaining my vision of a scene with a car moving hearing actors dialogue then watching the car drive off and keeping a birds eye view of the car. Then I realized I sucked at explaining actions and expressions above other things so I started watching a few movies a day to try to get it. then i started watching every thing silently and started getting it a little better.

We all learn differently. Maybe this is the dumba$$ approach but hey it worked for me.

[uncle_al]

Reminds me of a film I saw as a child. I can't remember the title but it was a seventies movie whose gimmick consisted of splitting the screen into half and showing two sets of concurrent action, both part of the same storyline.

My head hurt after that one!

Sounds like The Anderson Tapes; they used the documentary-style multiple-screen view {like in Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, Monterey Pop, et al.} to simulate simultaneous action from different points of view.

Al B.

[ElPolloDiablo]

Reminds me of a film I saw as a child. I can't remember the title but it was a seventies movie whose gimmick consisted of splitting the screen into half and showing two sets of concurrent action, both part of the same storyline.

My head hurt after that one!

[uncle_al]

I was rereading this thread, and dredged up a memory from one of my film classes, lo these many millenia ago...

The teacher we had for "History of Silent Film"(fall term) and "History of Sound Film"(spring term) decided to try an experiment on the class I was in.  On the two 16mm projectors in the booth, instead of running them for "changeover" (start the second when the first reaches end of the reel of film), he ran both simultaneously.  The one on the left ran Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau; the one on the right was running Gold Diggers of 1933, directed by Busby Berkeley.

Definitely an unusual experiment... do you watch Max Schreck as the vampire creep up on the girl in her bed while listening to Ginger Rogers and chorus singing "We're In The Money", or do you watch the dance numbers while keeping track of the silent film in your peripheral vision?

No conclusions were reached, as best I remember, but it was an interesting time...

Al B.

[uncle_al]

No, you're not going mad... necessarily.  I couldn't say without knowing you personally, Devil Chicken.

It's a lot like watching a silent film with subtitles... with practice, the subtitles don't distract from the action on screen.

Whatever gets you a better understanding of the process is good.

Al B.

[ElPolloDiablo]

Hi all,

I've just watched a German film called "The lives of others" (well worth viewing, by the way). The film is in German with English subtitles.

As I was watching/reading I realised something... the film was helping my screenwriting. Reading the dialogue, but not understanding what I could hear was very useful when it came to my own writing. Plus, you've still got the actor's little pauses and body gestures.

As anyone else found this or am I going mad?!