Non-English films in the US

[DeSica]

I laugh. I knew I'd get some flak for my post.

While I might have exaggerated things a bit, I do stick by my premise: films that are hard to follow or understand are hard to enjoy. This statement isn't limited to non-English or foreign films,

Yes...some english language films are hard to follow simply because they are poorly made...nevermind being too incredible in their plots and actions to maintain any suspension of disbelief while watching them. How are non-english language films hard to follow...is it the reading for content?

When I said that a film without a soundtrack had "crappy audio," I didn't mean a film that didn't have hit songs in it. I actually would rather have a straight score without words than some top 10 hit. But what I don't want is NO music or audio.

Right...and which films (foreign or otherwise) are you talking about there?

Any film (foreign or domestic) that has entire 3-5 minute scenes with no background music, environmental audio, or other ambient noice is automatically playing with a handicap as far as I'm concerned. Silence should be used sparingly.

I hate those films with no sound....I just can't think of any where the is no score, background or ambient noise...if any exist, I am sure I hate them

As far as the language itself is concerned, most of the time it's very hard to concentrate on the plot when you're trying to figure out what exactly people are saying. Can it be done well? Of course. But more often than not, it isn't.

That is what the sub titles are for...dubbing is good for the folks who "don't read so good."

Look at American films that have scenes with characters that are speaking a different language. They typically write the dialog such that you can read the subtitles without missing any important action, and the characters don't talk so fast that you have problems keeping up.

Are you suggesting Americans don't read well?

But a film that was created for a target audience that doesn't speak English isn't made like that. That doens't mean it is a terrible film -- it just means I can't enjoy it. I'm sure American films are crappy to those who don't speak English for the same reasons.

Actually, most non-english speakers I know have no problem. I saw Pulp Fiction in Havana, and the Cubans had no trouble keeping up. The rape thing didn't go over too well, though.

Of course our bigger budgets typically lead to better audio/soundtracks, so in that regard I do think there's a difference.

Due to the ability to afford million dollar microphones that recod better sound than regular industry standard? Is it the audio f/x? "Man, Driven sure was a hunk of junk...but did u hear those engines ruining our ears?" Or is it because they can afford better songs?

That said, to address the original poster, there are lots of people in the US that disagree with me, so just market to them... :cheesy:

You're right about that. Somehow I don't think he was thinking about Missouri as a market anyway. People are too busy watching cars drive in circles (ovals..whatever) there.

 

[karapetkov]

I'm not saying it's impossible to do it well, but as a general rule, unless the story doesn't require almost any dialog to make sense (ie Cast Away), then it will be very difficult to be any good without dialog in English.

Well, that gives me some hopes, as most of my film would be with very little dialog [as part of a *concept*].

Heavy dialog in 1st act [exposition] and less and less further in the film.

I'm thinking about dubbing - hiring British\American actors to do it for the English speaking world.

But it seems that the original actors will have to merge two versions of their acting:


1. Locally adequate performance.

2. Adequate-for-English-dubbing performance.




Which would most probably result in a totall mess. :crybaby:

We'll see.

Any *dubbed* foreign movies that were successful in US?

 

[Batutta]

Any *dubbed* foreign movies that were successful in US?

Das Boot, which has one of the best dubbing jobs I've ever seen. The rest are mostly martial arts films like Supercop and Rumble in the Bronx (which has hilariously bad dubbing). Crouching Tiger and Hero did very well with using subtitles, 128 million and 53 million domestic gross respectively.

 

[karapetkov]

Crouching Tiger and Hero did very well with using subtitles, 128 million and 53 million domestic gross respectively.

Yeah, I had forgotten about these. I myself have watched\listened [] to both the Chinese and English-dubbed versions and both were OK with me. But, on the other hand, English isn't my native language.

Great movies, BTW. Especially Tiger...

*

Well, this gives some food for thought.

Guess we'll have to also consider the possible dubbing when re-writing dialog.

Or an adequate-sounding English translation.

We'll see.

Thanks. :beer:

 

[Batutta]

Guess we'll have to also consider the possible dubbing when re-writing dialog.

Or an adequate-sounding English translation.

Or stick some kung-fu in your movie. Americans love it.

 

[karapetkov]

Or stick some kung-fu in your movie. Americans love it.

Haha.

I've always wanted to make a *real* kung-fu movie, but as encounters between trained fighters last 3-5 sec., I don't know if it will be very interesting visually.

Maybe focus on the drama and put some 3-5 sec. kung-fu scenes at plot points. :beer:

Lol.