Total Pageviews

Friday, 23 August 2019

ADDICTED TO SUBTITLES

Available for freelance writing commissions on a variety of subjects including family history, nostalgic Belfast and its famous people, shops, shoppers & shopping, the golden age of Hollywood (esp westerns) and humorous pieces on life's weird and wonderful. Op-eds, columns, non-fiction book reviews too. 
CV of published material available on request.
joecushnan@aol.com & @JoeCushnan



I have good hearing but I am now addicted to subtitles for films and dramas on TV.  Too many actors are mumblers and how disrespectful is that to writers. The words are important and I don't want to miss hearing what is being said.  It might not be the actors alone. What's the sound team doing, why is the director not bellowing: "More projection laddie/lassie?"

I am pretty confident that if you watch a pre-2000 film or television show, the dialogue is clear and you will hear every syllable.  (Actually, I've just remembered Rambo's First Blood (1982) in which Sylvester Stallone gives a speech consisting of noise that has never been anywhere near an English language dictionary.  It's like a bulldog with a mouthful of marbles chewing a wasp.)  But you get my drift.

Police and medical shows, to name two, are often full of technological and psychological babble that can be impossible to absorb, so subtitles are a godsend.

So, a short post but here's the message:

ACTORS - 
SPEAK UP 
AND 
SPEAK CLEARLY

No comments:

Post a Comment