To Subtitle or not to Subtitle...

General discussion of Anime Music Videos
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SpiritTamer
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 11:49 am
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To Subtitle or not to Subtitle...

Post by SpiritTamer » Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:36 pm

Ok, I'm almost done with my first vid that I want to upload to the net :D (vs just emailing it to my friends). The song I used was Anna ni Issho Datta no ni (So Much Together, But) from Gundam Seed. In my vid I have the subtitles for the song on the bottom of the screen. Should I keep them or delete them. All input is appreciated. Thanks. :)
Tis' better to be silent and considered a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

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dj_ultima_the_great
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 7:52 pm
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NO! NO! NO! Danger!

Post by dj_ultima_the_great » Fri Oct 22, 2004 5:56 pm

Personally, I think that you SHOULD NOT HAVE SUBTITLES. All they do is detract from the actual video. Think of it this way: I'm sure you put a lot of effort into your video. Do you really want people glazing over some five-minute translated lyrics, or do you want them watching the hours of editing you slaved over? I assure you, both cannot be done at the same time; the brain, unless inflicted with a disorder, is not capable of devoting full attention to two subjects at the same time (which I just learned in Psychology! ^_^) So, the bottom line is this: Subtitles Bad. Video Good. Besides, you can always have two different versions, but if I were you, I'd actually post the one that's without subtitles.

Hey, if nothing else, you can always add a link to www.animelyrics.com. That song's lyrics are on the site, with the translation (of course, you probably knew that; likely that's where you got your translation from in the first place, right?)

Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope that helped you! ^_^

As always, Farewell, Good Luck, and Happy AMV-ing!


- dj_ultima_the_great

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AquaSky
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Post by AquaSky » Fri Oct 22, 2004 7:07 pm

I'd say the best-case scenario would be having both versions available (one by local and the other direct), but if you're unable to do so (by providing your own hosting), I'd go with the subtitled version. Very few of the viewers will be fluent in Japanese, and even fewer will have the ability to translate the lyrics in their minds fast enough to be able to fully get the lyric synced bits. Having the subtitles makes it easier to correlate the scenes and the lyrics, so assuming that there is indeed a connection between the two, you'll want to go with subtitles.

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Psygnius
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Post by Psygnius » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:32 am

*nods* I agree with IcyCloud. If it's in a foreign language that not too many people will understand, and there is a correlation between the lyrics and the clips, keep them subbed. Someone may have to watch the video twice to get a good feel for your video (first time to read, second time to watch), but it's worth it in my opinion. I've seen this done before to a Utada Hikaru song, and I felt it worked out really well, the subs didn't detract from the video at all.

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post-it
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Post by post-it » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:59 am

actually, you can have both versions available - in the same AMV ( .OGM )

.OGM files have been around for quite a while and have had, up to, 14 languages
standing-by for the Video and "multi-tracked/multi-language" episodes encoded.
---yea, your not mistaking what I said:
We have been sharing multi-lingual files for quite some time now and .OGM
also supports multi-Audio tracks too.

With .OGM files, YOU make the setting that YOU want and it plays them your way.

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Kalium
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Post by Kalium » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:19 am

As a side note, Matroska has the same functionality.

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