Why we all need subtitles now

It's not you — the dialogue in TV and movies has gotten harder to hear.

Have you ever been watching a show or movie, and then a character delivers a line so unintelligible you have to scramble to find the remote and rewind? For me, this moment came during the climax of the Pete Davidson film “The King of Staten Island,” where his most important line was impossible to understand.

I had to rewind three times — and eventually put subtitles on — to finally pick up what he was saying.

This experience isn’t unique — gather enough people together and you can generally separate them into two categories: People who use subtitles, and people who don’t. And according to a not-so-scientific YouTube poll we ran on our Community tab, the latter category is an endangered species — 57% of you said you always use subtitles, while just 12% of you said you generally don’t.

But why do so many of us feel that we need subtitles to understand the dialogue in the things we watch?

The answer to that question is complex – and we get straight to the bottom of it in this explainer, with the help of dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick.

[Vox]

One interesting fact that didn’t make it into the piece is that movie theaters didn’t always have consistently great sound — it only became consistent thanks to Star Wars.

The story goes like this: George Lucas was trying to find a theater to premiere ‘Return of the Jedi.’ and every theater he went to had terribly set up sound systems. He was like, “This is unacceptable! Why am I asking all of my sound designers, editors, and mixers to put in all this work if I can't guarantee it’s going to be heard properly on playback?”

So he enlisted Tomlinson Holmman to create, THX — yes, that THX — the one with the way-too-loud booming sound at the beginning of all those old movies you used to watch as a kid. THX was a sound quality certification made to ensure that ‘Return of the Jedi’ was presented in the purest form possible. But it did so much more than that by standardizing good sound playback in movie theaters across the board.

Sound has progressed a ton since then, but Star Wars set the precedent for good sound quality in theaters.


Thanks for watching!
—Ed

[Ghostface]

We all love those movies where you can’t hear the dialogue so you turn up the volume… just in time for an explosion that shakes your entire house

[lauralvw]

What makes these realistic performances less realistic, is that none of the characters ever ask each other 'sorry, what did you just say'??

[jameskennedy]

“We decided we were no longer going to mix in a way most people will be able to enjoy” - Christopher Nolan

[charlxler]

I‘m relieved that native speakers are struggling, too. I kinda felt like my English was to bad for watching without subtitles so thanks:)

[grahamvandyke]

This is actually a massive relief, because I started believing I had developed hearing and concentration problems from not being able to understand quite literally half of all dialogue in most media.

[luap]

For the last 5-10 year I've felt more and more psychotic with the remote volume. I move it up and down constantly throughout a show.

[sonshadsil]

I love how the solution presented essentially boils down to "Have/spend more money or get over it"

[magrathean]

The dialogue is how the bulk of the information in the film is communicated to the viewer. Taking 'a chill pill' over missing most of the information in a film is far cheaper if you don't bother trying to watch the film at all. I also like the explanation - to paraphrase, "the technology has improved massively since the thirties, so naturally enough the quality experienced by the viewer has also plummeted massively"

[karara]

It seems like many filmmakers haven't figured out that people can't hear dialogue if there is music blasting over it

[davejones]

The issue with having that big sound difference to make explosions and such seem bigger is that we've turned up the volume to hear people whisper and then all of a sudden your house is shaking from the ensuing gunfight.

[csabi]

As someone who learned English as a second language, it gives me some sort of comfort to know that even native speakers struggle with this to some extent. Having spent many many years studying the language, from an early childhood, I got to a point in my late teens/early 20s where I pretty much considered myself to be proficient and I haven't had any trouble speaking the language or understanding spoken English for years... except when I am watching movies or tv shows, where I almost always need subtitles, without which I would only understand like two thirds of what I hear at best. I have been so annoyed at myself for this, and it has made me seriously question my assessment of my own language skills, basically saying "okay, I have to admit, I am not even that good with English".

And then I find this video. This now has restored my faith in myself a bit. 😄

[PraiseTheFSMonster]

Love that director who absolutely refuses to change no matter how much people hate it. What a nice guy

[withak]

In summary: Everyone involved in making those shows/movies know that you can't hear the dialog but they don't care.

[somewherefar]

Also, why is getting my ears blasted in an explosion more important than me being able to understand what's going on?

[ADekuKid]

I would very happily take quieter explosions for better sounding dialogue.

[thebooca]

This all makes perfect sense to me since my favorite part of every story is how loud the explosion was.
The first thing I want to tell my friends about a movie is how realistic the audio felt.
When I describe my favorite movies to people, I always make sure to include details about how I had no idea what the characters were talking about, but I could definitely tell how far away they were when they were talking. /s

These people need to get over themselves. The story is in the dialogue. If I can't hear the story enough to care about it, I'm not going to watch your movie, or the sequel, and if it's bad enough, nothing you make in the future... Purely on principal.

[rachelrueda]

What's really frustrating about this dynamic range is that the dialogue is so quiet that you need to turn the volume up drastically, and then when explosions happen, it's way too loud that you scramble to lower the volume

[dananskidolf]

If people in movies are going to mumble like in real life, they also need to put in a lot more "Pardon?" and "Could you say that again?" like in real life.
And "Sorry, I couldn't hear you over all the whooshing, explosions and accompanying orchestra."

[zhihongzhuzi]

In China, the majority of population watch videos or films with subtitles on (ALL films have subtitles on by default, in cinemas!). It's easier for the viewers to comprehend because people all over the country speak different dialects, and decrease the need to turn up the volume, which is a relief.