Matinée Sound and Vision

Why should video producers and animators give any thought to translation?

2012-02-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

Q&A by Alistair Langfield, a Senior Producer at Matinée Sound & Vision Ltd for Imagine Magazine

Why should animators or video producers give any thought to translation?
For your animation to achieve any kind of impact overseas,it’s important to communicate with your audience in their language. Always ask your client where the animation will be shown, because if you can offer translation, and plan for it at the very start, you will be able to produce a better global product. And if you use the right supplier, you can also make a good margin on this work and save your customer a large chunk of budget further down the line.

How can animators offer translation services if they don’t speak another language?
If you don’t offer to translate the animation then your client will go to their favoured translation vendor and your labour of love probably won’t get the attention it deserves. Most translation
agencies don’t understand how to translate video, and will sub-contract the voice over,
subtitling and on-screen text work to a specialist studio like Matinée.

It makes more sense to plan for translation right from the start, And with the support of a studio like Matinée, it will be very straightforward. We have a dedicated project management team who completely understand the process involved in translating video projects and we can translate video in over 80 languages.

How can you best prepare video for translations?
English is one of the shortest spoken and written languages, so text expansion will be your number one concern when preparing for translation. For example, German can be as much as 40% longer than the same text in English. This will play havoc with your beautifully timed animation or edit, so it’s important to allow enough time on screen for these expanded languages whether as subtitles or voiceover.
We work for a lot of translation companies who simply don’t understand this process, and they often provide us with translations that have not been timed to the existing time constraints. But you can’t fit a quart into a pint pot! So we have to speed up the voiceover which is unnatural, or have the subtitles flying across the screen at an unreadable speed. All this can be avoided with a bit of pre-planning and by using a studio that understands the process from start to finish.

Key considerations:

VOICE OVER

DON’T NARRATE / PRESENT QUICKLY
ALLOW FOR EXPANSION – A DIFFERENT EDIT WOULD BE IDEAL IF THE VIDEO IS FAST PACED
PREPARE AND ENCODE VIDEO’S SPECIFICALLY FOR STUDIO RECORDING (LOW-RES QUICKTIME MOV)

ON-SCREEN TEXT AND CAPTIONS

USE EDITABLE TEXTUSE POPULAR VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE
ALLOW FOR TEXT EXPANSION
DON’T USE BIG CAPTIONS IN THE LOWER HALF OF THE SCREEN

SUBTITLING

ALWAYS SUPPLY A TIME-CODED ENGLISH TRANSCRIPT FOR REFERENCE
DON’T NARRATE / PRESENT QUICKLY
DON’T PUT IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN THE LOWER HALF OF THE SCREEN

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T03:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year everyone and welcome to the the year of the Dragon!

Matinée will still be offering Chinese Translation, Voice Over and Subtitling services during this time, but they may take a little longer to turn-around than usual.

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese year 4710 begins on Jan. 23, 2012.

Chinese months follow the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.

How are you enjoying the celebrations? The Glasgow based Matinée sales office are enjoying the annual Takeaway China film festival: http://www.takeawaychina.com

11 things you need to know for a video translation quote.

2012-01-06T04:39:00.000-08:00

The cost of translating video depends, not only on the method of translation chosen, but other factors, including:

1. The number of video files.

2. The length of the video.

3. The number of voices required.

4. The language used in the original video.

5. The language(s) required for translation.

6. The method of translation preferred.

7. If the transcript is available, and if it has been time-coded.

8. The format the video is being supplied in.

9. If the video source files are available.

10. If any on-screen text or captions are being translated.

11. The format the translated video is to be delivered back in.

What method of translating video is best?

2012-01-06T04:35:00.000-08:00

There are four standard methods of localizing video and which method you choose is a matter of budget, taste, the objectives of your video and your audience’s preference.

Lip-syncing

What is it? The actor’s voices are replaced (dubbed) with foreign actors. Commonly used in video games, animations, film.

ConsiderationsLip Syncing requires extensive preparatory work to adapt the translated scripts, not only to fit within the original audio’s time constraints, but also to ensure the translated audio mimics the actors lip movements as closely as possible.

Producing lip-synced recordings is a very time consuming process and the final result can be questionable - you never get a perfect lip-sync. Modern cinema goers generally prefer to hear the original audio with subtitles/captions, but lip-syncing could be the best option if the audience aren’t likely to read.

Cost? Lip-syncing is generally the most expensive method, due to the studio time and acting it requires.

Voice Over

What is it? The original narrator (off-screen voice), is replaced with a translated voice over.
Commonly used in documentaries, and corporate video.

ConsiderationsWhen translating the voice over script it’s very important that the translators reference the video time constraints, so that the translated voice over isn’t longer than the original voice over.

Voice Over is often used in conjunction with subtitles, UN style voice over, and/or localising on-screen text and graphics.

Cost? It can be a cost-effective option, but will primarily depend on the voice talent selected.

UN Style Voice Over

What is it? The original voices can still be heard in the background and the translated voice over acts as an interpreter. Commonly used in documentaries, talking heads, and interviews.

ConsiderationsA UN Style voice over, is a perfect fit for films with a serious subject matter, which is why it’s often used in documentaries and in news broadcast. The translation summarises what is being said, without altering the meaning. As with voice over translation, it’s important that the scripts have been translated referencing the time constraints in the original audio.

Cost? The cost will depend on the number of voices required, but a UN style voice over is generally less expensive than lip-syncing.

Subtitling / Closed Captioning

What is it? A written rendering of the dialog, typically placed in the bottom-centre of the screen. Commonly used in broadcast, films, news and corporate video.

Considerations Subtitling is the most cost-effective way of translating video, and is often a preferred alternative to Lip-Syncing, or UN Style voice over i.e. it’s ideal use is where you have actors/presenters talking direct to the camera (Talking Heads). However subtitles require a commitment from the viewer, and aren’t always the best option if your audience is passive e.g.TV Commercials, promotional corporate video etc.

Cost? Subtitling is generally the most cost-effective way to translate video.

Matinée are expert in translating audio, video and multimedia projects. Contact us for a FREE QUOTE NOW.

Talk Turkey this lunchtime - a Merry Christmas from Matinee

2011-12-19T02:06:00.000-08:00

Help Ed & Gus escape the chop this Christmas in the Matinée Turkey run game!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the team at Matinée.

Are professional voice overs really worth the cost?

2011-12-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

Sadly, at best most of us have average enunciation. That is; we often mumble or slur our speech, and we’re just not that interesting to listen to!

However, an articulate speaker, who engages with their audience, is crucial to modern business communications. Whether it’s presenting an idea to investors, training staff to use software, or guiding a caller through to the right department…an attractive voice is vital to success.

At Matinée we firmly believe a professional voice over will give a return on the investment. Keeping your audience interested, motivated or reassured. To demonstrate how dynamic our voices are, we created a short video featuring our voice artists perform challenging tongue-twisters! And if you Vote for your favourite voice artist in our Facebook poll, you could win a basket of TongueTastic muffins!

We’ve already posted some popular English tongue-twisters. Do you have any favourites of your own that you’d like to share? And, if you are feeling brave, record your own tongue-twister and share it via our Soundcloud group!

THE MATINEE TONGUE TWISTER CHALLENGE

2011-11-14T05:31:00.000-08:00

We decided it was about time to showcase the quality of our voice talent. What on earth does that involve I hear you ask? Well, what better way of bringing together a host of talented voice artists, than put them through ‘The Matinee tongue twister challenge’.

One thing we guarantee is that you will find these hard to say (without keeping a straight face!). Go on, try saying these out loud - you’re bound to smile - we might even raise a laugh:

1
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
2
She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.
The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure.
For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore
Then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells.
3
Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.
The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter
And made her batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter makes better batter.
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter
Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better
4
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son,
And I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come!
5
The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.
6
I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.
7
The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday
8
Gobbling gorgoyles gobbled gobbling goblins.

Now that you have had time to practice, What are you waiting for? Our Matinee SoundCloud Group is the easiest way to upload your tongue twister. There are no restrictions; you can even select your own tongue twister if you wish. We’re sure you will agree that the real challenge is to say them multiple times. So go on and impress us!

Once we have selected the top ten tongue twisters, we will cast a poll on our facebook page where you can vote for your favourite. (Try to not vote for yourself!)

If successful, the best performances will be featured in our next marketing campaign where you will gain exposure to over 20,000 clients and prospects. What better way to promote your voice?

In a nutshell, Quality is King!

2011-11-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Everyone is jumping on the social media bandwagon, and for good reason - it allows people to connect and share information so quickly and easily! If you are in the hunt for something new to share with your audience, video marketing can be really effective, as Lee, from Hinge Marketing explains:

We agree with Lee - video marketing can be a relatively inexpensive and effective way to engage with your customers. However’ with the advent of low-cost HD camera equipment and editing software, there are now thousands of freelance video producers who claim they are the “best”, but if that were true why are they offering to work for such low rates?

Remember you pay for quality, and whilst homemade videos are fun, and organic, are they really going to give you the professional image you want? Make sure you use a professional video production company, it might cost a bit more, but the end result will be worth it.

Here is an example of a high quality video we produced recently, for a very reasonable budget:

Boo! Yes, it is that time of year again...

2011-10-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

At Matinée we would

Like to engage with you online. We would

Love it if you followed

Our social networks

Where we will communicate entertaining and creative footage

Each week. We want YOU to know what inspires us

Especially now we have launched our blog!

Now please talk with us online, and join in the conversation!

Since it’s that time of year again, and this is the beginning of our blog, what better way to start than a Halloween video and to showcase perhaps the best costume ever? We thought the “Fully functioning Camera Costume” is definitely worthy of sharing:

The Final Costume:

Check out the Behind the scenes making of the camera costume.

It’s when we stumble across individuals like this they really do make us smile. Connect with us online as we have many more inspiring, entertaining and create videos to share.