CAPTIONING. WTF is wrong with the Producers? - The Machine (2014) Discussion

[–] tmilder 10 years ago

LOL -- yes how dare they produce a film in the UK with British actors??? LOL.

what an ignorant thing to say....... I hope that was a lame attempt at trolling.

It is on Netflix and you can turn on captions there, but the thought that there should be captions by default over people speaking English with a British accent is just mind blowingly absurd.

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[–] Toshi51 10 years ago

I am hearing impaired and need captioning with most movies. Some British accents are particularly difficult to hear well enough to understand. For some reason many British productions do not have captioning on their dvds. In this movie, much of the dialogue was quietly spoken and I missed it.

Apparently your hearing is fine. Be thankful for that.

No captions on this disc from Netflix. That could have been a decision of the disc distributors rather than the film producers.

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[–] nunoanjos1 10 years ago

You, sir, are completely right. Never mind tmildorf, he must be just another ignorant brittish moron. I also didn't understand many things they mumbled in this boring, dark, depressing movie. I say captions is not the solution. Just ask the actors to speak louder, yell, or speak clearly.

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[–] mail-53-1337 9 years ago

I didn't even notice they had accents. I didn't find them harder to understand than any other actors in any other movie. I didn't even think of this being an issue until I came on IMDB. I'm not from the UK. It is a shame if they didn't release captions on a DVD/BRAY for the hearing impared. But if you just can't understand them and are not hearing impared...

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[–] schwatime 9 years ago

I'm not hearing impaired, but I often watch movies with the captions on. There are usually a couple of words that neither I nor the people I'm watching with can understand, and it helps with that. Plus sometimes the name of a song that's playing is given. But what I like best about captions is when characters are speaking, but the level is so low or garbled that you're not meant to understand them. That kind of speech is clearly for purposes of lending atmosphere, but somehow the captioner knows what they're saying, and it turns out that it's relevant to the story.

I don't know how the captioners could know what they're saying, but they do. My theory is that at least sometimes they've got a script next to them as a reference, and those sections were originally in the script but the levels were taken down in the mix because the dialog wasn't thought to be important in the end.

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[–] mail-53-1337 9 years ago

when you study music they often do a section on selective hearing where you only listen to a specific instrument in a symphony. it's the same thing with movies, i can listen to background conversations/lyrics while blocking out the forground. they probably don't have a script :)

“In my sentences I go where no man has gone before.”
- George W. Bush

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[–] schwatime 9 years ago

Yeah, probably they don't have the scripts, but I can't think of any other explanation either. It can't (always) be that they have heightened abilities to filter out the foreground. Nobody could hear the lines that I'm talking about--I've tested this with other people too many times to think otherwise.

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[–] squidderuds1 9 years ago

This isn't like closed caption television. The person doing the subtitles works for the studio and has the script. They don't hear the words they look at them on a piece of paper.

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[–] satanicocarlos 9 years ago

"he must be just another ignorant brittish moron"

"brittish"
You must be another American moron who can't spell.

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[–] schwatime 9 years ago

No captions on this disc from Netflix.

There was an English subtitle option on the disc I got from Netflix.

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[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

That is good news. There was none on mine and I complained about it so perhaps Netflix was able to add subtitles?

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[–] schwatime 9 years ago

I don't think so, but I did find some explanation. I usually play discs on my computer, using VLC, and I turn subtitles on by picking a selection from the Subtitle option on the menu bar of the program. Usually the selection options look like English, French, etc. Sometimes some of the options look generic, like Closed caption 1, Closed caption 2, etc. Usually if you select one of those nothing happens, but sometimes some of them will get you subtitles.

With this particular disc, there's no way to select subtitles through the regular DVD menu . But if you use VLC's Subtitle menu option, you'll find no languages, but four of the generic choices. Choosing the first one gets you English subtitles.

Bottom line: this disc has issues, but you can get subtitles by using it with VLC (free download). I would assume that if you tell this to Netflix, they'll send you the disk again for free, and not charge it against your quota either.

If you try that, let us know what happens, okay?

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[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check into this.

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[–] nunoanjos1 10 years ago

John is completely right. You must be just another ignorant british moron. I also didn't understand many things they mumbled in this boring, dark, depressing movie. I say captions is not the solution. Just ask the actors to speak louder, yell, or speak clearly.

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[–] Toshi51 10 years ago

I grew up watching actors like John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Lawrence Olivier, Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Williamson and so many more. These guys had elocution and enunciation from theater days so they could be heard in the last row. So many modern film actors are used to a boom mic hanging over their heads and mumble. That does not work for me now. Actors must be heard! Thank you for your kind comment.

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[–] nunoanjos1 10 years ago

If you grew up watching Lawrence Olivier I bet you are older than me. I grew up watching actors like Sean Connery for example. He's got a british accent from the UK (from Scotland), but he is brilliant when he talks, same goes for Michael Caine. I also grew up watching many english actors: Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Antonhy Hopkins and they all talk very well, with their mouths opened. They are eloquent, everything that comes out of their mouth can be easily understood, crystal clear.

So, I agree with you. Nowadays many english actors can't speak clearly in movies, like the ones in The Machine or actors in another movie I had the same mumbling problem with, The Last Days on Mars, which rips off Alien movies left and right because they have no originality whatsoever.

They mumble many times, talk with a low voice, like they don't care, or like they are talking to themselves. They are not. They are talking to the movie audience, and should have that in mind. That's why I said they should YELL if they need to be understood, instead of mumbling half the time, causing many people who watch a movie (like you and me) to not understand what they mumble.

Come on forgettable Toby Stephens and Lib Scheinbhebner, repeat after me:
I SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP!!!

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[–] The_Gozerian 10 years ago

Only one of those 3 actors you listed is English and Connery has a Scottish accent.

It's unfair to blame the actors. Perhaps the director liked the understated approach. OP was right to blame the producers, maybe they don't have the same ADA-type requirements that the US has with their DVD releases? Hence no captioning.

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[–] cwtrex 10 years ago

He pointed out that Connery is Scottish. Unnecessary correction on your part.

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[–] nunoanjos1 10 years ago

Exactly, thanks for pointing that out. Some people... no comments lol. He didn't even realize I agreed with the OP.

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[–] nunoanjos1 10 years ago

What are you talking about? I mentioned Connery is from Scotland as someone pointed out, unnecessary correction on your part. I agreed with the OP.

You used the word "perhaps" and the word "maybe". In spite of that, sounds like you're 100% sure what you say is the truth lol.

The OP also mentioned actors, like I did, so I don't know what your problem is.

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[–] topeuph 9 years ago

I think The_Gozerian was referring to the fact that of the three "English" actors you mentioned (Michael Caine, Liam Neeson and Anthony Hopkins), only Michael Caine is English. Liam Neeson is Irish and Anthony Hopkins is Welsh.

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[–] nunoanjos1 9 years ago

Still stuck there? I mentioned FROM THE UK.

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[–] HuGoL1101 10 years ago

No! He's right! Personally, I think that the caption option is the strict minimum for a dvd. It's nothing, For 500$ anybody would do it !! Once you are there, you put the *beep* 500$ !!!

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[–] e25171971 10 years ago

Wat.

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[–] HuGoL1101 9 years ago

I mean that once you started the process of putting your movie on dvd, creating a menu etc, it's nothing get subtitles for your movie.

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[–] StamateGabriel 9 years ago

He asked for actors to speak proper english not to be americans.

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[–] mezuss 10 years ago

http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/subtitles/5619605/the-machine-en

AND A GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR !!!!!

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[–] Jigsaw737 10 years ago

I'm German and I could understand every single word (well, except for the language of the augmented people). If you couldn't understand what people were saying you need to brush up on your English skills or simply watch more British movies. You'll get the hang of it eventually.

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The IMDb forums: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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[–] Toshi51 10 years ago

So, aren't you special? Your superior hearing and language skills means you are the Uberman. The rest of us will have to keep on struggling as best we can.

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[–] Jigsaw737 10 years ago

If an eagerness to learn new skills and to expand my horizon makes me special, then I guess I am. 

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The IMDb forums: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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[–] nunoanjos1 9 years ago

Nazi thinking right there. Jigsaw737, deluded, lunatic, thinks he is superior to all other races.

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[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 9 years ago

LOL

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[–] tmilesj 10 years ago

The world does not speak west coast american. Have you thought of the osbcure bastardisation of "engrish" that we are forced to have from america. Have beavy in Glasgi and get a life

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[–] treborbasset 9 years ago

There was not a single word of the entire film that I didn't understand. The audio levels were fine. Try turning the volume up or getting a new TV, grampa.

Or was it the machine people who you couldn't understand? I can just imagine you struggling to turn it up whenever they spoke. Haha!

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[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

The volume was not the problem, the dialogue was often poorly enunciated. That is a failure of the Director and the actors.

No, this was not about the Machine people. I grasped that their language was not meant to be understood.

I hope you enjoyed yourself in writing this reply. You do realize that your insulting comments make you appear to be a very small man. Very small. A poor wee man.

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[–] treborbasset 9 years ago

A very small poor wee man with better hearing and/or auditory processing abilities than you.

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[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

Evidently.

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[–] ozart2002-919-392694 9 years ago

Perhaps you missed the part where he mentioned he had a hearing disability - either way, it was an infantile comment from a small mind.

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[–] meikido 9 years ago

That's weird. English isn't even my native language and I had no problem understanding any of the dialogue.

But if it is a problem for hearing impaired people and there are no subtitles on the dvd then that should definitely be changed.
I though extra subtitles for hearing impaired people were the norm, at least they are on every dvd and blu-ray I own.

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[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

Not all dvds have them in my experience, particularly movies and TV shows from Britain. For example, the Hornblower series does not have captioning.

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[–] 1shado1 9 years ago

Wow. Apparent children busting a man's chops because he's a tad hard of hearing and could either use subtitles or better enunciation by the actors? It must be nice to be one of these perfect children. It's a shame that we can't all be as understanding and compassionate regarding the 'infirmities' of others as these perfect children (rolls eyes).

Now if that bastard so much as twitches, I'm gonna blow him right to Mars.

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[–] coletticayin 9 years ago

Well, I'm French, studied english at high school, and had no problem understanding the actors without any subtitles... so it shouldn't be so difficult, maybe you had a technical problem with your sound hardware?

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[–] bearuk 9 years ago

I'm not sure if the British have a rare talent for understanding other accents or if Americans have a rare talent for complete failure to understand them.

As an Englishman in California, it's not uncommon to have to repeat myself five or more times at a 'drive thru' to get the order I want.

At the post office I was sending a Christmas parcel to a friend in New York, with 'Top Gear' wrapping paper. The guy at the post office made a comment and I asked if he'd seen Top Gear, explaining what it was. He said 'I don't watch English TV shows because I don't understand what they're saying'. Oh well.

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[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

I have been watching English movies for 55 years and mostly do not have a problem understanding since the great British actors know how to enunciate their lines. They were trained to speak to the back of the house (theater).

I lived in Britain for years and had little trouble understanding people except for the East End of London and parts of Cornwall and Devon. Northern accents were never a problem for me although their vocabulary contained words I had not heard before.

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