Subbing process

Because I tend to say what stage I'm at when someone asks me when the next part of something will be uploaded I thought it would be worth doing a quick post about the stages of subbing, as I do it. Everyone will be different but this is my list ;-)

Translating

This is the bare bones of the piece. Generally I do quite a loose, clunky translation and then go through it again to make it more elegant sounding, if possible. I will always give priority to the gist and atmosphere over literal translation but attempt to get that balance. If possible, I try to read my translation over a few days to check my English is okay (because your brain starts reading what it thinks is there) but I rarely get a chance to do this. Sometimes I'll do the timing before the translating but it's usually in this order.

Basic timing

This is where I put the subtitles into the video. I try to time the subtitles roughly by listening to cadence of voice and natural gaps. It may be that when I start to put the words in some of my subtitle timings need to be changed but this is usually a fair way to start.

Adding in the words

This is where the subtitles become subtitles. I transfer across the words from the translated libretto. Some lines need shortening and simplifying to make them easier to read. Some timings might need to be adjusted.

Overlapping bits

Whenever there is more than one person speaking at the same time I subtitle the main person and then go back to do the others later. It's easier to do this when there's actual text in place.

Formatting

Although I use a basic template which includes size, font, colours etc there are usually additional tweeks that need to be done, particularly when you have various overlapping dialogues. This can be really quick and easy or it can drive me completely batty.

Convert video type

The program I use to turn the subtitles into hard subs (attached to the video) doesn't use the same video format as my subtitling program so I have to convert the raw video at this stage.

Add subs to video

Self explanatory. However, this is, more often than not, a seemingly endless cycle of proof watching and tweaking of the timings of subs and the formatting, in particular. This is where things tend to go really wrong.

Compress the subbed video

You have no idea how huge these video files like to save themselves. I've had files 100x the size of the original for some mad, mad reason.

Upload

Marie Antoinette Part Seven

This part features:

• Marie Antoinette and Axel's secret meeting in one of the gardens of Versailles
• Axel attempting to bring their relationship to an end
• A harsh warning for Marie

I really like this scene. It wasn't too tricky to translate (for once!) and, like the last scene, really allows us to get to know one of the key women. It's probably the first time that we really see Marie's vulnerability and lack of comprehension of anything outside of her own happiness. It also really gives us an insight into the relationship between Axel and Marie. He obviously really loves her but does she actually love him?

During the farewell song, Gefül und Verstand, which starts at around 3:30, I been overly flexible with one word in particular. "Gefül" translates as "feelings" or "emotions" but, in this context, it translates much more naturally as  "heart" and this is what I chose to use. Obviously, the meaning isn't actually changed (in this context) but the translation is not literal as the literal translation felt a bit clunky.

There's also some icky layout with the overlapping singing. Although I've found a way to get around the layout problems I was having this work around doesn't allow me to fine tune quite as much so we have a bit of ickiness. Technical terms here!

Anyway, the next part, part eight, will be the last part of Act One. I can also reveal that, although I haven't split the Act Two video I have worked out where each split will happen and there will be 16 parts in total.

Marie Antoinette Part Six

This part features:

• Blatant foreshadowing that makes Marie unhappy
• The people expressing their distaste for the Queen
• Madame Lapin discovery of the perils of her job
• The people really expressing their distaste for the Queen
• More bad late night translation and subbing, of course

The part between 5 minutes and 7 minutes features some violence which, while crucial to the plot, might be a bit upsetting for some people.

This one was obviously delayed again, firstly due to me struggling with the mummer's song and secondly because I lost my libretto again. I'm not the most organised person ever!

The main difficulty, translation wise was the song performed by the citizens and mummers. It's bawdy and that always makes life hard, I think! I've no doubt that I've made mistakes in this but it's not crucial to the plot so, if I'm honest, I'm not too worried. I'm more worried that my brain went fuzzy because of this and I made error later in the thing but blegh!

There are also some really annoying moments where they're using words that just don't feel right when translated into English. One example is when Margrid calls Madame Lapin her "protectress". Genuine translation. Something like "patron" would feel more natural but change the meaning too much, I guess.

The main song in this part is "Ich weine nicht mehr" and it is really powerful and lovely in a desperate, dark way so :-) 

Of course, technical problems happened along the way... it just wouldn't be me without technical problems! That said, I think I've managed to work out how to solve a lot of the new formatting issues I'd been having. It's involved me having to actually learn some of the subtitle coding but oh well. As long as nothing changes with the programs I use (it was an update that triggered the problems) I should hopefully not have as many problems in future. Yay!

I'll start on part seven a.s.a.p. and it will focus on Marie and Axel... remember them?


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