Subtitles

Subtitles

The dialogue runs at the bottom of the screen — and suddenly you don't understand a word anymore. This is where subtitles come in: text overlays that either translate foreign language dialogues or make unintelligible passages (strong dialects, poor acoustics, whispers) readable. In the edit, this is one of the last decisions — and one of the most critical, because it permanently changes the image.

In practice, we distinguish between two worlds: Hardsubs (burned-in subtitles), which are burned directly into the image material — unchangeable, part of the master — and soft subtitles (separate tracks), which the viewer can optionally switch on and off. For a DCP for cinema, we usually work with hard-burned titles in the OV (Original Version) or separate SRT/XML files for different language versions. In streaming, soft subtitles are standard — Netflix, Apple TV deliver multilingual tracks in parallel.

The craft side: In the edit (or in the post-production specialist's office), every dialogue snippet is timed precisely. Timing is crucial — the subtitle must appear 2-3 frames BEFORE the word so that the eye can keep up. Too much text per line (max. 42 characters), too long a display time (less than 1 second = unreadable, more than 6 seconds = distracting). With fast cuts or action sequences, you have to shorten massively — not translate, but adapt. The viewer reads the first line while the second is still loading; three lines for more than two seconds is torture.

Typical pitfalls: Subtitles must not fall into the 20% crop area of the TV safe zone (important for older televisions and cinema). For multilingual projects, you need separate tracks per language — German, English, French versions each with their own timing and length adjustments. Artists or directors sometimes demand artistic subtitles (large fonts, colors, documenting off-screen sounds) — this is discussed early in post-production, not only in the final master.