English subs

[Christine Marran]

One can worry about whether there *is* a market for English subs and one
can consider the notion of *creating* a market (albeit a so-called niche
market; viewers who watch any movies with subs is practically a niche
market in the US) by making available on a regular basis films with
English subs.  I think there is a market (students of mine interested in
Japanese film basically run out of films to rent at the local stores)
and I also think that it might be possible to expand that market by
building the ouevre of films available--although the prices need to be
reasonable.

I wonder if it is not the production costs but the distribution costs or
lack of a regular distribution system (such as to rental stores etc)
that is a consideration for companies in whether to create and market a
sub. Might this be the case?

Christine

Jason Gray wrote:
>>There could be various reasons for this: maybe to
>>stick it to the man and 
>>the hegemony enjoyed by English speakers (/sarcasm),
>>no one present to do 
>>the subtitling (you'd be surprised)
> 
> 
> As someone who makes part of my living creating English
> subtitles for Japanese movies, there *are* enough people
> to do them (though I wouldn't use the word "surplus"). A
> large percentage of the films that have subtitles made for
> them are never seen in that form outside of film markets
> (AFM, Cannes, Berlin etc.), let alone festivals. The
> subtitles are paid for in the hopes of selling the film
> abroad, not the DVD. In the process of making subs that
> will eventually be burned on a print (or two), there are 2
> or 3 
> ???????? (interim draft videos) with
> computer-generated electronic subs. The final draft could
> so easilly be ported to DVDs, but rarely is. Out of all
> the films I've worked on (or collaborated on), only one
> domestic (R2) release has had the subtitles extant.
> 
> I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that R2
> Japanese DVDs with English subs generate any more profit
> for companies than those without. Other than that, there
> is no clear answer to the question. 
> 
> Most Japanese DVDs don't even have Japanese subtitles,
> which I wish they did!
> 
> jason gray
> 
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> the projected
> 
>>sales in the domestic are 
>>low, the tested market historically runs without
>>subtitles, etc...
>>
>>The film industry is, after all, in the business of
>>making money. It's true 
>>that they are not gaining sales by releasing
>>unsubtitled copies of films, 
>>but you should ask yourself -- are they really
>>losing any?
>>
>>Due to the Hollywood system, almost anything
>>produced outside of it is, 
>>whether we like it or not, a "specialist market,"
>>and specialist markets 
>>have exceptions. Maybe that's even a reason for not
>>including subtitles --  
>>they know you're going to buy the DVD anyway. The
>>most realistic reason for 
>>all of this (assumptions aside) is that not
>>including English subtitles 
>>leaves the possibility open to sell licenses to a
>>distributor abroad. I know 
>>this because I've been involved in it, and in Japan
>>it doesn't just apply to 
>>film.
>>
>>But again, to point to economics, the studio heads
>>know their share of the 
>>market, even if their business practices seem odd or
>>as if they are "afraid 
>>to make money" (this applies to almost all companies
>>in Japan). If it didn't 
>>work for them, the movies wouldn't get produced.
>>
>>--
>>
>>I don't think that Hong Kong fits into this model
>>for several reasons; for 
>>example, the fact that many pirated versions of
>>films intended for export 
>>are produced there, the fact that English is an
>>official language in Hong 
>>Kong, the fact that Hong Kong movies have had
>>international success and been 
>>exported for quite some time, etc...
>>
>>I can't offer a solution for Korea. I don't keep
>>tabs with their releases 
>>but I can say that I have never seen a Korean movie
>>with English subtitles. 
>>In fact, I was just at a Korean movie store a few
>>weeks ago (randomly) and I 
>>was quite disappointed, but it makes perfect sense,
>>all of their customers 
>>are Korean, so why should they bother with English
>>subtitles? (There is a 
>>tone of sarcasm here but I think you'll get the
>>point.)
>>
>>
>>-d
>>
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "J.sharp" <j.sharp at hpo.net>
>>To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>>Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 5:05 AM
>>Subject: Re: English speakers generally do not
>>understand Japanese
>>
>>
>>
>>>> That is not a matter of want or lack of
>>>
>>interest, it's a matter of
>>
>>>>economics.
>>>>
>>>
>>>In what way is it a matter of economics? Consider
>>
>>that English subtitled
>>
>>>prints of most films are prepared for overseas
>>
>>festivals, and the 
>>
>>>prevalence
>>>of English subs on DVD releases from neighbouring
>>
>>countries such as Hong
>>
>>>Kong and Korea?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
> 
> .
> 


-- 
Christine L. Marran
Asst. Professor of Japanese Literature and Cultural Studies
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Asian Languages and Literatures
University of Minnesota