English speakers generally do not understand Japanese

[Stefan Nutz / Nuzumakifilms]

referring to Korean cinema:

I was talking about R3 Korean DVD versions (of Korean films), which all
include eng. subtitels. Take for example Park's Sympathy for Mr(s).
Vengeance, it will be released WITH english subtitles, due to the fact, that
this is could be internationally the most succesful Korean film in years.
Why do they release it with subtitels? Is it an unsaid rule that every
Korean DVD company has to follow? An economic rule?
I think many distributors (like here in Europe and Germany) first have to
actually watch the Film and wait for fan-response, before they buy it. If
the film gets good reputations, they pick it up, put subs on the interviews,
special package and call it ultra-limited-collectors edition- and many will
buy it again.
Korean film is easy to get and watch, and more easy to sell.

In 2004 KOFIC supported the release of independent short and feature-length
films on DVD, in order to expand the market for these commercially
disadvantaged works. Twice a year, KOFIC supports the release of 10 discs
through a commercial DVD distributor (2000 copies per release). Each disc
will be subtitled in Korean, and English.



Stefan Nutz

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <drainer at mpinet.net>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: English speakers generally do not understand Japanese


> Exactly, that's what I was trying to get at; I think that often times we
> don't realize the difference between trying to sell the film abroad and
> releasing it domestically. As you pointed out, the model used in Japan is
> different (subtitles being used almost specifically to sell the film
> abroad).
>
> What I would like to suggest is that Japan isn't unique at that -- if you
> were to look at the South American market or even portions of the European
> market you would find very similar characteristics. For instance, seldom
did
> we see subtitles (foreign DVD releases) in Brazilian movies after the
> festival and international commercial success of City of God. And we are
now
> seeing that with Japanese films as well -- after the recent remakes much
> more is being released on R1 DVD, as well as being played on TV (I am
> currently in America, I've noticed at least 4 different Japanese movies on
> Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, this month).
>
> The main difference is that Japan has a thriving film industry, whereas
the
> former heavily rely on government subsidies to release their films. Maybe
> it's a matter of Hollywood vs. them.
>
> Another good point you bring up is the lack of subtitles on Japanese DVDs
> itself... which is strange, provided that TV shows subtitle almost
> everything!!
>
> -d
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jason Gray" <loaded_films at yahoo.co.jp>
> To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 10:55 AM
> Subject: Re: English speakers generally do not understand Japanese
>
>
> >
> >> 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
> >
> >
>