When the dialogues of films are difficult to understand

Who has never happened to have a hard time understanding the dialogues of a film. There are actors and actresses whose unclear way of speaking is a kind of registered trademark. There are also directors who use unintelligible dialogues as a stylistic resource.

According to the German computer portal “Golem.de”, beyond these reasons, the reasons why some dialogues in films and series are little or not understandable can be of different kinds.

Experts point out that, in English-language productions, the problem has been evident for a long time, but that now, however, difficulties of understanding also occur more and more frequently in films and series in other languages.

According to “Golem.de”, a very common problem when it comes to recording crystal clear sound is that nowadays it is difficult to position microphones so that they make an ideal recording, that is, held through a bar above the speaker.

The portal explains that this is hardly possible in productions with many effects and action, and that it is also often dispensed with for fear that it will cast shadows. In addition, he adds, additional shots “only” to improve the sound are rarely done for reasons of cost.

Bad sound cannot be corrected in post-production. Experts point out that the variety of sound tracks in digital recordings does not necessarily improve things, and that, in the case of analog material, the sound was not so layered, but overall it was clearer. Today, dialogue has to “struggle” with music, but also with background noises, to be perceived.

On the other hand, for various reasons, a soundtrack mix that sounds perfect in the sound studio may not play correctly in the cinema. According to “Golem.de”, cinemas also tend to lower the sound due to the effects that are too loud.

When enjoying movies at home, one of the problems is that the audio track is compressed for direct transmission, which can lead to a loss of quality. On the other hand, there is the question of whether there is an AV receiver and the different speakers that allow each sound channel to be perceived appropriately.

Those users who simply watch and listen through the TV and built-in speakers will have to admit the fact that effects and music are dominant and make it difficult to understand the dialogues.

the sake of improved sound and intelligibility, a soundbar, or “soundbar”, can be an intermediate solution between an expensive home entertainment system and insufficient TV speakers.

dpa