I have just learnt how to add a subtitle track to my film which is very exciting!
I’m not sure if I am going to subtitle the film but I am glad to have learnt this skill. I know that Rouch preferred narration to subtitles because he felt that subtitles were an intrusion on the image as well as a distraction from the “poetic power of commentary” (MacDougall, 1998 p.165). However, I made a very rough cut of one section of my film and the response I got was that it needed more explanation so that they could understand what was going on. I feel as though there is enough commentary from the participants about what is going on to explain it, yet because of the many voices talking at once during this busy event, I can see that it could be hard to tell which bits are important. Therefore, having subtitles could help people to see the poetic power of the commentary that is already in the film. Yet if I did subtitle the film I would have to make difficult choices about whose voices I subtitles and who’s I left out. Additionally subtitling it would make it more accessible to deaf audiences which I think is a good thing to do.
If I have enough time I will create a subtitled version and a non-subtitled version, just like normal films, and allow the audience to decide which one they want to watch.
Reference
MacDougall, D. (1998). Transcultural Cinema. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.