Sherlock – storytelling through visual text
The BBC’s Sherlock has proved to be a hit. Much of this is surely down to a clever re-imagining of the characters placing them in a modern setting with modern technology. Those of you who have watched it will know this already but I wanted to share something a little off topic. What I really enjoy in watching the episodes is the way that visual clues are displayed to the viewer in a creative way with text graphics. Whilst this is not closed captioning or subtitling it is on screen text and so I am including it in this blog.
For example, this Sherlock makes constant use of his and other people’s mobile phones to carry out his work. Rather than have an obligatory camera shot of someone holding a mobile phone followed by a close up shot of said message on the phone, the text is creatively added in post production to the shot and placed in a prominent position on screen. Far from being distracting I really felt it added to the story telling.
Sherlock sends a text message to DI Lestrade:
When Sherlock sent the same text message to all journalists at a press conference, the text was displayed multiple times representing all the mobile phone text messages being read:
Although not obvious from the screen caps the text was animated on and off screen but in a simple and effective way so not to draw any more attention to it than is needed.
Watson reads a text message on his phone:
This technique is repeated in all episodes and is also used for non-text clues including a graffiti tag. I hope this style of storytelling continues when the series returns. For the record, the region 2 DVD does come with subtitles/closed captioning available. The making of is also subtitled. However the commentaries are not. *sigh* Very frustrating!
And to get this blog a little bit more on topic I recently came across a tweet with a link to a Flickr account containing selected key scenes from movies and TV with the closed captioning also screen grabbed to illustrate the key impact of the dialogue in the chosen scene. Check it out here. I like the idea. I could have a lot of fun doing that with my own DVD collection. What scenes of closed captioning dialogue would you choose as a key scene/dramatic impact?
I chose this one for Sherlock:
Edit: Not related at all to the BBC’s Sherlock series but thought I would share this Russian animation for Sherlock Holmes subtitled into English on You Tube. Enjoy!
chris bradley 11:49 pm on November 12, 2010 Permalink |
i think you could have a lot of fun CCing horror movies. I am not the ghoulish type but it strikes me that descriptions such as ” she screams loudly” could easily be jazzed up with some good descriptive analogies.
How about ” she yells like a cat giving birth to a telephone box” or some such nonsense.
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iheartsubtitles 11:58 am on November 15, 2010 Permalink |
I am sure there are some great ones out there already when it comes to audio description. Music descriptions especially can be very imaginative.
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Artie Hippley 3:44 am on November 13, 2010 Permalink |
Very Nice website. I just finished mine and i was looking for some ideas and your website gave me some. Did you develop the website alone?
Thanks
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iheartsubtitles 12:00 pm on November 15, 2010 Permalink |
Thank you for the kind words. All the ideas displayed on this site are my own yes. Just years of observation and analysis and of course changes in technology. I decided I ought to write some of it down. And so here it is. Hope you enjoy it and come back to read more. 🙂 Good luck with your site.
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chris bradley 8:04 pm on November 13, 2010 Permalink |
It’s got to be said that’s there’s something truly beautiful about subtitles as an expression of both, the spoken and printed word. A sort of marriage of the two.
I will never forget the closing words, and therefore, subtitles of A I, the Spielberg film. It is a real breathing out moment as the story i have read/watched, concludes with the little boy falling asleep for the first time and going ” to the place where dreams are born ”
Magnificent!
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iheartsubtitles 12:03 pm on November 15, 2010 Permalink |
Yep. The spoken word written down can sometime emphasis the meaning. I felt the same way with the last lines of dialogue subtitled for American Beauty:
You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday.
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Sonia 8:30 pm on November 28, 2010 Permalink |
I really enjoyed the use of text in the first episode, and I hope they continue with the trend. I’ve been trying to show A study in pink to my mother on pbs.org site. But she needs closed captions. Does anyone know if there is an option for closed captions in the online viewing? And if so how do you turn them on?
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iheartsubtitles 8:40 pm on November 28, 2010 Permalink |
Hi Sonia. As far as I am aware they are sadly not available. Make it known to PBS that you are missing out because closed captions are not available online. Although it doesn’t help you right now, the good news is the passing of the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act means broadcasters in the US in future will be required to provide closed captioning online when a programme has aired with them on TV. See: https://iheartsubtitles.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/21st-century-communications-video-accessibility-act/
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i heart subtitles blog: 2010 in review « i heart subtitles 6:08 pm on January 2, 2011 Permalink |
[…] Sherlock – storytelling through visual text November 20108 comments 4 […]
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Katya 4:56 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
Just cross posted this lovely blog on my tumblr http://findingsherlock.tumblr.com/
This is a perspective of the updated version of Sherlock that I would love to hear more about. Lovely blog in general. Thanks!
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iheartsubtitles 5:01 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Katya – thanks very much. Nice tumblr blog. I’m a fandom lurker myself 🙂 I am hoping the new series continues using text on screen in a creative way, I really like it.
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BBC’s Sherlock and the Projection of Screens Onscreen | Josh Whitcomb Sorts It Out 12:17 pm on March 22, 2011 Permalink |
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Sherlock – The Clue is in the Subtitles | i heart subtitles 8:16 pm on July 15, 2013 Permalink |
[…] have blogged previously about this popular BBC TV series before and how Sherlock uses visual text on screen as part of the storytelling process (this is actually one of my most popular posts for hit counts!). Last week the BBC did something […]
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Accessible film making or what if subtitles were part of the programme? | i heart subtitles 4:52 pm on December 22, 2014 Permalink |
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[…] Here’s a few examples (via i heart subtitles): […]
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