Why Are Many Netflix Movies and Series Not That Good?

[Flopper]

You pick a movie or series to watch on Netflix. You have never seen any of the actors before but the story sounds good. As you watch the movie you wonder where this is taking place. Although actors are all speaking English, this doesn’t look like any city you have seen in the US. By the end the program or movie, you think it was ok, but really not as good as you thought it would be. The acting wasn’t that great and there was just something that wasn’t quite right. This is typical of productions that have been dubbed.

Take a look how movies are dubbed and you’ll see the problem. Say we have a movie that’s been shot in a town on the Spanish Riviera with Spanish actors speaking Spanish. The production company hopes to stream this movie in countries around world. They could just add subtitles but audiences much prefer hearing audio in their own tongue. So here how they do it.

The movie is shot in Spain as they would normally do for Spanish audiences. The producer engages an audio production company to dub the movie in other languages. Voice actors and audio engineers are hired to produce a new sound track in other languages. Most often they turn a good movie or series into mediocre one because:

• To reduce cost the actors and director of production are not part of audio production team so the input from the director and actors is missing.
• In order to sync the voices with lip movement, a new script has to be written. The goal is a perfect sync, not a perfect script. In fact, often the script is not that good.
• Since the entire sound track has to be removed from the video, the audio engineers create a new one with background sounds taken from canned audio. So a scene on a balcony overlooking the Riviera with the sound of surf, birds, and romantic music from another apartment is replaced by ocean sounds and nondescript pop music.
• Lastly the voice actors read the script watching lip movement and often produce audio without tempo and inflections needed to convey the emotions of the scene.

Netflix has a large international audience in 190 countries, so they use dubbing extensively. Their goal is to bring as many productions to as many countries as possible at the lowest cost using dubbing. This is a recipe for mediocre productions.

What’s your opinion?

 

[Harry Dresden]

they have had good ones and not so good ones....just like all the others....

 

[rightwinger]

You pick a movie or series to watch on Netflix. You have never seen any of the actors before but the story sounds good. As you watch the movie you wonder where this is taking place. Although actors are all speaking English, this doesn’t look like any city you have seen in the US. By the end the program or movie, you think it was ok, but really not as good as you thought it would be. The acting wasn’t that great and there was just something that wasn’t quite right. This is typical of productions that have been dubbed.

Take a look how movies are dubbed and you’ll see the problem. Say we have a movie that’s been shot in a town on the Spanish Riviera with Spanish actors speaking Spanish. The production company hopes to stream this movie in countries around world. They could just add subtitles but audiences much prefer hearing audio in their own tongue. So here how they do it.

The movie is shot in Spain as they would normally do for Spanish audiences. The producer engages an audio production company to dub the movie in other languages. Voice actors and audio engineers are hired to produce a new sound track in other languages. Most often they turn a good movie or series into mediocre one because:

• To reduce cost the actors and director of production are not part of audio production team so the input from the director and actors is missing.
• In order to sync the voices with lip movement, a new script has to be written. The goal is a perfect sync, not a perfect script. In fact, often the script is not that good.
• Since the entire sound track has to be removed from the video, the audio engineers create a new one with background sounds taken from canned audio. So a scene on a balcony overlooking the Riviera with the sound of surf, birds, and romantic music from another apartment is replaced by ocean sounds and nondescript pop music.
• Lastly the voice actors read the script watching lip movement and often produce audio without tempo and inflections needed to convey the emotions of the scene.

Netflix has a large international audience in 190 countries, so they use dubbing extensively. Their goal is to bring as many productions to as many countries as possible at the lowest cost using dubbing. This is a recipe for mediocre productions.

What’s your opinion?

Squid Game was dubbed and was very good

Netflix has a lot of time to fill. Some movies and series are good, many are mediocre

I still watch more Netflix than Network TV content

 

[Flopper]

they have had good ones and not so good ones....just like all the others....

Other streaming companies such as Amazon Prime, or Hula do not have a large international subscriber list so most of their productions are made for US audiences so they don't have to dubbed into English.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Squid Game was dubbed and was very good

Netflix has a lot of time to fill. Some movies and series are good, many are mediocre

I still watch more Netflix than Network TV content

im watching the Umbrella Academy and Locke and Key right now....

 

[Harry Dresden]

Other streaming companies such as Amazon Prime, or Hula do not have a large international subscriber list so most of their productions are made for US audiences so they don't have to dubbed into English.

then watch the American made ones....

 

[Flopper]

Squid Game was dubbed and was very good

Netflix has a lot of time to fill. Some movies and series are good, many are mediocre

I still watch more Netflix than Network TV content

Have not seen Squid Game but plan to.
I have read a number of Harlan Cobin's books and liked most of them. 14 of them have been produced for Netflix. Most of them have been made in Spanish, Polish, and French using mostly actors from those countries. Maybe I notice the use of dubbing more than other people but I find the productions that have been dubbed are just not as good. For me, when you disconnect the actor's voice from the actor and rewrite the script to fit lip movement, something get's lost in translation.

 

[rightwinger]

Have not seen Squid Game but plan to.
I have read a number of Harlan Cobin's books and liked most of them. 14 of them have been produced for Netflix. Most of them have been made in Spanish, Polish, and French using mostly actors from those countries. Maybe I notice the use of dubbing more than other people but I find the productions that have been dubbed are just not as good. For me, when you disconnect the actor's voice from the actor and rewrite the script to fit lip movement, something get's lost in translation.

It is a global market now

 

[Flopper]

then watch the American made ones....

Unfortunately, a lot of the better stuff is made in Europe and other countries and dubbed into English. Netflix wants to make movies wherever they be made cheapest and still stream them everywhere on the planet and dubbing makes that possible.

 

[Flopper]

It is a global market now

For streaming companies, the growth is in the international market, not the US. Netflix goal is to add a million new subscribers a quarter from overseas markets.

 

[hjmick]

If a movie or TV show looks good enough for me to watch and its origin is from another country and that original language was not English, I will watch it in the original language with subtitles.

For example, this one on Amazon:

 

[iamwhatiseem]

You pick a movie or series to watch on Netflix. You have never seen any of the actors before but the story sounds good. As you watch the movie you wonder where this is taking place. Although actors are all speaking English, this doesn’t look like any city you have seen in the US. By the end the program or movie, you think it was ok, but really not as good as you thought it would be. The acting wasn’t that great and there was just something that wasn’t quite right. This is typical of productions that have been dubbed.

Take a look how movies are dubbed and you’ll see the problem. Say we have a movie that’s been shot in a town on the Spanish Riviera with Spanish actors speaking Spanish. The production company hopes to stream this movie in countries around world. They could just add subtitles but audiences much prefer hearing audio in their own tongue. So here how they do it.

The movie is shot in Spain as they would normally do for Spanish audiences. The producer engages an audio production company to dub the movie in other languages. Voice actors and audio engineers are hired to produce a new sound track in other languages. Most often they turn a good movie or series into mediocre one because:

• To reduce cost the actors and director of production are not part of audio production team so the input from the director and actors is missing.
• In order to sync the voices with lip movement, a new script has to be written. The goal is a perfect sync, not a perfect script. In fact, often the script is not that good.
• Since the entire sound track has to be removed from the video, the audio engineers create a new one with background sounds taken from canned audio. So a scene on a balcony overlooking the Riviera with the sound of surf, birds, and romantic music from another apartment is replaced by ocean sounds and nondescript pop music.
• Lastly the voice actors read the script watching lip movement and often produce audio without tempo and inflections needed to convey the emotions of the scene.

Netflix has a large international audience in 190 countries, so they use dubbing extensively. Their goal is to bring as many productions to as many countries as possible at the lowest cost using dubbing. This is a recipe for mediocre productions.

What’s your opinion?

Yes. Although I notice it in the first 30 seconds or so.
I hate that Netflix doesn't separate foreign films.
And Netflix purposefully tries to hide it by choosing non speaking scenes in the trailers.
So yes, you pick the movie, start to watch it and.... wait a minute... dammit!

 

[Flopper]

Yes. Although I notice it in the first 30 seconds or so.
I hate that Netflix doesn't separate foreign films.
And Netflix purposefully tries to hide it by choosing non speaking scenes in the trailers.
So yes, you pick the movie, start to watch it and.... wait a minute... dammit!

The idea is they want to create low cost productions that will be watched in all 190 countries they serve. So they make a movie in Poland, with a good story with international interest, hire good cheap Polish actors and film it there. Then dub it into a dozen or so languages. This plan keeps costs down and subscriptions up. It's a great plan but does not always produce the best films. Although there are some films are enjoyable around world but many films are of national interest and those films should be made in and for those countries.

 

[g5000]

You pick a movie or series to watch on Netflix. You have never seen any of the actors before but the story sounds good. As you watch the movie you wonder where this is taking place. Although actors are all speaking English, this doesn’t look like any city you have seen in the US. By the end the program or movie, you think it was ok, but really not as good as you thought it would be. The acting wasn’t that great and there was just something that wasn’t quite right. This is typical of productions that have been dubbed.

Take a look how movies are dubbed and you’ll see the problem. Say we have a movie that’s been shot in a town on the Spanish Riviera with Spanish actors speaking Spanish. The production company hopes to stream this movie in countries around world. They could just add subtitles but audiences much prefer hearing audio in their own tongue. So here how they do it.

The movie is shot in Spain as they would normally do for Spanish audiences. The producer engages an audio production company to dub the movie in other languages. Voice actors and audio engineers are hired to produce a new sound track in other languages. Most often they turn a good movie or series into mediocre one because:

• To reduce cost the actors and director of production are not part of audio production team so the input from the director and actors is missing.
• In order to sync the voices with lip movement, a new script has to be written. The goal is a perfect sync, not a perfect script. In fact, often the script is not that good.
• Since the entire sound track has to be removed from the video, the audio engineers create a new one with background sounds taken from canned audio. So a scene on a balcony overlooking the Riviera with the sound of surf, birds, and romantic music from another apartment is replaced by ocean sounds and nondescript pop music.
• Lastly the voice actors read the script watching lip movement and often produce audio without tempo and inflections needed to convey the emotions of the scene.

Netflix has a large international audience in 190 countries, so they use dubbing extensively. Their goal is to bring as many productions to as many countries as possible at the lowest cost using dubbing. This is a recipe for mediocre productions.

What’s your opinion?

I always watch foreign programs with the subtitles. The English dubbing sucks.

There are a lot of really good foreign language programs on Netflix.

Stranger, for example. Not to be confused with The Stranger, which is American.

I am not normally into K-dramas, but Stranger is a notable exception.

I absolutely love South Korean movies. They are far superior to the drek being cranked out by Hollywood these days.

Giri/Haji is a great foreign language series..

 

[g5000]

Stranger is known as Secret Forest in Korea. There have been two seasons. I hope there are more.