Claudia Connell’s lazy blast at ‘mumbling’ actors

This is a bit of a lazy article from Claudia Connell in this weekend’s Daily Mail Weekend supplement.

It’s not necessarily just the fault of the actors involved, but also whoever’s producing the final sound mix. After all, if someone’s filmed Eddie Redmayne and told him to speak in his normal voice, and then someone else has thrown a load of war-like sounds over the top of his dialogue, you can’t lay the blame at his door, necessarily.

Yes, there are a lot of actors who are guilty of mumbling, but then that’s one reason why I’ve used subtitles on TV programmes and films for many years. The other is because I’m often trying to do other things at the same time as watching said show or movie, so I just find it easier. And when I used to watch E.R., I would find it useful in spelling out all the medical terms for me to look up.

Also, my local Odeon occasionally shows mainstream films with subtitles and, I find, if you go to those screenings, the mention of ‘subtitles’ by the sales clerk puts a lot of people off, so it’s a much quieter auditorium…

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