I do find the PM's at this forum hard to access.
Forum PM's should be fairly easy to handle. Make sure you are logged in. Clicking on that link of Funchalense should do the job. Or (it's the same thing) click on the envelop icon on the top right side of the screen or the link "Private messages" and you should get to an interface very similar to an email client (inbox, sent items, etc.). Click on the subject and you should see the contents of the message. I don't know what you mean with "downloading as files" and what is bothersome nor what you could be doing wrongly. If for you none of this works and it's completely different, describe what's going on, maybe add a screenshot and we'll see.
what precisely is the problem with allowing people to contact me directly? Perhaps they prefer to be discreet.....
Contacting you otherwise than by PM or a public forum post is not a good idea, simply because privacy is not guaranteed. Please note that subtitling is not legal everywhere and not all entities have kosher ways. My intuition says you are who you say you are and your intentions are good and genuine. That's why I cooperate and approved your post. But I am only human, so my intuition is no guarantee. And even if my intuition is right, there could be third parties which you and I are not aware of - they could intercept communication and reveal private data. That's why, as forum moderator, I am asking you not to ask people to contact you by email (for example) and I am advising users not to do so. We get ideas and proposals similar to yours every now and then, and they are treated equally (see
https://forum.opensubtitles.org/search. ... ing+advice ). Please understand and, once again, do not feel offended.
I don't really see a point in "being discrete". Given what I wrote above, whatever should not be told to the world, should not be told to you, especially not by email or so. Further, I think in teamwork open communication is the key, not discretion.
I will contact you directly regarding this.
@Richard; you have a PM
I've sent you an email!
Funny. But okay, so be it. Me myself, I am using VPN's and pissing-off-the-NSA-grade-encryption when writing an email to my mother to talk about the weather. About Man From Earth, I will make a public post.
So, back to the topic.
I like your idea. I think it's a modern and sympathetic way of looking at things. I appreciate that and I would enjoy cooperating.
the technical aspects of your response
I think no need to explain what exactly is CPS and similar stuff. All you need to know is that subtitling is not the same as translating a book. The most important difference is the limited amount of time and space. Limited time, because the subtitle must appear when speech starts and disappear before the next dialogue starts. Plus the fact that average reading speed is limited and typically much slower than speech. Also space is limited, because only so much text fits on the screen. And the reader has only one chance. Confusion, distraction, complicated phrases and so should be avoided. So the subtitler must not only be a good translator, but also be a creative one AND know well about subtitling guidelines AND know how to compress and simplify.
I have a script.
Hm, makes sense
Yes, it will help A LOT if you provide the script. It will make things easier and faster for subtitlers and avoid mistakes. If the actors only changed a few insignificant words here and there, the actual meaning never changed, and nothing was added or left out, then the original script would suffice. But I know actors sometimes can go quite far off-script. If that's the case, then a continuity script would be better. Otherwise a subtitler could wrongly translate the script instead of the actual speech.
I'm not releasing the movie for several months
June 10th would be too soon to get anything done (but I guess you don't need subtitles for that), but October or November would be very possible.
I'm going to have to deal with subtitlers whom I can trust to NOT upload the movie or show it to anybody until I release it myself.
That was gonna be one of my follow-up questions. I understand you want to keep control and you can count on me not leaking the movie. But then again, those are only words and that's only me. I would advice you to listen to your intuition
So now practically.
I don't know what the three other users wrote you and why they wrote privately, so all I can say now is that I would be happy to work together with them on this project. We would have to figure out who can/wants to do what.
This is roughly what I think needs to be done and in what order:
0. [Any cooperating subtitler] See the 2007 movie.
1. [Richard] Create a movie file (only ONE version, I think .AVI would be best) and make it available to the one(s) doing #4 and #5.
2. [Richard] Check the script and -probably- make a continuity script.
3. [Any cooperating subtitler] See the 2017 movie.
4. [Subtitler A] Transfer the verbatim English script into a subtitle file, accurately synched to the video file (in-cue, out-cue, spotting), but regardless of CPS and line length.
5. [Subtitler B] Audio/visual check and corrections of #4.
For each language:
6. [Language-specific Subtitler C] Translate the verbatim English file into a language subtitle file according to all technical and linguistic subtitling guidelines (so now including limited CPS, line length, etc. and with appropriate compression and adjusted outcues, merges and splits).
7. [Language-specific Subtitler D] Technical and linguistical check of #6.
And okay, some security stuff.
I think the MFE-team should communicate only by forum posts in this topic or if necessary by PM. If anybody prefers solely non-public communication, we can find a solution for that.
The video file should be .AVI without any alien codecs (720p or even 480p would be enough) and made accessible by private torrent. It could be password protected. The torrent file (plus credentials) can be sent to a protonmail account to be set up by the subtitlers. This account can also be used to send subtitle files up and down - if used with a VPN. The video file should be made available something like two weeks or so before the subtitlers actually need it. The video file should be downloaded only through VPN with IPv6 disabled. Please don't ask me why
If some M-team subtitler currently doesn't have a VPN, he/she can ask me for help and advice on how to organise this. DO NOT mention publicly you don't have a VPN, tell me only by PM.
Btw, like I said before, provided you stick to the original plan (
"people everywhere on the planet can stream and download the movie on the same day, for a small reasonable fee. We also plan to release the movie for free on a "pay what you will” honor system"), I don't care about money, but as reward for my (our?) work I would appreciate a line of written text somewhere:
"Thanks to the subtitlers of opensubtitles.org for their cooperation" or so. If anybody cooperating prefers something else or to get paid, that's fine with me. For security reasons, for payments I would advice Bitcoin (and done the right way).
That's all I can think of for this moment