Polysemiotic medium of film

Films and TV shows are polysemiotic, or make use of multiple channels to communicate with the viewer, unlike the monosemiotic medium of a book that is unillustrated. Gottlieb identifies four channels that are generally used by film and television:

The translator of the film has to concentrate only on the third channel, which is of the verbal one. The viewer who is watching the film and also reading the subtitles, actually has a divided attention.  Gottlieb observes that the reception of the film will be different, in that the film is also being read as opposed to just being seen. This process of reception and appreciation of a subtitled film is a matter that is now studied by psychologists.

When compared to other forms of screen translation like dubbing, commentary or voice-over, subtitling is disemiotic because it uses two channels – written text and speech. The other three are replacing oral text with another text and hence are monosemiotic (Gottlieb, 246). In translation, the subtitler’s focus is not just on the words and sentences of the text, but on its effect as a whole. Gottlieb points out: “This pragmatic dimension leaves the subtitler free to take certain linguistic liberties, bearing in mind that each subtitle must be phrased and cued as part of a larger polysemiotic whole aimed at unimpeded audience reception” (247). The most common way to use subtitles is to have about 2-3 sentences with 60-70 characters on screen at a particular point of time. So the subtitler usually condenses the speech. Sometimes the differences between the languages may also necessitate reduction.