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Originally Posted by Michael Brooke  But they might not necessarily be unintentionally amusing. I recently signed off on the subtitles for It Came from Beneath the Sea, where at a very early stage the submarine captain expresses his dislike of the piped muzak and asks for something livelier. But aside from that, he doesn't verbally describe what's playing, and if you can't hear it it's useful to know that the first is "(HAWAIIAN LOUNGE MUSIC)" and the second is ("LIVELY JAZZ NUMBER").
What I tend not to do is subtitle non-diegetic music unless it really is absolutely essential - but if the music can be heard by the characters, there's every reason to describe it. |
That's different because you are subtitling plot, something without which the film would not make sense to someone who is hard of hearing.
I was referring to occasions where films have subtitled music, both diegetic and non-diegetic, which have absolutely no bearing on the events you are seeing and are irrelevant, or are blatantly obvious. I can understand if someone is in an elevator and the subtitles say "(MUZAK PLAYING)", because it informs the HoH viewer that the discomfort on the face of the character is possibly caused by the crap music! If, however, the music playing in the elevator is significant because it calls back to an earlier scene, then that information should also be relayed to the viewer.
That said, two characters walking into a Goth bar where a thrash metal band is playing on the stage and the subtitles say "(HEAVY METAL MUSIC)" seems to be superfluous information because you can see music is being played and will be 99% sure what the music it is without the subtitle providing that information.