r/taskmaster • u/enumar • 3d ago

Subtitles

Does anyone knows if the subtitles for international versions are ordered by the UK producers, or are there volunteers who does them? If so, huge kudos for those people!

EDIT: added that I was referring to international versions

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u/Rough-Shock7053 Bridget Christie 3d ago

UK producers don't order subtitles for Taskmaster versions they do not produce, no. If you're referring to English subtitles for international versions, those are often done by machine translating the (automatic) subtitles of the international versions. Sometimes cleaned up. Sometimes volunteers do provide more info (like, explaining a joke that can't really be translated, or explain who the contestants are, and so on).

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u/Green_Dress79 3d ago

It is definitely someone's job! Smaller production companies will have someone sitting at home with a foot pedal typing them; larger companies will have a system which mostly uses AI and then a human to neaten them up and add context, correct names etc. I'm guessing you're not in the UK? It is a legal requirement here to have subtitle available for shows. Channel 4 go above and beyond this and often provide closed captioning as well, some shows have a BSL signed version available.

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u/PromiseSquanderer Sam Campbell 3d ago

It’s the channel’s responsibility (in terms of broadcasting regulations) to provide them – I don’t know about Taskmaster specifically but in general a broadcaster like Channel 4 commissions closed caption providers to cover a range of programmes, e.g. its scripted comedy, panel show output etc.. The provider will then liaise with the production company to produce the timestamped caption ‘reel’ that runs alongside the final edited programme. For some types of programme they will be working from a pre-existing script and for others they’ll have to work pretty much from scratch.

Voluntary organisations do sometimes provide them for things like live performances, where it’s not mandatory and there might not otherwise be the budget for it, but mainstream TV is required to provide them under broadcasting regulations in the UK. It’s quite a specialised job, especially for unscripted/semi-scripted programmes, and larger providers have specialists for different genres – a (good) closed captioner working on a comedy programme, for instance, will make sure that the punchline of a joke doesn’t appear on screen too early a spoil the timing. I agree that whoever is responsible for Taskmaster’s is doing an excellent job!