Subtitle

A translation or transcription set at the foot of the frame. A second reading track that must never fight the first.

Subtitles are a parallel text sharing the frame with the picture: a translation running under a work that continues at its own pace. The reader lives in two tracks at once, and the subtitle's whole duty is to make that double reading effortless.

Must never fight the first is a set of concrete manners: short lines, honest timing, type quiet enough to serve and clear enough to read, placement that respects the composition. Translation adds its own discipline, compression without loss of register. The best subtitles are forgotten by the viewer who could not have followed a minute without them.