Video localisation can be the difference between footage that inspires audiences around the world and a campaign that falls flat in overseas markets. Done correctly, localisation turns one video into a multinational hit, but taking compromises can be costly, both financially and for your reputation.
In this article, we look at seven ways you can keep the cost of your video localisation project down without sacrificing quality and putting the success of your campaign at risk.
Getting it right the first time
The key to localising video content on a reasonable budget is getting everything right first try. Mistakes create more work, forcing you to go back and fix errors before you can proceed – all of which adds extra time and expense to your project.
Make sure you follow these steps to avoid these costly mistakes.
- Plan ahead: Plan for translation and localisation from the very beginning and identify all of the challenges standing in the way of delivering multilingual content to your audiences.
- Shoot for platforms: Make sure your footage is suitable for every required platform while understanding the different platform preferences of each target audience.
- Shoot for localisation: Shoot with localisation in mind so that your final edit is ready for translation without any need for reshoots.
- Be careful with text: Remember that any important on-screen text will need to be translated too, and this can cause a variety of challenges – so it is often best to avoid text in your footage altogether or use it sparingly.
- Leave space for translation: English is a concise language, meaning sentences often become longer through translation, which can result in timing issues for subtitles and voiceovers.
- Cultural sensitivity: Pay close attention to anything in your footage that could be culturally insensitive to target audiences, including historical, political, religious or social concepts and stereotypes.
- Test the final video: Test your translated video on a sample audience for each language/location and get feedback before launching your campaign.
By taking these steps, you will avoid the most costly video localisation mistakes. In the worst cases, companies can be forced to reshoot scenes due to technical issues that make their footage difficult or impossible to translate. For example, the dialogue may be too fast for translated voiceovers to fit into conversations or too many people may be speaking at once for subtitles to be readable.
Putting video localisation first
The secret to great video localisation is to consider translation from the very start of the creative planning process. If you are aware of the implications each language has on your footage, before you start shooting, you can write scripts, create storyboards, frame shots and edit your footage with localisation in mind.
This way, you avoid technical translation issues later on in your projects and waste less time and money going back to fix avoidable issues.
If you’re interested in localising your video projects or campaigns for different markets, feel free to reach out to our video localisation experts.