Outline of chapters
Introduction
Why one film, four languages
The goal: one story, told so naturally in each language that nobody guesses it was translated.
Omen is the forecasting platform of ML Helvetic. For its launch we made a paper-collage film (client work): a globe, a few small signals, a brass scale, a product screen and an end card, all cut from paper and laid on cork and card. It exists in four languages: English, French, Swiss German and Algerian Arabic (Darja).
Each language comes as a 30-second film and a 15-second cut, in widescreen and in square, with captions. A two-minute version came first; the client asked for the short cuts because prospects will not sit through two minutes. The film at the top of this page is the French 30-second version.
This guide walks through the method, so you can do the same with your own film:
Chapter 1
Write one script that travels
The fewer idioms in the master script, the less gets lost on the way.
We wrote the English script first, as the master: short lines, one idea each, words a listener understands on first hearing. The opening line sets the tone: “The world speaks before it acts.”
Then each line was written again in each language rather than translated word for word. The English ending “Stop reacting. Start predicting.” became « Ne subissez plus. Anticipez. » in French: the same push, in words a French speaker would choose.
In dialect, choose plain, common verbs. They are the words native listeners agree on.
Keep one review sheet
Put every spoken line and every word on screen in one table, with the English beside each language. A native speaker marks what sounds wrong and suggests the fix. Text on screen can change without recording again; a spoken line needs a new take, so settle the script before the voice.
Chapter 2
Decide what changes and what stays
Some things must be localised; others must stay the same everywhere.
What stays. The film's example brand, a made-up retailer called Fullcart, and the nickname #Emptycart stay in English in every version. They belong to the story, not to the language.
What changes. Anything the story uses to make a point about language. In the film, a local news report stands for news your tools cannot read, so in most versions its headline is in Arabic. For Darja viewers Arabic is their own script, so in that version the headline is in Chinese.
The product screen changes too. Its menus, labels and headlines are translated in each version, so a buyer sees the product in their own language.
Swiss German is two languages at once. The voice speaks Zurich dialect; the titles and captions are in Swiss Standard German, the way Swiss viewers read every day.
Chapter 3
Mirror the layout for right-to-left
Darja reads from right to left, and the film has to read that way too.
A right-to-left version is not the same film with new words. Reading order flips, so the layouts flip too: titles, labels and the pieces of evidence beside the product screen are mirrored, so the eye travels the way the viewer reads.
Then check every frame where text meets picture. A label that pointed at the right object in English can point at the wrong one once the layout turns around.
Chapter 4
Get the small type right
Typography is where a translation shows.
Numbers and signs follow each language's rules, down to the smallest tag:
- Thousands: ×1,000 in English, ×1 000 in French, ×1000 in Swiss Standard German.
- Days: 30d in English, 30 j in French, 30 T in German.
- Percent: French and German put a narrow no-break space before the % sign, so a figure never splits across two lines.
- Quotation marks and apostrophes: the language's own, « » in French and a typographic ’ everywhere.
Chapter 5
Record the voice, then listen like a native
A transcript shows what you wrote. Only a native ear hears what was said.
Each line is recorded several times and the best take chosen by listening.
Spell names for the ear. In the Zurich dialect version the sign-off is written “Omen – vo ML Helvetic”, so the voice keeps the final n of Omen. In Darja the most natural sign-off is “Omen تاع ML Helvetic”.
Then have native speakers listen. A transcript can show the right words even when the voice says something else, so a person who grew up with the language makes the final call. On this film a native listener caught a Swiss German phrase that could be heard the wrong way, and it was rewritten in plainer words.
Write for the ear of the person who grew up with the language, not for the eye of the person who translated it.
Finally, time each language to its own voice. Every frame of the film is drawn by code from the clock, so each language gets its own timing map: the moment a stamp lands or the scale moves follows that language's words, not the English ones.
Chapter 6
Cut every length and shape at once
One master, every delivery.
For each of the four languages we delivered:
- a 30-second film and a 15-second cut;
- 16:9 in 1080p, for the web and presentations;
- a lighter 16:9 file in 720p, for email;
- a 1080 × 1080 square, for LinkedIn feeds;
- captions in SRT and VTT for each length.
That is 24 films from one story. The music is one continuous piece, and its last note lands on the word “Omen” in every language, so the ending hits the same way everywhere.
Conclusion
One film, everywhere it needs to be
Good localisation is invisible: each viewer simply sees a film made for them.
Four languages, two lengths, three shapes, one story. The work is in the decisions above: made once, written down, and checked by people who speak the language. Before your next film travels, run through the list:
- One master script, short lines, plain words.
- A review sheet with every spoken and written line.
- A list of what changes and what stays.
- Mirrored layouts for right-to-left languages.
- Numbers, spaces and quotation marks in each language's style.
- Native listeners for every voice.
- Every length and shape cut from the same master.
See the Omen work, or tell us which markets your next film needs to reach.