Do you like foreign language films?
But hate bad dubs?
Meet your savior: London-based AI startup Flawless says its deepfake tech can make translated films look more natural.
No matter how good a translation is…
… actors’ lips are usually out of sync. Flawless fixes this by creating mouth movements that match the spoken translation, then slapping them over the original image.
The startup’s co-founder Nick Lynes tells The Verge that this process retains the original style and performance. Though the end result isn’t 100% perfect, it’s pretty close. And Flawless says it can offer it quickly, cheaply, and in any language.
It’s also easier than a complete do-over, like “Metástasis,” the Colombian telenovela-style remake of “Breaking Bad” that doesn’t exactly replicate the performance that won Bryan Cranston 4 Emmys.
But don’t people hate dubs?
Critics and fans have waged the sub vs. dub war for ages, with many saying they prefer the authenticity of subtitles.
But while subtitles help those who are deaf or hard of hearing, dubbing helps those who are blind or have low vision. And as it turns out…
Netflix is about that dub life
The streaming giant found that people were more likely to watch a dubbed show than one with subtitles, which is why its made the dubbed version the default.
The company is now working with 170+ studios worldwide that offer dubs in 34+ languages, per Bloomberg. In fact, its No. 1 show (“Lupin”) this quarter is a French-dubbed work.
Now please enjoy “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” in 14 languages.
