The nature of fixed language in the subtitling of a documentary film

Figure 4. Print screen of 
“a spit in the ocean”. 
The fifth example, one hell of functions as a qualifying expression meaning a 
great, awesome or similar idea. The Portuguese translation followed another path and 
changed the expression into a paraphrase that attempted to replicate the same 
significance 
– A coisa promete… However, it would be possible to use a set phrase, 
though it could be considered slangish (again the issue of language registers), such as e 
peras, which can mean both interesting and difficult or tricky. 
Fig. 5 illustrates the narrator preparing himself to start a journey, by looking to 
the back mirror and the side mirrors, and by admiting that it would a both interesting 
and difficult journey. 
Figure 5. Printscreen of 
“one hell of (a journey)”. 

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63 
Finally, follow the footsteps means to do the same job or the same things in your 
life as someone else, which is exactly what is expressed by the Portuguese equivalent 
that seems to lose a bit of the idiomaticity of the original. Fig. 6 exemplifies this 
replication of one’s footsteps because the narrator is redoing the main character’s steps 
in “The Da Vinci Code”. 
Figure 6. Print screen of 
“follow the footsteps”. 
To conclude, through the analysis of these set phrases and their translations into 
the subtitled version, we could claim that in all cases, with the exception perhaps of 
think-tank, everything that happens on screen, before and after what is represented in 
the print screens, ensures the strengthening of their meaning. Thus, setting is important 
– the narrator in the centre of the representation of “The Last Supper”; action is also 
essential 
– the car coming out of parking lot; the pile of books; the books inside the 
plastic box (container); details could also have a saying 
– the library surrounded by 
bookshelves and the scholar. 

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7.8. Conclusions 
It is our strongest belief that the work done up until now is undeniably a drop in the 
ocean, because it has only shown us the tip of the iceberg. We will have one hell of a 
journey in front of us and a lot of legwork still to do. 
Firstly, these examples and all others that we might find in this subtitled 
documentary film will have to go through a number of tests to verify their level of 
frozenness or setness and their potential level of idiomaticity. Secondly, all the 
classifications and interpretations of the set phrases will have to be re-evaluated, not to 
mention the translations obtained from the subtitling, which will require further research 
in the area of norms and standards for AVT and contrastive linguistics. 
Finally, the completion of our pilot study will be achieved when we are able to 
compare the translation results of the subtitling with those of the voiced-over version, so 
as to test one of our main hypotheses, which will shed light on the possible footsteps 
that our research will follow.