English translation: separating this intrusion in the film narrative
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French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Article on Visual & photographic artists
French term or phrase:dissocie l’intrus du récit
This is from a long article which talks about the work of a photographer/visual artist who photographs the black frames in old films which are invisible to the human eye (due to projection speed). The "intrus" is referring to the white subtitle, which features in these black images of old film frames. The full context reads:
"Personne n’aurait sans doute perçu, sans ce recours, ce monochrome noir surmonté d’un sous-titrage blanc. En effet, cette image se dissimulait dans la vitesse de projection la rendant aussi imperceptible que les micro-expressions d’un visage. [Artist X] a pu la voir car il a exercé son œil à cette vision flottante qui dissocie l’intrus du récit filmique."
I have attempted:
"No doubt, if it were not for this contrivance nobody would have even noticed this black monochrome image surmounted by a white sub-title. This image actually gets lost in the speed of the projection, making it just as imperceptible as minute facial movements. [Artist X] was able to see this because he had trained his eye to notice this floating image which separates the intruder from the film narrative."
I know that "separates the intruder from the film narrative" does not carry across in the English as it does in the French and would like to find a more accurate way to translate this image.
Explanation: "The odd one out" sprang to mind from the "cherchez l'instrus". However, the French is a little 'tordu' overall in the original. I wish you luck with the translation as what sometimes gets away with being poetic French blurb can be so tough to render stylistically in English.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:45:04 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
No, I am not saying that "dissocie l'intrus" is another way of saying "cherchez l'intrus". As I stated, I have simply indicated how it came to mind.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:46:02 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
'dissocier' and 'chercher' are not synonymous and I have not tried to indicate that they are.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:49:44 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
You are sticking fairly closely to the original which is perhaps an academically purist approach. I know that when I have had prose of this nature to translate - thank goodness, not that often - I usually do an arm's length translation, some distance therefore from the original but it is the only way I can begin to believe in what I am writing as being anything like natural English for a final reader, although it means corrupting the French a little and not all clients accept that.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2011-12-24 10:02:02 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Here's a suggested rnedering taking you quite some way from the rendering you have but it is just a suggestion. I came up with the idea of "fleeting" for the facial epxression but preferred it for the "intrus" in the end. Indeed, I preferred not to qualify facial expression at all here as I found nothing as adeuqtae as fleeting, saw no use repeating it and in the end decided that it is clear in the context that an epxression is barely perceptible.
Also, in my final version, I moved away from odd one out and closer to the French for "istrus" :
Were it not for this trick, the monochrome of the white subtitle on a black background would have gone quite unnoticed. The image almost disappears in speed of projection, making it as easy to spot as facial expressions. X’s trained eye was able to see the fleeting vision, separating this intrusion in the film narrative
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2011-12-24 10:11:31 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Sorry, what I meant was :
"Were it not for this trick, the monochrome of the white subtitle on a black background would have gone quite unnoticed. The image almost disappears in the speed of projection, making it as difficult to spot as a facial expression. X was able to see the fleeting vision, his trained eye picking out this intrusion into the film narrative."
You could probably get away with using the word "intruder" in some renderings.
I agree. I unwittingly accepted this before realising how difficult it actually was. If it wasn't Xmas, and if wasn't about to go on holiday, I am sure it would be great fun. Anyway, back to work...
PS. Thanks everyone for all your input, it has been most helpful and I only wish I could choose every answer as the correct one.
Emildegar's answer: "excepts outsider from the..." was what I was referring to, but I realise now I was reading too much into it.
PS. Anybody who is really loving this translation (I'm not I'd rather be packing for my Xmas holiday), there is another term posted under film/TV field.
It is "cette image", thus the whole monochrome. I had not realized it was a subject of debate. (It is not the white subtitles as I had intimated in a brief post here I have just deleted! I was referring to the whole monochrome. It is certainly not the viewer. It could not make sense that way either in the global context, nor in terms of the grammar)!
As Laurette said in her notes, I also think that the intruder is the entire quickly passing frame with the subs - ce monochrome noir surmonté d’un sous-titrage blanc. I don't see why it would be just the subs.
This being said, more context wouldn't hurt and/or links of the reference.
@ Nikki - I also like fleeting and understand/appreciate your ideas.
What is confusing me now is the reference to the intruder. I originally suggested that the intruder was the white subtitle. Now there seems to be mixed messages coming from answerers about whether the intruder is the subtitle/text i.e. within the frame, or whether the intruder is the viewer of the photograph.
Laurette's answer is indeed interesting. It raises the question of what the French refer to as "images subliminale", the litigious insertion of hidden messages publicity people wilfully sneak into their films and which have been the subject of debate and even some legal cases in the States I believe. I think they are called subliminal stimuli in English too, not always used to wholly honest ends! Stimuli which are subliminal are perceived unconsciously; supraliminal stimuli are perceived consciously. This is where Laurette's "floating", looking/seeing/watching comes in. I like the idea of "fleeting" for this reason.
Thank you to all answerers for such helpful, interesting and clearly explained answers so far. I have 1,800 words of this over next 3 days (even though it's Xmas!!). Will be posting up under Art and possibly film/cinema if it is of any interest.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
2 hrs confidence:
(he honed his vision on this jerky image which) excepts this outsider from the filmic narrative
Explanation: The problem with so much French criticism is that it tends to be just a bunch of poetic BS which just doesn't work in English. The English BS of this sort is much more analytical. So the translation is tough.
emiledgar Belgium Local time: 07:42 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English, French PRO pts in category: 77
Explanation: "The odd one out" sprang to mind from the "cherchez l'instrus". However, the French is a little 'tordu' overall in the original. I wish you luck with the translation as what sometimes gets away with being poetic French blurb can be so tough to render stylistically in English.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:45:04 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
No, I am not saying that "dissocie l'intrus" is another way of saying "cherchez l'intrus". As I stated, I have simply indicated how it came to mind.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:46:02 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
'dissocier' and 'chercher' are not synonymous and I have not tried to indicate that they are.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:49:44 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
You are sticking fairly closely to the original which is perhaps an academically purist approach. I know that when I have had prose of this nature to translate - thank goodness, not that often - I usually do an arm's length translation, some distance therefore from the original but it is the only way I can begin to believe in what I am writing as being anything like natural English for a final reader, although it means corrupting the French a little and not all clients accept that.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2011-12-24 10:02:02 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Here's a suggested rnedering taking you quite some way from the rendering you have but it is just a suggestion. I came up with the idea of "fleeting" for the facial epxression but preferred it for the "intrus" in the end. Indeed, I preferred not to qualify facial expression at all here as I found nothing as adeuqtae as fleeting, saw no use repeating it and in the end decided that it is clear in the context that an epxression is barely perceptible.
Also, in my final version, I moved away from odd one out and closer to the French for "istrus" :
Were it not for this trick, the monochrome of the white subtitle on a black background would have gone quite unnoticed. The image almost disappears in speed of projection, making it as easy to spot as facial expressions. X’s trained eye was able to see the fleeting vision, separating this intrusion in the film narrative
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2011-12-24 10:11:31 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Sorry, what I meant was :
"Were it not for this trick, the monochrome of the white subtitle on a black background would have gone quite unnoticed. The image almost disappears in the speed of projection, making it as difficult to spot as a facial expression. X was able to see the fleeting vision, his trained eye picking out this intrusion into the film narrative."
You could probably get away with using the word "intruder" in some renderings.
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Local time: 07:42 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 6
Grading comment
Thank you - "fleeting" and second suggestion worked well.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you for deciphering this for me so clearly, but are you saying that "dissocie l'intrus" is another way of saying "cherchez l'intrus". I never saw the connection with searching/looking for.
B D Finch France Local time: 07:42 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 83 1 corroborated select project in this pair and field
Explanation: I took a crack at it. I love this stuff. Presently;I am translating interviews about film
'By using this approach, the subtitled black frame could be seen. Artist X was able to spot this brief intrusion even if the rapid projection made it as indistinct as attempting to discern detailed facial expressions.'
jasonwkingsley France Local time: 07:42 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 8
trained his eye so see without looking enabling him to dissociate the intruding frame from the narra
Explanation: vision flottante, made me think of the psychoanalyst listening to his client, with "attention flottante" half dozing, much criticized by the anti- Freudian French philosopher from Caen. http://www.psychanalyste-paris.net/psychanalyse freudienne.h...
I Have included another link below on this term that is a little creepy but brings suggests the randomness involved.
In your text I think * écoute flottante* is a way of seeing the images by relaxing the eyes and not seeking significance but just visual stimuli enabling the artist to see the frames ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2011-12-24 09:41:22 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
in may last sentence please replace *écoute flottante* by vision flottante
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 13 hrs (2011-12-24 13:26:23 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
my understanding is there is a frame consisting in a black background with a white subtitle that has nothing to do with the narrative but 'lies low' within the film only visible to a trained eye....
LauretteT Local time: 07:42 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English, French
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you for a very interesting answer.
14 hrs confidence:
discerns the intruding frame
Explanation: Yet another suggestion. I do think that "l'intrus" refers to the image, not the viewer.
I wanted to take a cue from Nikki and use "subliminal frame", but I think this would be over-translation.
claude-andrew France Local time: 07:42 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
